The Atmospheric Vortex Engine (AVE), now being tested by Lambton College researchers, has potential to produce vast quantities of carbon-free electricity using low temperature waste heat to create energy through a tornado-like vortex.
Lambton College’s research team was asked by the company developing AVE technology to test a small scale prototype that produces energy from an atmospheric vortex with a diameter of 50 centimetres and a height of 40 metres. The project will demonstrate the feasibility and safety of AVE technology and optimize the design, justifying investment in larger scale implementations and commercialization.
The college team, including faculty and student researchers, installed instruments on a prototype to monitor process parameters. Researchers are currently analyzing the data collected and corelating it with data from their meteorological station to improve the design and provide scale-up analysis.
Louis Michaud, Chief Technology Officer of AVEtec Energy Corporation explains, “The prototype has been invaluable for AVEtec Energy Corporation. The college instrumentation and data acquisition capabilities were appropriate for the project. AVEtec is exploring several options for commercializing the vortex engine which have been helped by the Lambton College project.”
AVEtec Energy Corporation holds international patents and is a 99 per cent Canadian-owned Ontario corporation. AVEtec’s prototype is being funded by the Thiel Foundation’s Breakout Labs program. Development of low cost green energy and clean-tech applications would give Canadian industry a significant competitive advantage. Developing and commercializing this technology also has enormous potential for revenue and job creation in Canada.
