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Old 08-02-19, 07:39 PM   #1
Daox
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Default Gravitricity - weight/gravity power storage

I just came across this youtube video and decided to share it. Its an interesting concept. The weight would have to be immense for this to work. But, it is an interesting idea and if it could be done economically sounds like it could be a good idea. I especially like the idea of converting old mining shafts.


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Old 08-07-19, 04:53 PM   #2
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I can never understand why they would suggest size limits. There's the household gravity light using a sandbag already. It sounds very similar to pumped hydro, just for different geography, etc. You could put one under downtown Regina very cheaply. You could also just use a narrow shaft and a cavity at the bottom, pumping water. One hybrid I like would use a kite to haul a tank car up an incline to replenish a reservoir. It could also work on a vertical rig. If the wind drops, they spill a bit and haul the rest.

Last edited by Bicycle Bob; 08-07-19 at 04:56 PM.. Reason: Aha addition.
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Old 08-08-19, 04:51 AM   #3
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Here's another one: https://vimeo.com/335818817?width=800&height=480
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Old 08-08-19, 08:06 AM   #4
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I wonder how DIY-able this idea is. For example, how deep and how much weight would it take to store about 10kwh (similar to a power wall)?
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Old 08-08-19, 08:11 AM   #5
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I have read of electrical utilities using stored hydro ti supplement production at peak load .

I get the idea this is not too common ?

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Old 08-08-19, 01:24 PM   #6
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So I ran the calculations. The results are not too encouraging.

250 lb weight needs 10620 feet of travel to store 1 kwh.
1000 lb weight needs 2655 feet of travel to store 1 kwh.
5000 lb weight needs 531 feet of travel to store 1 kwh.
10000 lb weight needs 265 feet of travel to store 1 kwh.

Yes, those numbers are for ONE kwh.
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Last edited by Daox; 08-08-19 at 01:55 PM..
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Old 08-08-19, 02:07 PM   #7
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My understanding is the hydro / water storage system is ideally a water tank / pond / reservoir / lake on a mountain / high place .

A combination pump / generator at a much lower elevation , with a big pipe between .

Water is pumped to the higher elevation and stored , using off peak power . On peak , the water flows down to the lower elevation , spinning a turbine which spins a generator . Producing power to help with on peak demand .

Kind of like charging & discharging a battery .

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Old 08-08-19, 02:38 PM   #8
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Yeah, pumped hydro is a much better solution I think too. However, it's very location specific. If you had to create pumped hydro at many different locations I would imagine you would run into similar issues.
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Old 08-09-19, 08:07 PM   #9
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Pumped hydro is pretty much the only feasible method at the moment. The mine shaft thing sounds good but very few mine shafts are straight down of any length and they are generally small and they fill with water.

The energy vault thing... Not feasible at all. In fact there is a good video explaining why it's so bad.

If using a weight worked it would already be used.
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Old 08-09-19, 08:36 PM   #10
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We have a pumped hydro facility here in MO. They had a catastrophic failure in 2005 which sent a billion gallons of water flowing downstream, right through a popular campground and the very popular Johnson Shut-ins. Luckily it was at 5:00am in December so no one died. Ironically, someone did die in the construction of the replacement a few years later. Overall a very interesting story, and one I teach my freshmen about.

I think it's quite interesting how important Ameren knew this plant was. Important enough to spend quite a bit of money and build one in the same place as the disaster a few years before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taum_S..._Power_Station

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