Dene S.

Matadeen

The Windmill Also Known As The Wind Turbine.

Windmills have always sparked my interest, may it be from growing up around
agricultural windmills or may it be from my mom buying me colorful, plastic versions of
windmills from our local market when I was a child. Historically, windmills served
originally to grind grain, though later applications included pumping water and, more
recently, generation of electricity. The more recent electricity generating windmills are
called wind turbines. Upon researching the way a windmill operates, a very plausible
question arose. Is a windmill a heat engine or is it a perpetual machine?
Most engines convert heat energy into motion. The heat comes from burning a fuel
such as coal, gasoline, or hydrogen gas. The heat makes a gas such as air, expand
rapidly. A heat engine is a device or machine that produces work from heat in a cyclic
process ( Smith, J. M, H.C. Van Ness, and M.M Abbott. Introduction to Chemical
Engineering Thermodynamics. 7th ed)(Figure I). Wind is the result of convection currents
between hot and cold regions on the earth's surface. The warm region on the earth's
surface heats the air above it. This hot air begins to rise due to the buoyant force acting
on it. This creates a low pressure region near the hot surface. Cool air flows toward this
low pressure region. Can this hot and cold region be considered a source and sink for a
heat engine?
Initially, a windmill takes in air at atmospheric conditions. When it is run through
the system, the temperature of the air that comes out of the windmill is minutely
different. There are no significant changes in the air temperature at the outlet to call it a
sink. The heat that is involved in the process is very small, and there is also no burning of
fuel. Even though it may appear that the windmill takes in wind, which is the result of
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convection currents between hot and cold regions of the earths surface, and it produces
heat, it is not considered to be a heat engine. Windmills are not heat engines because
they do not rely of heat to produce
motion(http://www.infoplease.com/dk/encyclopedia/engines. html).
A perpetual machine is a device that does perpetual motion. Perpetual motion or
perpetuum mobile, arose historically in connection with the quest for a mechanism
which, once set in motion, would continue to do useful work without an external source of
energy or which would produce more energy than it absorbed in a cycle of
operation(http://www.answers.com/topic/perpetual-motion). This type of motion, which
is now called perpetual motion of the first kind, involves only one of three distinct
concepts presently associated with the idea of perpetual motion.
The first type of perpetual motion refers to a mechanism whose efficiency exceeds
one hundred percent. This mechanism violates the first law of thermodynamics, which is
conservation of energy. Conservation of energy states that energy can be transformed,
but it can neither be created nor destroyed. Sometimes the first law of thermodynamics
states that a perpetuum mobile of the first kind cannot exist.
The second kind of perpetual motion refers to a device that extracts heat from a
source and then converts this heat completely into other forms of energy. This process
satisfies the principle of conservation of energy. This type of perpetual motion explores
the idea of a limitless source of energy which violates the second law of thermodynamics.
The second law of thermodynamics states that heat can not be completely converted to
other forms of energy. Therefore by definition, perpetual motion machines of the second
kind, violates the second law to function ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Second_law_of_thermodynamics).
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The third kind of perpetual motion describes a device that can continue moving
forever. It could result in actual systems if all mechanisms by which energy is dissipated
could be eliminated. Since experience indicates that dissipative effects in mechanical
systems can be reduced, by lubrication in the case of friction, for example, but not
eliminated, mechanical perpetual motion of the third kind can be approximated but never
achieved.
A windmill seems to have the attributes of a perpetual machine, but can not be a
perpetual machine because it cannot have a thermal efficiency of one hundred percent.
In the study of thermodynamics, there is no device or machine that has one hundred
percent efficiency. Therefore from my conclusion, there are no real perpetual motion
machines, because it violates the laws of thermodynamics. The earliest references to
perpetual motion machines, was by an Indian mathematician-astronomer, Bhskara II,
date back to 1150, where he described a wheel that he claimed would run forever. A
windmill can run forever, once there is air, but engineers believe that perpetual machines
are not possible. Therefore I believe that a windmill is not a perpetual machine.
Seeing that a windmill is neither a heat engine nor a perpetual machine, I further
researched the possibilities of what type of device a windmill can be. A windmill also
called a wind turbine is a means of harnessing the kinetic energy of wind converting it
into electrical energy. This is accomplished by turning blades called aerofoils, which drive
a motor or turbine, and are connected to a generator.(Figure III) Even though a windmill
has some characteristics of both a heat engine and a perpetual machine, it is neither. A
windmill is a wind turbine.

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Bibliography
*Smith, J. M, H.C. Van Ness, and M.M Abbott. Introduction to Chemical Engineering
Thermodynamics. 7th ed
*Engines
http://www.infoplease.com/dk/encyclopedia/engines.html
*Perpetual Motion
http://www.answers.com/topic/perpetual-motion
*Second Law of Thermodynamics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics

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Figure I: A Heat Engine Cycle

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Figure II: Examples Of Perpetual Machines.

The "Overbalanced Wheel". It was thought that the metal balls on the right side
would turn the wheel because of the longer lever arm, but since the left side had more balls than the
right side, the torque was balanced and the perpetual movement could not be achieved.

The "Float Belt". The yellow blocks indicate floaters. It was thought that the floaters
would rise through the liquid and turn the belt. However pushing the floaters into the water at the
bottom would require more energy than the floating could generate.

The "Capillary Bowl". It was thought that the capillary action would keep the water
flowing in the tube, but since the cohesion force that draws the liquid up the tube in first place holds the
droplet from releasing into the bowl, the flow is not perpetual.

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Figure III: Parts of A Windmill.

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