title: From dust devil to sustainable swirling wind energy.
abstract: Dust devils are common but meteorologically unique phenomena on Earth and on Mars. The phenomenon produces a vertical vortex motion in the atmosphere boundary layer and often occurs in hot desert regions, especially in the afternoons from late spring to early summer. Dust devils usually contain abundant wind energy, for example, a maximum swirling wind velocity of up to 25 m/s, with a 15 m/s maximum vertical velocity and 5 m/s maximum near-surface horizontal velocity can be formed. The occurrences of dust devils cannot be used for energy generation because these are generally random and short-lived. Here, a concept of sustained dust-devil-like whirlwind is proposed for the energy generation. A prototype of a circular shed with pre-rotation vanes has been devised to generate the whirlwind flow by heating the air inflow into the circular shed. The pre-rotation vanes can provide the air inflow with angular momentum. The results of numerical simulations and experiment illustrate a promising potential of the circular shed for generating swirling wind energy via the collection of low-temperature solar energy.
authors: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors: Mingxu
authors: M
authors: Zhang
authors: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors: Xilian
authors: X
authors: Luo
authors: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors: Tianyu
authors: T
authors: Li
authors: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors: Liyuan
authors: L
authors: Zhang
authors: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors: Xiangzhao
authors: X
authors: Meng
authors: Photonics Control Technology Team, RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Wako-shi, Saitama, Japan.
authors: Kiwamu
authors: K
authors: Kase
authors: Photonics Control Technology Team, RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Wako-shi, Saitama, Japan.
authors: Satoshi
authors: S
authors: Wada
authors: International Society of the Built Environment (ISBE), Milton Keynes, UK.
authors: Chuck Wah
authors: CW
authors: Yu
authors: School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors: Zhaolin
authors: Z
authors: Gu