Venus's Escapades

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The reverse CEAS system stores energy by utilizing Venus's extreme pressure and temperature circumstances. It also uses wind power to recharge itself to produce a stable supply of power when in need

Usually on Earth electric is used to compress air into a reservoir or a chamber and when in need, the compressed air is released due to the difference in the pressure through a special pipe which has a wind turbine in it to convert it back to electricity. Venus has an atmospheric pressure of around 93 bars which is about 93 times as Earth's atmospheric pressure, so we decided to use the idea but in the exact opposite direction. Our idea is based on pressure difference between Venus (93 bar) and the vacuum capsule (about 0 bars). Due to the pressure difference the air will flow to fill the vacuum capsule. While moving to the chamber, the air will pass through a turbine that will transform the kinetic energy of the air into electricity. The capsule will gain pressure with time, so the electricity supply will have a steady reduction from the highest power when first opening the system until the pressure inside the capsule equals the atmospheric pressure. To overcome this obstacle the system must be opened when only needed to charge a small battery that will be only used with a stabilizer to make a stable power supply to the rover. The process will not take a long period of time due to large pressure difference, but will produce high power for the most time so it needed a recharging system. A wind turbine should be hanged to produce energy for the rover as long as the chamber produce energy and when the chamber is completely filled with air with the same atmospheric pressure, it will transfer its energy to the turbines that empty the chamber to regain the pressure difference or in other words; recharging the system. In addition, the process enjoys the status of sustainability, in other words, we can rely on it throughout our presence on Venus to generate and store the necessary energy throughout the journey, but the most important thing is to take into account the preservation of all parts and equipment by protecting them using materials suitable for Venus's conditions (high pressure and temperature).

The benefits of which our project has is it is very flexible and can be used in multiple ways and to produce more power or less power by changing some variables in the system. There is no self-discharge in the system as only the power that will be used will be produced and in a matter of minutes the extra power will be used; the only way a self-discharge can happed is by leakage or a hole in the chamber and that is one of the reasons that we chose to make the main material of which the project will be made is carbon fiber.

To produce the needed energy and for an enough period of time we chose to make the volume of the vacuum capsule 15 Cubic meters, it can be reduced but will need more recharging times to give the same energy or amount of power.

The mass depends on the volume and density of the material; A 7 Centimeters thickness of carbon fiber is enough to carry on with Venus's circumstances. The total volume will be about 17.5 Meters cubic with a mass of about 3500 Kilogram.

We hope and will continue to work on the project until it is the most suitable solution for the energy problem on Venus. We hope even to make it like an energy station on Venus to produce energy for rovers or whatever needed without having the troubles of weight and aerodynamics.

We used sketch up to make the 3D design of the project, We did not make a prototype but these are the materials that we recommend using in the project:

A vacuum capsule: To adapt Venus's conditions, we will use carbon fiber, which is known for its superior hardness, strength, and resistance to harsh environments. Carbon fiber are compatible with Venus’s extreme temperature and acidity. It will also be encapsulated in a titanium foil for airtightness. It will be shaped as a capsule as it is suitable with air fluid dynamics.

 Pipe: All the connections between the air, turbine and vacuum capsule are made through a pipe, we also suggest using the same material of the vacuum capsule for the tube.

 Wind turbine: A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. The best type of turbines for our mission is The SD6 6kW small wind turbine.

Turbine: Some turbines are needed to empty the vacuum capsule to recharge the system. 

Peltier: Peltier module (thermoelectric module) is a thermal control module that has both "warming" and "cooling" effects. By passing an electric current through the module, it is possible to reduce the temperature of our system to increase the operating temperature. That is to make sure that the tools will not damage during our trip on Venus.

 Battery: After collecting air and turn on the turbine, electricity will produce, so we need battery to regulate power that the rover will need. Based on scientific research and NASA's information, the best type of batteries that can be suitable with Venus's conditions (High temperature and pressure) is the Lithium-Sulfate batteries meet the highest safety standards at high temperatures. Even under extreme application conditions, they also can be charged on site. Based on the last trips on Venus, rover needs 3 lithium batteries to power it and all its sensors.

Stabilizer: It just needed to make sure the power supply to the rover is constant to not damage any components.

 Valve: It will regulate the air entrance to the vacuum capsule either in the dynamo turbine or the recharging turbines. We must know that any part of our system must be protected from high pressure and temperature, following NASA studies, carbon fiber is compatible with Venus’s extreme temperature and acidity.

During our project, we used a lot of resources from NASA and space agency as it is the most place trusted to make a scientific project hasn't any mistakes (related to the space). Our challenge is exploring Venus by design a storge energy system to supply rover with the best amount of energy that is important for at least 60 days so, any mistake in our system will damage the rover and finish the trip on Venus easily with bad results. We tried to be accurate at any information to finish our project, NASA was the best place to get all research papers about the main keywords to complete our project based on scientific base such as: 

- Versus generally with its temperature, pressure…. etc.

- The best materials to use it to cover our system to be suitable with high temperature and pressure.

- Prior solutions of producing high amount of energy and storing it to use on Venus with its hard conditions.

- Last trips on Venus and its period and why it ended quickly (why its storage system damage easily).

- Explain the pressure difference between Venus and Earth which is the main and basic idea for our project.

As all of this documents explain a lot of things helped us in our project, we could finish it perfectly and with trusted references which is the most important thing in any scientific research in addition to the idea of our team which is the product of our scientific studies in physics, Math, astronomy…etc. and trusted resources.

At the end, I want to thank NASA space apps as they provide us with the best recommendations of references in our CHALLENGE (Exploring Venus together) and thank NASA space apps Ismailia for helping us in any step to finish our project easily.

The hackathon of NASA Space Apps experience is priceless, we have got to meet very creative and hard-working people that we admire. We learned and got to practice three of the most essential skills which are: time management, working under pressure, and the most important one which is the working in a team.

All of us are fascinated by engineering and trying to increase our knowledge by competing in engineering challenges. Also because that this challenge uses many engineering majors that we can learn more and more about.

We worked on reconciling the design requirements at first and choosing the highest efficiency materials, and in the fields that we had no background and no time to search tried to recommend some modifications on the project.

We would like to thank NASA for the information and data that were shared with us, NASA Space Apps Ismailia for helping us from signing up until submitting, Judges for the opportunity to discuss and have a feedback on the project, and the organizers of the event for helping us to have a cheerful and comfortable co-working space.

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#hardware, #reverse_caes #venus_exploration, #compressed_air, #energy_storage, #wind_turbine