Classical wind turbines can be modified to liquify the air directly. At the moment all air liquifying solutions work with electricity. Using expensive electric generators and then converting electricity to mechanical energy again using expensive electric motors is not a cheap solution. More importantly this approach relies on exported materials. On the other hand, wind blowing on top of a wind turbine can be directly liquified using the kinetic energy of the wind. Liquifying process relies on compressors which can be driven directly by the wind turbine blades with an appropriate gear reduction ratio.
There would be a turbine blade like the one used on turbofan engines which would let the air blowing at the tower top to be pushed inside the liquefier system. Unlike plane engines, this process works at very low temperatures and the compressor blades can be made of cheaper material. The compressors that cool the air gets hot. They would be passively cooled by the blowing air by the heatsinks on top of the wind turbine. While the process’s speed relies on the speed of the wind, the cooling would also be stronger at higher speeds.
The tower of the wind turbine would house the liquid air and deionized water pipes. These two liquids would be stored at the bottom of the tower. The tanks also add weight and stability to the tower.
The objective of this design is to lower the cost of air liquification using direct use of renewable energy. More importantly, this approach requires almost no exported material in design allowing rapid and cheap deployment.
Liquid air, if produced by this approach would be the greenest fuel of them all. Additionally, liquified air can be used in the cold chain while the chilling process consumes a lot of power, liquid air is at -196°C.
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