Directory:Tornado in a Can
From PESWiki
Inventor Frank Polifka calls his Windhexe machine "Tornado in a Can". It safely harnesses the enormous power of a funnel cloud in a small mechanical canister. The efficiency with which it can pulverize a wide array of items defies conventional physics and invites a new model to be constructed to explain how vortex energy operates.
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Patent
Windhexe patent: Apparatus and method for circular vortex air flow material grinding U.S. Patent 6971594 (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=6971594) (G.patent (http://www.google.com/patents?q=6971594); PDF (http://www.pat2pdf.org/pat2pdf/foo.pl?number=6971594)).
What is it?
- "Whatever you put in the Windhexe — shoes, rocks, sludge, concrete, industrial waste — comes out the bottom as a superfine powder. It’s a clean way to dispose of almost anything safely and cheaply, because there are virtually no polluting emissions. Industrial scientists say its uses could be limited only by the imagination.
- "An upside-down cone just 8 feet tall, with no moving parts, it swiftly (and loudly) reduces pretty much anything to a powder of particles roughly a micron across — about 0.00004 of an inch, or one one-hundredth the width of a human hair."
- "The Windhexe generates so little heat that you can safely catch the resulting powder in the palm of your hand as it streams out the bottom." (MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4723367/); May 19, 2004)
Beets before and after the Windhexe
How it Works
Compressed air is injected at the top through nozzles. Small deflection plates then force that air to flow in a counterclockwise direction, creating a miniature tornado in the funnel-shaped can. Using just a fraction of the energy employed by conventional crushers and dryers, the Windhexe breaks solid material down, increasing its surface area. (ref (http://vortexdehydration.com/id35.htm))
In the News
- Impossible Tornado (http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1312) - It works on principles that are BEYOND current physics. (ZPEnergy; May 10, 2005)
- A good stiff breeze for industry (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4723367/) - Could giant tin can be the Next Big Thing? Includes photos, video. (MSNBC; May 19, 2004)
- Year in Ideas (http://vortexdehydration.com/id35.htm) - (New York Times Magazine; December 14, 2003)
- Tornado-in-a-can pulverizes anything (http://www.boingboing.net/2002/12/08/tornadoinacan_pulver.html) - A garage inventor has built a "tornado in a can" that is an amazing way of drying and pulverizing just-about anything. (BoingBoing; December 8, 2002)
- A Mighty Wind Against Waste (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28285-2002Dec8) - 'Tornado in a Can' Puts Hope in the Henhouse. (Washington Post; December 9, 2002)
Companies
Vortex Dehydration Technology
Is the owner of the patent and licenses it to operating companies.
- Official Website
- http://vortexdehydration.com/
Licensees Include: Tornado Recycling Technology LLC (Lancaster PA) and GreenShift Corporation
GreenShift Corp displays demonstration videos on its website:
- Official Website http://www.gs-cleantech.com/
- Official Website http://www.greenshift.com/
- Tornado Generator pictures, video, etc
- http://www.gs-cleantech.com/product_desc.php?mode=6
Other Uses
- Energy companies in Australia are using it to remove moisture from coal.
- A garbage-processing plant in Pennsylvania will go online with its Windhexe. The machine can turn two tons of trash into one ton of sterile powder.
- A Missouri poultry processor is turning chicken parts into a high-protein powder for use in the manufacture of pet food.
