The main aim for the wind machine is to start a production cycle of plants, which can be used in the daily life of Valldaura.

The wall is producing energy with windturbines. The energy is used for pumping water to the crops. The machine uses waste products from the house in the form of grey water and compost.

The structure is built out of hemp, which the plantation can grow.In this way the production cycle is a living cycle itself.

WE5 is made

DOWNLOAD MANUAL 
We5 manual 2013

PROTECTION FOR CROPS

A wall protects a plantation from the strong wind from the north, and allows the sun to reach the plants from the south. The small plants are placed near the structure, because they need more shelter from the wind.

WALL PRODUCE ENERGY
The wall produces energy through windturbines and feeds the plantation with water. The wall also collects rainwater into a tank, which is connected to the grey water from Valldaura.

DESIGNING SLOPE AND PALES
To protect, cover and increase the wind speed to the turbines, pales were added. The pales have two main aims; one is to direct the wind towards the turbine, and second is to accelerate the wind speed. The twisting design of the pales helps in achieving the objective and also creates a venturi effect. The pales are shaped as NACA foils, so they reduce the turbulence inside the slope

SPECIFICATIONS

VALLDAURA
The structure is a new wall merging into the environment of Valldaura. The house of Valldaura is supported by retaining walls made out of local bricks. When the road was made to Valldaura, natural stone was exposed. The new wall component is the juxtaposition between the stone wall and man made tile wall.

OTHER SITES
The wall can also be used in the city of Barcelona. It could  be used by the sea side for producing electricity for lighting and be used as railing at ramps.

The wall can be used to turn harsh areas into possible areas for plantation by  creating a micro climate. The example shown is from a windy dessert.

BUILDING PROTOTYPE
The prototype of We5 was built at IaaC in 2013 and transported to Valldaura. In the future the prototype should be built and assembled locally.

Atmospheric River is an arrangement which utilises the wind energy to provide a farm land with its two basic necessities,namely electricity and water.To capture energy from wind,  we have to ketch it by getting the structure in contact with the air and everything within it, especially the water content.

From this thought has developed most of our design, which is based on the combination of functions. For generating electricity we’ve used  a wind mill and for providing water we have  used  fog- catcher.

Wind Catcher. Our first goal is to increase the speed of wind by the use of a wind catcher; by bending the polypropylene  in a smooth shape we foster the Venturi Effect .The structure consist of  a  funnel  placed at the top  , which will channelize  wind faster through the bottom of the pipe, made in PVC.Here the wind mill is connected to a generator by a PVC joint of 90 degrees .

Fog Catcher. Being inspired by the heavy fog which overloaded us during our  first and  only visit to Valldaura,  We arrived  at a potential way  to gain water; treating fog as water tank in a landscape scale. To increase  the surface area we use a dense interlacing of net occupying  much space,we use dense interlacing of net to enclose the pipe and the structure for the wind catcher.

Every bead contained in the fog, which is very close to 100% of humidity, has its own density. So the net, with  its 2×2 mm holes, will catch water droplets and drop it on the tank at the bottom.

EVOLUTION          ——-         ATMOSPHERIC RIVER  1.1 

*Making it SIMPLE  &  LESS COMPLICATED.

*Here instead of  fog catcher , we’ve used  CONDENSATION method for the wind which gets inside the  catcher tunnel  to produce  water.

The main structure is divided in three parts.

1. A wind catcher

2.  A ceramic tube –  

    * Has thermal characteristics

    *Good enough to keep its temperature, thus it will work to condensate the hot air touching it.

3. A water tank –

   *which will also be the base of the whole structure.

The function is split in water and electricity: strong wind for the latter one, and simple hot air for the water, through the action of condensation .