Ruby Got Back: July 2011

What this project is about.

The Sternwheeler Ruby is a merging of two fairly different concepts that are extremely important to me. Renewable Energy and Messing about on boats.

We are located in Corvallis, Oregon just a few blocks from the Willamette river which flows south to north through the lush and beautiful Willamette valley.

Ruby is designed to recharge her own battery bank overnight ( winding up the rubber band so to speak) . When end tied at a dock or anchored out in the current the paddlewheel will slowly turn transforming the propulsion motor into a generator. Ruby's system is optimized for propulsion so I don't expect stellar electric generation but it should be something. Obviously a system optimized for electricity generation would perform much better.

In essence Ruby is a proof of concept for a surface mounted water powered generator. Not a new concept, decidedly low tech, but highly practical particularly for the Pacific Northwest. Most importantly it is the most environmentally benign method of hydro electric.

This concept can be designed to supply a couple kilowatts for remote applications, all the way up to a megawatt for municipal applications, and unlike solar or wind this is steady electric power 24/7/365. Rainy days...bring it on!

P.S. Ruby was named after my Grandmother whom I lived with every summer when I was growing up. I helped my Grandfather and Grandmother build a log cabin at their property high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, CA. They taught me the "no bull shit" way of approaching life.

Friday, July 29, 2011

On the river

Ruby will be working the Willamette river between Polk Street boat launch and Crystal Lake boat launch on sat the 30th and sun the 31st.

Come on down!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Some videos of the first run.

Click on this link to see another one over at YouTube;

Ruby responds very well to the helm but still the currents can grab the boat and send us where ever it wants. R E S P E C T the river. Ruby can reverse course very readily and the rudders work extremely well when backing.

Sticking to the sides of the river we can make almost hull speed of 5 to 6 knots while drawing minimal amperage. I will compile performance stats after we get some milage under the hulls.

Launched

Well after a couple failures to launch we finally got her in the river and tootled up and and back a few times.

WAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOO!!!

Not 100% happy with the performance. Still got some belt slipping in the gear box and I need to increase the size of the buckets but over all not bad.

Videos soon.