HOW IT WAS INVENTED?
How it was invented?
Mr. Robert Wajda has always enjoyed researching everything new and interesting that he could find in his spare time. At the turn of the century in 2000, an article from 1955, in Scottsbluff, Nebraska was brought to his attention accidentally. This story described two meteorologists that sought shelter from an extremely bad storm that produced a tornado. They luckily found protection in a basement next to a sturdy fireplace. As the tornado passed over them, an extreme temperature difference resulting in coolness was noted by both scientists. The center of the tornado or eyewall then passed over them. A noticeable air temperature change in the direction of warmer air was also confirmed by both meteorologists as the tornado thankfully spun away. Drastic temperature change(s) within seconds must have been correlated with the differing high and low pressure(s) that a tornado produces. In the case of the 1955 tornado, the temperature dropped from 80.6 to 53.6 degrees F (27 to 12 degrees C). Ironically, this is the exact temperature difference a standard home uses to heat and cool throughout the year.
The discovery of this article shifted Mr. Wajda’s entrepreneurial goals. Instantly, he began thinking about how fast or slow a typical tornado spun.
He concluded that if a slow-moving tornado in the environment can produce such hot and cold air differences so quickly, (80.6 to 53.6 degrees) why not be able to replicate this natural vortex phenomenon in a contained environment? The only thing to figure out was why the people had trouble breathing when it passed over them. One of Wajda’s first experiments was to recreate a slow-moving vortex in a tube. The first experiment created showed Wajda that the vortex created a vacuum right down the center of the inner vortex. Since the people were in an enclosed space (a basement with a fireplace chimney) the vacuum of the updraft tornado sucked all the air out of the space they were in. If they only had ambient air that was drawn into the room and somehow allow the vacuum to exit out somewhere, we have a natural heating and cooling system.
In this 1956 tornado, Wajda had all three pieces of the puzzle and he just had to put it together. Wajda researched a slow-moving vortex that created an 80.6 to 53.6-degree difference and a built-in vacuum. Wajda was going to use the hot and cold air temperature difference to heat and cool a room and use the vacuum to draw out the humidity. This is where the heat pump exchanger comes in that draws in ambient air and always have either hot or cold exiting the back. Further, by speeding up the vortex or slowing it down, Wajda could control the temperature and make it as hot and cold as he wanted it.
This would include separating hot and cold air through ingenious innovation by pushing the boundaries of engineering and self-contain the vortex itself. Accidental discoveries like these by an already accomplished innovator could only prove fruitful. By containing a tornado in a tube, one could control hot and cold air.
It’s so interesting that there are more tornadoes in the United States than in any other country combined. Wajda knew that the reason for this was because in the great plains, cold air comes in from the Rocky Mountains, dryer air comes in from the deserts, and warm moist air comes in from the Gulf of Mexico. These conditions are perfect to create a tornado. Wajda thought, “Why can’t we reverse what causes a tornado and spin a perfect vortex to create hot and cold conditions? Well, we can and that is the basis of how the Ducted Vortex works.
A custom spin chamber, airflow separation tube, and heat pump exchanger were the ultimate solutions for what Mr. Wajda had in mind.
How would one take a mini-tornado and control it and somehow control it by securing a vortex in a chamber? The design and then discussion led to the advanced rotating spin chamber that you see in the opening explainer video.
Wajda essentially contained a tornado and used all of its features to create natural heating and cooling. Now the only thing left to do was to perfect it into a market-ready version.
Finding a better way
As Wajda was spinning air and experimenting with material relating to vortex phenomena working in various natural environments intrigued their mind, and research led Mr. Wajda towards a unique invention founded in the 1930s known as the vortex tube. This simple contraption was unique and simple, but its size was very limited to being small and approximately 6 inches in size. Scientists of the day called it an” unexplained phenomenon” and they really didn’t know how it worked. If you research this device, you will discover many related studies that just didn’t know how it worked. Wajda knew exactly how it worked after creating his own experiments before he even read about it.
This vortex tube used a compressor to create two separate hot and cold airstreams by spinning air at a very high RPM rate of over 1,000,000 revolutions per minute. This already proven concept only interested further research and founded the cornerstone of a vision that began to develop in the direction of industrial creativity. A breakthrough of this type and caliber could bear substantial benefits for humankind. At this point, the technology stopped.
Time and time again history shows that inventions start heading in the right direction and suddenly take a wrong turn that ends their progression.
Some of the greatest innovations of all time were even considered ‘ahead of their time and kept from developing due to the uncertainty of industry disruption. The electric car, for instance. At one point in the early 1900s, there were more electric cars than combustible engine cars. Why? Because Henry Ford made the gasoline car affordable. Wajda calls this “Technolgy Misdirection”.
It could take decades or even centuries to correct the initial mistake(s) or early-on misdirection that led societies astray from knowing any difference. People get in a “comfort zone” and are reluctant to change. What if no harmful refrigerants were ever used or fossil fuels were not needed to initially create the hot and cold air from the beginning? What if all you had to do was to spin air to create hot and cold air for heating and cooling? They were on the right track over 100 years ago but they just could not put it together. The way heating and cooling are created today is anything but natural.
The key to furthering the progress of this great idea was to remove everything that made it work and start over. By removing the heavy air compressors that were used to first generate the vortex. The vortex does not have to move at 1 million RPM. If you wanted 250 degrees on the hot side and -60 degrees on the cold side, then yes. But it only takes a 20-degree temperature difference to heat and cools a home or business. Hurricanes and tornados don’t move at 1 million RPMs. That’s why they ruled it out as a form of heating and cooling so long ago.
Massive amounts of energy are produced by these types of slow-moving natural forces in nature. This type of vortex energy usage with scalability is unfounded.
Innovations, such as the one presented, will be the future of harnessing the potential energy that a self-contained vortex can provide. Sustainable solutions will eventually be put on full display which will lead industry standards into a new era of green HVAC technology. It also protects the environment, while also considering the positive impact(s) of the customer’s economical concerns.
It won’t be easy breaking into an industry that should have changed a century ago but it is possible. Wajda will see this project through, and people will read and study it for centuries to come.
Wajda has solved everything needed to spin a vortex into a sustainable heating and cooling solution. Click here to see how it works