I thought this was an elegant and yet simple invention that may prove to help ease some of our energy woes. Wind generators have typically been propeller style devices, with huge blades and some pretty large engineering challenges due to vibration and the stresses of the blades spinning around. A Santa Barbara aviation buff starting thinking about using wings instead of propellers, and he has a pretty nifty invention. It looks like will be practical for not only wind energy, but any other fluid that flows, such as water. Much cheaper to build, and easier to maintain. Plus it eliminates one of the major environmental impacts of huge spinning propellers, the threat to migratory birds and insects. The story is Here , and includes a video of the WindWing in action.
I like it. I've always been very concerned with traditional wind generators as I happen to appreciate birds and bats and I don't like the risks associated with these designs. I hope these folks get their funding and their land to install their prototype. If proven to be useful, this type of R&D is exactly what oil subsidies should divert to. It appears that the design offers greater efficiency in wind energy conversion. I'm not technologically inclined, but can't seem to see where one would not use this new technology, once proven, in lieu of the propeller style design. Thanks for posting. I'll have to keep an eye on the development of this to see how it may be of use to us when building our energy efficient home. We get migratory birds, including cranes, as well as tons of local species like raptors and water fowl passing through or residing on our land. I'd hate to construct an energy efficient house and realize a bunch of dead birds as a byproduct.
Whether or not these things can compete with utility scale turbines, they have huge potential in residential applications. I can see them fitting into the res market quite well. Many of the objections will be removed (the moving shadows, blade noise, ice throw, etc).
I like the idea. The inventor saw a need, thought 'outside the box', and came up with a new concept. I hope he is successful. Note that he didn't just take the easy way out and lay down and accept the norm but actively sought out a new direction. This concept is what once made this country outstanding. It is this kind of 'critical thinking' which will be needed to go beyond our current healthcare crisis, get us beyond global warming, find us new ways of transportation, etc. This is the polar opposite of those who are more interested in protecting their own turf rather than moving our society forward. That is, it's the opposite of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', 'look at xyz and see how our broken system is better than xyz', 'bigger is better' and all that.
This is like having a regular turbine go about a quarter of the way around, and then suddenly reversing blade pitch so it goes the other way. Why bother? And as the article and/or comments pointed out the entire rig would have to swivel to face the wind. A unit sized to produce the same output as a 3-blader would have to be large and high in the air, giving rise to all the same perceived problems. And does it self-furl to avoid a real howler ripping it out of the ground? . _H*
Take a look at SRI Inc's Wave-Bouy generator. It uses an electro-active polymer which generates current when it is flexed or compressed. I can't currently find the link, but I saw a DARPA project where they were using a very similar type of material in a sort of "flag" type configuation to generate current. I thought it was elegant in that there are no mechanical systems to break. They also have a working prototype "Heel strike" generator - to generate power from the impact of eack footstep. [Edit]I found a pdf abot the project here.[/Edit] Imagine huge fields of American flags flapping and generating electricity....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Aug 9 2007, 02:09 AM) [snapback]492882[/snapback]</div> I didn't look at the picture. The cross section of a propeller is the same as a wing. The blades on the mountain tops have low rpm's. Doesn't sound like a large amount of stress.
