89-Year-Old Man Develops Bladeless Bird-Friendly Wind Turbine

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Another good start but how much enegrgy does this thing put out?? It great that he was driving down a road with it on top of his truck but he was barely getting the light bulb bright....the downside of wind power is that it's not a 24-7 resource and the newer ones they constructed in my neck of the woods which is virtually in a major city hardly moves at all..I'm not sure that having a smaller unit will be able to reap the benefits of wind it this guy is driving 40-60 + miles an hour to get this thing working...and yes it's better than what I certainly could come up with and it's a start in a different direction but I'm personally not worrying about the birds...

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Nice catch Blackmarketeer . I love stories that capture innovation, common sense and grass roots. The sparrow in my avitar thanks you.

Originally posted by bl4ke360
Why can't they just surround windmill blades with cages like they have on fans?
Like this...

edit on 9/1/2012 by bl4ke360 because: (no reason given)

Take the cage off your fan and you'll find out.

reply to post by Grimpachi

I travel the world quite a bit and have seen third world countries farther ahead in the utilization than us.

Given the overall inefficiency of wind power as compared to other sources, I would say the third world countries are still far behind...wind power does not stack up to other forms of power generation.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

Thing is, until ppl actually value the life of soul-less dumb savage instinctive animals, they'll focus almost solely on the price/performance and things like this will be condemned as impractical.

This is why we've been hooked on oil so long and depend on it for almost everything. Fact is, humans have already determined that transforming earth into a spaceship is the most cost/effective choice. People may not realize that's what's happening, but that's what earth will become.

Notice how most religions give humans eternal life, but don't give animals eternal life? It's anthropocentrism. Animals, according to the human-centered mind, are just resources, and at best, pets. Humans are separate; we're special. We're intelligent and worthy, animals are not.

I know life is hard and I know that's the major reason we do what we do. Life doesn't always let us decide what happens. It's not rainbows and butterflies. Perhaps our thinking is just a reflection of the harsh reality around us. We know we cannot save every animal, every ecosystem, every bug and bacterium and virus, so we must justify or accept that in our mind by being anthropocentric.

In fact, I think all lifeforms are this way because nature pits us all against each other. How many times have I killed a bee while mowing the lawn? Or unknowingly stepped on an ant on the ground? We cannot live without killing other things because we must eat. And we kill without even knowing it too. And sometimes we kill in self-defense. Other times we might kill because we think it's within our rights to do so - this can also be a form of self-defense. Other lifeforms kill in the same way. So we're forced to accept this deep inside our mind. Sooner or later we justify or accept the constant killing.

A problem with both designs is the requirement for the devices to rotate for optimal exploitation of wind conditions.

A vertically mounted turbine essentially facing every direction at once, effected with concentration vanes similar in principle to this wind sock style design would have higher efficiency.

Another problem foreseeable with the OP design lies in weathering durability during high wind/storm conditions.
The cone shaped configuration offers a larger target profile and surface area for lateral gusting and sheer which could prove problematical in running up physical damage repair costs and maintenance such that any benefit derived from implementation would be offset by higher cost of operation with repairs and maintenance, plus higher rate of nonfunctional down time during repairs.

Nice idea, but, I don't see it working as well as has been proposed.

reply to post by Druscilla


That's a good point, the large turbines can 'shut down', locking the blades in position. Not sure how this cone/funnel design would handle high winds, except to rotate 180° opposite to the wind direction. With all the wind turbines they have a motorized mount that keeps them properly oriented, overall I don't see that big a problem with the funnel shape, other than the lateral gusts as you point out.

The vertical tower's advantage might be it's omnidirectional, but I don't think it generates the same level of power as the more common type.

I keep reading the title 89 year old man develops baldness? This thread is not about baldness. That is all
Thanks

reply to post by jonnywhite

Thing is, until ppl actually value the life of soul-less dumb savage instinctive animals, they'll focus almost solely on the price/performance and things like this will be condemned as impractical.

Yep, that is why people cry over the loss of pets, and why some cry when watching Wild Kingdom and other shows on Animal Planet. Not mention why we have established wildlife refuges worldwide. We just do not give a damn.
Price and performance is what condemns wind power generation as impractical. Mostly performance. Take the money out of the equation. What do you have left? Lack of performance. Wind power does not cut the mustard.

Animals, according to the human-centered mind, are just resources, and at best, pets. Humans are separate; we're special. We're intelligent and worthy, animals are not.

Yep, that is why we have what is commonly referred to as HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENTS...

i definitely think we as a species need to embrace wind, solar and tidal power fully. can only be a positive thing.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I wonder if they will shelf his ideas?

I may not be an engineer, but I could see reasons this type of ducted (not bladeless) turbine might not work so well... Just set that up in a place that gets snow or freezing rain. I'd be willing to bet that it's going to load up, foul up, and have all kinds of issues when it comes to icing. The current open blade turbines tend to just slough the stuff off. Typically very low maintenance in that regard. Yet the ducted turbine isn't all bad. I wouldn't see why the windsock wouldn't work well in warmer climates. Even then there's still one possible downside left, I'd suspect that because air is being compressed and channeled that they are going to be a lot noisier than traditional designs.

Now before anyone brings up jet turbines on issues of icing for comparison... They burn fuel and have hot (hundred degree or so) compressed bleed air, and spin at over 1000RPM. Those things deal with icing in a way that a passively turned turbine doesn't. And if you end up having to stick nichrome heating elements all over your wind turbine, you just end up complicating things even more over the competing designs.

Originally posted by bl4ke360
Why can't they just surround windmill blades with cages like they have on fans?
Like this...

edit on 9/1/2012 by bl4ke360 because: (no reason given)

Same reason we don't build skyscrapers with simple brick and mortar or wood-frame construction. Some things just don't scale well enough to be practical.

I have a small-ish AirX turbine, which are sold in marine or RV shops, or if you're out in the country in Feed stores. It makes about 400 watts, give or take, and is perfect for small outbuildings. I use to power outdoor lighting and a cistern pump, all designed to run on DC so I wouldn't have to bother with inverters/etc.

My next goal is to move up to a bigger turbine, and use it supplement my home's electrical needs. Luckily I have the space to erect a larger wind turbine, but it would be nice to use something a little more compact, like this gentleman's design. It can be costly (about $15,000) for a 2kW/hr wind turbine, the amortization rate is still longer than I'd like, but the beauty of it would be greater independence from the electrical utility AND knowing if/when things go south, I can switch to my own power source to run essential household needs. What I do like about this guy's design is that it looks like, for the same amount of space as a typical, residential style AirX-type wind turbine, you could get one that generates a lot more power.

Interesting.

With where I live now, and some local (with gov. connections) trying to bring in wind power to this mountain region, this is a good looking alternative. I am still not supportive of the wind projects here as they will destroy the drinking water for many people and many other ecosystems should they be built. But this is a better solution than their large bladed designs. Also, it could work well as a deterrent / discussion point to use this company as opposed to the current one planned. I am pretty sure if the current windmill company is out favored by another then they will bail. bleh speculating =b

reply to post by Philippines

I am still not supportive of the wind projects here as they will destroy the drinking water for many people

How so? Never heard of wind power being accused of contaminating or destroying drinking water.

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
reply to post by Philippines

 

I am still not supportive of the wind projects here as they will destroy the drinking water for many people

How so? Never heard of wind power being accused of contaminating or destroying drinking water.

Where the projects are located here, building on the ridge of the mountains here means: build a road to each windmill pad. build a large pad for a crane for each windmill, and build a massive foundation for each windmill, along with the ability for the crane to lift the windmill up. Each road built to each pad should withstand landslides and be able to bring in the massive windmill parts. Huge parts.

To your question, when you bring in construction equipment and work orders to build projects like a wind farm, especially in places like the philippines, due diligence is overlooked in favor of money. In this case, wind turbines would be built on the ridge of a mountain to get the most from the wind. Because of their location, the shiP rolls downhill and contaminates spring water. The drinkable water here comes down from the mountains to the valleys below where it is polluted and non potable. So building windmills will contaminate drinking water, along with rice field water, fish farm water, and other. I would also like to mention the possibility of current water seeping into the ground faster because of the vibrations from the windmill spinning. Meaning less water for crops / people too.

reply to post by Grimpachi


People don't utilize a resource when they don't "Need" it. They should, but they don't.

Bird and bat deaths due wind turbines is very much overblown.



Looks like windows and powerlines are thousands of times more deadly.
I think he's got a great idea and why not just put a wire mesh cone on the front so birds can't possibly fly in to and destroy the turbines blades?

reply to post by Druscilla


yea I was thinking oscillator, something in that design field...
Great thread, I too am always looking for ways to better harness the elements for energy. Living on the island of Oahu, its always windy here, strong winds too.
I can understand why he chose that design, its really all about wind pressure an I am sure his point was that with this design, squeezing as much air as possible through that cone would compensate better than larger blades.
If it were me I would stack all those wind turbines with Solar panels too for that added kick of energy, I don't know why I haven't seen a hybrid Solar/Wind generator yet.....

Impractical. It takes a 55 mile per our wind to light a small light bulb. The better design is the vertical axle wind turbine.