AeroTurbine

[“Mark”]

AeroTurbine - Becker's Darrieus and Savonius Combination

I can't believe how quiet these things are. I hear they're not as efficient, but it looks like a fun thing to build. If you horizontally mount them, your don't really need the cage to stabilize the far end either.

[Hare of Caerbannog]

Around 4:08 they show an artist's version of a building with a row on top of a building and a sort of roof of solar panels above them.
I wonder if you could build a roof to sort of funnel more air at your turbine? The issue as I understand it, is that many places don't have consistent enough breezes. So this turbine turns easier with a lower wind, but it seems to me you could increase the efficiency by a simple roof change.

[“Mark”]

Good thought.

If you had a building with a flat roof, I bet there's a huge gust of wind coming up off the front face. If you put turbine in that, not only would you catch the wind going up, but also as it goes over into the vacuum behind the edge of the roof.

[chris]

Anyone seen cost or output info?

[Truik]

Anyone seen cost or output info?

There are plans online for building your own HAWT (Horizontal-axis wind turbine) and VAWT (Vertical-axis wind turbine) and even the simplest designs (think of a Pringles can cut in half lengthwise and shifted slightly apart from each other) have low wind-speed energy generation compared to conventional wind turbines.

I think there is a critical ratio of the diameter of the open space in the middle being roughly 10% of the outside diameter of the winding blades (for the simple design I saw). Of course, the design shown here is more like a helix and doesn't have an open center. This is more helpful in getting it spinning in those constantly changing gusts in the city that come from any direction.

[chris]

Thanks Truik!

[Mad_Man]

Anyone seen cost or output info?

I would bet the output would not be very high.  I noticed the drive train was a chain drive to an automotive alternator.  If the output is not high, then these would not cost/benefit out.  It is kind of cool to capture some of the wind energy around buildings, but the idea buildings would become energy producers with these is laughable.  (They may run the computers inside)  I do not know how well these turbines could scale up.  But then, bigger windmills mean bigger loads on buildings, this means stronger buildings, this means more cost, materials, etc.

Did anyone notice the windmill at 0:45 in the video?  It was not turning.  That's the problem with wind.  One problem we have here in central Florida is the winds are non-existant, or 70 mph.  A shame we cannot tame lightning...

[Truik]

I would bet the output would not be very high.  I noticed the drive train was a chain drive to an automotive alternator.  If the output is not high, then these would not cost/benefit out.  It is kind of cool to capture some of the wind energy around buildings, but the idea buildings would become energy producers with these is laughable.  (They may run the computers inside)  I do not know how well these turbines could scale up.  But then, bigger windmills mean bigger loads on buildings, this means stronger buildings, this means more cost, materials, etc.

Did anyone notice the windmill at 0:45 in the video?  It was not turning.  That's the problem with wind.  One problem we have here in central Florida is the winds are non-existant, or 70 mph.  A shame we cannot tame lightning...

You certainly don't want to run a regular automotvie alternator. You want a permanent magnet generator.

http://www.windynation.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=31

As far as wind speeds, get something applicable for your area:

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/tribalenergy/guide/images/us_windmap%28crop%29.gif

And, remember, even intermittent wind is intermittent 24-hours a day. There is NO chance of the sun coming out sporadically at night to light up a solar panel.

 

[Mad_Man]

As far as wind speeds, get something applicable for your area:

And, remember, even intermittent wind is intermittent 24-hours a day. There is NO chance of the sun coming out sporadically at night to light up a solar panel.

Yeah, Florida is a big Zero on the map.  The big trouble here is we get gusts during summer T-storms that reach 70 mph in the afternoon, but it was 2 mph that morning.  I am not opposed to wind power, it just does not work here in Florida very well (cost effective).  Now solar is a different story. 

The nice thing about solar power is the sun will come up tomorrow (at least according to that stupid song)

[Truik]

Yeah, Florida is a big Zero on the map.  The big trouble here is we get gusts during summer T-storms that reach 70 mph in the afternoon, but it was 2 mph that morning.  I am not opposed to wind power, it just does not work here in Florida very well (cost effective).  Now solar is a different story. 

The nice thing about solar power is the sun will come up tomorrow (at least according to that stupid song)

Yep. I just wish I had Daddy Warbucks' cash so I could install a grid-tie system that gets a check sent to me every month by the utility company.

[Mad_Man]

Yep. I just wish I had Daddy Warbucks' cash so I could install a grid-tie system that gets a check sent to me every month by the utility company.

Going with the Lottery plan myself

[Browncoat]

www.otherpower.com

[Stein]

My guess is the units they showed were in the 1-2kW range, just looking at how much wind they could grab.  The comparison to the MW turbines they showed was a bit of a stretch, but any new technology could help.