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Mountain Turned into a Chimney for Wind Turbines?

05/03/2015 2:38 PM

Given that wind turbines operate about 30% of the time, take up a lot of space, are repair difficult and location specific. Why cant we drill a horizontal opening at the base of a mountain , then drill vertically from near or on top of a mountain creating a large chimney that would provide a constant source of wind and a structure that could house a large number of wind turbines. The mountain could act as the super structure and mountain height and chimney dimension would give a large area to work with. Stack effect calculation has given me a questionable wind speed of 18 mph and also I haven't figured out what effect upper external wind speed would have on internal wind speed (Berielli law) sorry some Italian engineer whose name I cant find right now. But this seems so basic I don't understand why I cant find it already done or proposed. I have seen info on solar chimneys and other things at a small scale. Any input would be appreciated.

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#90
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Re: Mountain Turned into a Chimney for Wind Turbines?

05/05/2015 10:06 PM

Lyn I like humor, dealing with retinal tear right now.

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#92
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Re: Mountain Turned into a Chimney for Wind Turbines?

05/05/2015 10:17 PM

Sorry to hear that.

We all wish you well.

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#99
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Re: Mountain Turned into a Chimney for Wind Turbines?

05/06/2015 4:22 PM

You laughed THAT hard? Man!

How about just using the wind power to pump water into a reservoir (large one) on top of the mountain, and installing a hydroelectric turbine-genset at the bottom to load level?

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#91
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Re: Mountain Turned into a Chimney for Wind Turbines?

05/05/2015 10:16 PM

Obviously she was a Liberal Arts student. Perhaps returning from being the subject of a modern arts sculpture class.

Good Luck, Old Salt

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#94
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Re: Mountain Turned into a Chimney for Wind Turbines?

05/06/2015 1:18 PM

Just keep looking on the sunny side....but what if it's Nevada and the mountains are arranged N-S, so there is east slope and west slope? Pick the dry east slope first.

Also need to be able to design one with turbine(s) at the bottom for the nightly zephyrs?

This idea is not going to float, fly, or travel down the road in Lubbock, TX. We have plenty of wind turbines, and more going in all the time. Texas legislature may shut the door slammed on wind power in Texas with the new rules pulling out the subsidy for wind generation.

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Re: Mountain Turned into a Chimney for Wind Turbines?

05/04/2015 8:43 PM

Only users lose drugs.

.

That notwithstanding, your version of the mountain chimney has the most merit. Less costly and it actually has a legitimate source of power to utilize.

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#101
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Re: Mountain Turned into a Chimney for Wind Turbines?

05/07/2015 9:08 AM

I think OP was initially trying to refer to the Bernoulli effect. Since we already know that wind speeds are higher over the top terrain, there could be merit to this if the proposed tunnel actually is contructed in a way that maximizes this vacuum (for instance an orienting wind scoop at the top that could increase wind speed in the scoop and produce even more drafting down below. I have not done the calculations for lack of time, but I suspect the major energy is still available on top of the mountain at the outlet end of the scoop - and as we all know higher wind speeds equate to equal power from a smaller radius turbine.

At the bottom, could it possible to produce a chiller plant based on this partial vacuum? District cooling could be a winner in some remote areas where there is little or no refrigerated warehousing of food goods, for example.

I would still not be willing at this point to wager money on any such idea, other than a heat collection on the sunny side of the slope.

What happens if we now turn to the shady side? Are there any useful effects? Induced downdrafts? Induced condensation to produce irrigation or drinking water? We can't control mother nature, but she can be plied with candy and flowers and asking really politely.

You want your heat collection system to be engineered as are the others for solar chimney systems. I would also reference everyone back to the Michaud design for stabilized vortex - that is a very real system, especially when there is waste heat and even more so when a lot of water vapor is being added into the air stream at the point of heat transfer to the environment. All of these things are thermodynamically viable (lawful by the rules of physics/chemistry), but not all of them are profitable.

Stay thirsty, my friends.

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#102

Re: Mountain Turned into a Chimney for Wind Turbines?

05/24/2015 9:08 AM

Aerodynamics of funneling air efficiently into the side of a mountain for the stack effect to work optimally would be a formidable challenge for something on that scale. And because of the scale of such a project, tunneling verticle and horizontal shafts through soil, rock and possible bedrock would be cost prohibitive. The future of wind turbines lies in better generators , as propeller design, at least 90% of it reached its full potential in the late 1940's. Great thought however.

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