Wobbling Windmill Has Small Footprint and Cost

Interesting. About as simple as you can get.

I know on standard windmills there is a placement spacing formula as to not interfere with the wind flow with the neighboring windmill. I would imigine there is some type of formula for this also to affect and restrict its population.

It would seem to me that air turbulence could only improve the output...

can't answer that....

I wonder what the bird kill projection is on those turbines.

Certified bird friendly....straight from the beak...

They certainly are, unless one is flying while drunk. Drinking and flying is a bad idea in general, but these new windmills pose no more threat that the oak tree that stubbornly refuses to get out of the way when you're flying buzzed. Less threat than Oaks, in fact, since there are no branches, and if you REALLY need to fly home while tipsy, you won't even notice the windmills in action, since EVERYTHING seems to be wobbling.

I'm sure there is, but this looks like it can be placed a lot denser than traditional windmills.

If the math holds out, you could end up with a greater MW/Acre than with traditional windmills, or, since they have a smaller footprint, they could even be placed where 'traditional' windmills can't, such as in a farmer's field, spaced out so the farm machinery can pass between them without harm. You lose a lot of potential electricity from the spacing, but you get the bonus of getting electrical power from the field while still having 95-99% of it available for crops.

I don't know what the production is.

What I am finding online suggests that a ~3 meter high unit produces ~100 watts and their average wind energy conversion to electrical energy is about 30% less than the typical rotating blade type.

Given that the typical three blade wind generator is about 30 - 40% efficient these guys are maybe hitting ~25% average efficiency.

They say theirs costs about half what similar sized turbine costs as well.

I don't know what the typical power production numbers are elsewhere but around where I live a ~3 Meter dia three blade rotor based unit can easily put out a KW or better in our winds.

One may be able to supply those percentages with the establish equations of the standard windmills for the population of these windmills.

It doesn't look like wobbling around a bit is going to generate much energy. This isn't big enough to intercept much air. Without a large volume of air changing velocity, you don't get much energy. The power available is still d/dt (.5mv²). You would have to pack them like sardines.

Arithmetic? You mean we gotta do arithmetic?

How about a hybrid single blade on a wobble? It would wobble like a penguin on a treadmill.

Well certainly not a one-size-fits-all solution, but might be useful in niche markets where turbines are not possible or practical, and the wind is predictable....

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/537721/bladeless-wind-turbines-may-offer-more-form-than-function/

I like the idea of the horizontally mounted vertical turbines...you could have row over row over row, harnessing large area's with a turbine wall so to speak....

something like this..

http://www.windpods.com/applications.html#url

I think it would be cool to paint the vanes different colors so that when they rotate you would get interesting shapes and color combinations, this then with an app, that you could take video of, that would determine the output and wind speed....

Turn that windpod one vertical and replace all the doors to Congress with them. You could power most of the eastern seaboard!!

It'll never fly.

Thats so

so

so

Backwards!

Hey, if its endorsed by Jay Leno, its gotta be good !

Yes, nothing gives you more confidence in a product when its celebrity endorsed.

Actually Jay Leno is a big gear head.

He does a lot to reclaim and restore vehicles and machines of the past.

Hell, He has the money to do it, why not.

He is also really big into alternative energy production. Wind, Steam and Solar!

Are the oscillations based on what I know as Struohal Vortex Shedding? As I remember that was most prevalent at low wind velocities.

Maybe more vortex shedding or flutter...the airfoil is thinner at the bottom and thicker at the top...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_shedding

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroelasticity#Flutter

Without trying to analyze wind speed versus diameter, I wonder if the different diameters were intended to take advantage of the variation in wind speed with elevation? (Don't want to spend time, since I'm chasing another problem right now--1912 or 1919 White fire engine in Alliance, OH. Priorities!)