About Martin Greeney

Bladeless Wind Turbine

by
Comments are off for this post

Recently even more unconventional wind turbine designs have started to appear on the market. Vortex Bladeless has developed a prototype wind turbine with no blades. This concept flies in the face of the standard wind turbine model. If you thought that a helical wind turbine looked weird, how about a turbine that looks like a tall pipe or a cell phone tower?

We’ve all seen those Dyson fans that have no blades and wondered how they work, but a bladeless wind turbine seems even more counter-intuitive.

How does it work?

From a logical point of view, the Vortex Bladeless wind turbine is a type of vertical axis wind turbine because it stands vertically, and the axis is perpendicular to the air flow. However, rather than spin around, the “axis” oscillates to generate energy. Similar to the way a badly-designed bridge can collapse when it vibrates to a certain resonance frequency, the turbine oscillates when positioned in the wind stream.

Benefits

Bladeless wind turbines have fewer moving parts and require significantly less maintenance. This makes them ideal for more remote applications. Additionally, with no moving blades, they do not pose any threat to birds or their habitats. They operate silently and have a low visual profile, which helps reduce the impact to local resident NIMBYs. They are lightweight and can handle high winds, although haven’t been tested in extreme weather conditions yet.

Do these Bladeless Wind Turbines work?

As yet these turbines have not proven commercially viable, but the designer claims energy production at 30% of the cost of conventional wind turbines. Currently, the company has a small pilot wind turbine at the University of Salamanca, in Spain

Gorlov Helical Turbine

by
Comments are off for this post

A Gorlov helical turbine is not a wind turbine. The Gorlov design is a variation of the Darrieus turbine, designed for use in water. It shares the same principles as vertical axis wind turbines, but is optimized for water flow.

Just like vertical axis wind turbines, the Gorlov water turbine is unconventional in that the axis is oriented perpendicular to the flow of water. Due to this perpendicular design, the turbine functions efficiently, regardless of the direction of the flow. Because the turbine operates at low flow velocity and independent of direction, Gorlov turbines are well-suited for tidal power projects.

Gorlov Helical Turbine used for tidal power

A Gorlov helical turbine, or GHT, is best suited for use in rivers or streams where the construction of a dam is not possible, or cost-prohibitive. From an environmental point of view, not constructing a dam has less impact on the existing natural environment, however, there are some concerns that the rotating blades may harm fish. Currently there are no known studies to confirm the impact on the environment, however, Gorlov has lab tested turbines attached to barges in the Cape Cod Canal tidal current with no harmful effect on fish.

Efficiency and Power

A Gorlov turbine can capture 35% of flowing water energy, compared to 20% for a conventional turbine and the infrastructure required to support a Gorlov turbine costs significantly less and has a smaller footprint than a conventional hydro-electric power plant.

Occasionally people will mistake helical vertical wind turbines as Gorlov turbines. This is because the primary differentiator is that the helical blades are rotated in such as way that there is always a section of the airfoil that is at the optimal angle of attack for the flow. There are similar applications in use for wind turbines, however, the Gorlov turbine was specifically designed for water flow applications.

A version of a Gorlov turbine is currently being installed as part of the Cobscook Bay Tidal Energy Project.

An Award-Winning Turbine – That No One’s Making

by
Comments are off for this post

Glen Lux, an engineer from Saskatoon, Canada, was recently recognized by NASA’s Tech Briefs magazine for his radical new VAWT design. Using a fraction of the materials of regular turbines and producing as much power, his model could make it far easier to get wind power where it needs to be.

The Design

The Lux turbine uses thin, curved blades, shaped like an egg beater. There are actually 6 blades on the turbine, twice as many as are found on most horizontal and vertical designs. It also uses a traction-based generator that rotates on the hub of the turbine. Conventional turbines often use a gear box generator, which costs more to make.

Image credit CBC News

The main benefit to the Lux design is the reduced production costs. The creator estimates that it will only cost around $0.04 per kw of power, making it just as cheap to make as standard coal generators. And due to the way they are shaped, the turbines can be placed close together, allowing more energy to be generated from a smaller area.

Another benefit is the ease of maintenance. The main components of the turbine are close to the ground, as opposed to the top of the tower. Since the materials are cheap, replacement parts can be ordered at a low cost.

The Award

Lux’s design is so efficient, it won first place in the Sustainable Technologies category of NASA’s Tech Brief awards. The model is definitely one of the front runners of turbine design – but right now, no one has funded it yet. Inventions can be amazing, but if they aren’t paired with an investor, no one will see them. That’s why you can’t purchase a Lux turbine right now, even if it would be cheap to produce.

Lux hopes that the attention from the award will draw in interested investors. You can check out more about the turbine’s design on the Lux Wind Power website.

Turbines and Jet Planes

by
Comments are off for this post

As we’ve mentioned before,regular, horizontal-axis turbines can only harvest wind energy at a set range of speeds. If there is too little wind, the blades won’t turn. If there is too much, the turbine stands a risk of going far too fast and damaging the machinery. Because of this, many turbines actually include a mechanism to slow them down if the wind is blowing too fast.

But vertical turbines don’t have this problem. The vertical design allows the turbine to harvest wind from any direction and nearly any speed, making them ideal for a variety of different settings. Believe it or not, some of these turbines can even handle the turbulence from a jet plane.

Turbines in Martha’s Vineyard

Eastern Wind Power, a United States wind energy company, wanted to make a turbine that could work well in urban or rural settings, where the speed of the wind can change rapidly. So they developed the Sky Farm 50-kW VAWT, a turbine that can be placed almost anywhere.

The Sky Farm sits on a 20 ft base. That’s pretty small for a turbine, but this VAWT is flexible enough to sit on rooftops, poles, or other preexisting constructions. It’s also available in a mobile form, allowing you to bring your wind energy with you.

To test the strength of the turbine, the Sky Farm was set up at Martha’s Vineyard, and subjected to the turbulence from jet planes taking off. The turbine easily handled winds up to 110 MPH – that’s the force of a strong hurricane.

Image credit Windpower Engineering and Development.

Small Turbines, Big Impact

The Sky Farm is particularly useful for developing countries and disaster relief programs. Since the turbine has such flexible positioning, it can be set up in areas with little infrastructure; the small, mobile size makes adding one to an area a fairly easy process. In addition, the mobile version of the turbine can be used as a generator in areas that recently lost power.

Smaller turbines don’t generate as much power as larger ones, but that doesn’t mean they should be overlooked. If the wind can be captured and used efficiently, even a small breeze can be useful.

 

Charging Cars

by
Comments are off for this post

To some people, electric cars can seem a little pointless. That electricity you’re using instead of gas is often produced by gas, coal, or another similar method. But what if you could charge your car on wind energy?

Driving Like the Wind

A similar turbine to the ones that will be installed at the park. Image credit Sun Sentinal

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, powering up your car might not mean a trip to the gas station. By the end of the year, residents will be able to plug in their vehicles at a wind-powered charging station next to Mills Pond Park. The turbines used are a vertical model with intertwining blades, reaching as high as 55 feet in the air. The design is beautiful as well as functional, meaning it will actually add to the look of the park. And since the blades are vertical, they offer no risk to the park’s avian wildlife.

This isn’t the first charging station in the area, but it’s the first one powered by wind. The reason it’s next to a park is pretty simple: while you’re waiting for your car to charge up, you can take a walk, have a picnic, or even take advantage of the wind by flying a kite.

Technically, the turbines won’t directly be powering the charging station – they’ll be feeding into the park’s overall electrical system. This helps ensure that excess energy won’t get wasted, and that a backup supply will still let you charge your car, even if there’s been a shortage of wind. For Fort Lauderdale residents, it’s a win-win situation.

Combining Function and Appearance

Last week’s post discussed the importance (or unimportance) of the way a turbine looks. In urban settings, the design of a turbine can have a huge impact on the success of an installation. In the Fort Lauderdale case, the turbines are being installed in a public park – which means that the look needs to actively enhance the recreational area.

Vertical turbines are a great choice for this kind of installation, since they are safe for wildlife, quiet, and tend to look better in an urban setting. If Fort Lauderdale’s turbine-based charging system works out, there’s a good chance that we’ll start seeing turbines in many more parks in the future.

 

 

Wind Energy Gets Pretty

by
Comments are off for this post

Wind turbines may be an awesome way to generate energy, but they also have their downsides. To start with, they’re loud. They’re hazardous to birds, and many people don’t like the way they look.

But what if there was a turbine that could fix all that?

Gaining Inspiration from the Dragonfly

Renzo Piano, an Italian architect, hopes to make a turbine that people won’t mind having in their backyards. And if you haven’t guessed yet, it look a lot like a dragonfly.

Image credit Gizmodo

Aside from the appearance, main difference between this and previous turbines is that it’s small. It stands at a height of 65 feet – which doesn’t seem a lot when you think about the hundreds of feet a regular turbine takes up.

The turbine only has two blades, much like a dragonfly’s wings. Each blade is nearly hollowing, allowing the column to remain extremely thin.

Perhaps the most notable feature about this turbine is that it can harvest winds of speeds as low as 4 MPH. This means that a breezy day in your backyard could actually create a small amount of energy. It also means the turbine can stay quiet; it has to need to turn at fast and noisy speeds.

A Turbine in Your Backyard

We’ve previously discussed some of the issues with more urban turbines; unless you’re placed in a good location, the cost might not be worth it.

There’s no word on how expensive this small, dragonfly-style turbine will be. It’s still in the extremely early prototype stage. But if the design works, it could be a solution to the problem of urban wind energy.

The pretty design also helps alleviate quite a few other turbine-related concerns. If the prototype is as quiet as it claims to be, the dragonfly-like appearance could actually become quite popular.

Whether or not the look of a turbine matters is another question entirely. Many turbine designs, including vertical models, manage to look quite beautiful even without special elements. And even then, the functionality of the design is often the most important factor.

However, as with any form of technology, visual appeal is a great way to get the public’s interest. If the change can avoid hindering the function of a turbine – and possibly even enhance it – then the perhaps paying attention to the looks could be a positive move.

What do you think? Would the look of a turbine sway your opinion of it? Let us know in the comments!

 

Wind Energy Where it’s Needed: South America

by
Comments are off for this post

Much of the news about exciting developments in the world of wind energy comes from either the United States, Europe, or Asia. But even though these areas tend to hog the spotlight, wind energy remains just as useful all across the world.

Image credit Penn Energy

A Wind Farm in Uruguay

Earlier this week, the Suzlon Group successfully secured a contract for the first wind farm in Uruguay, a country located in South America. The project should prove 65 MW of power, and is expected to be completed by late 2014.

South America is a particularly great location for the implementation of wind energy, since it has large amounts of the resource. Uruguay’s landscape is composed of wide plains and rolling hills – the perfect area to place a wind farm.

Urugay is a first world country, but other parts of the continent aren’t nearly so developed. If this wind farm takes off, there’s a good chance that surrounding nations will follow suit, and start providing clean energy to their citizens.

In countries that don’t have a lot of oil or other sources that are generally used for energy, a wind farm can be a great way to speed up development and provide power to as many people as possible. In some cases, it’s actually easier to implement the use of wind energy if there isn’t an already existing system.

While the farm that the Suzlon Group isn’t big – it will only have around 30 turbines – it’s still an important step. The more wind farms there are, the easier it will be for wind energy to be accepted and used across the world.

 

Sailboats Inspiring Turbines

by
Comments are off for this post

Many of the offshore wind turbines we’ve mentioned so far have used a traditional, horizontal axis. However, vertical turbines also have their place on the water – and that place is pretty cool.

It Floats – but It’s Not a Boat

American Offshore Energy, a company focused on creating renewable energy for the United States, recently unveiled an interesting new design. By combining a sailboat mast with a bicycle wheel, they were able to create a stable, floating, vertical axis wind turbine.

Image credit PR Web

What’s interesting about this particular turbine is that it has no center shaft. The circular design is actually held up by the blade of the turbine itself, minimizing the amount of parts needed and keeping the overall weight down. The blades are made out of foils intended for sails; the material is lightweight, durable, and specially designed to catch the wind.

Part of the reason this design works so well is the way the blades are arranged. Each blade is positioned above a stabilizing float, just underneath the red ring you can see in the image. The floats themselves are connected to three anchor lines which reach down to the sea floor, keeping the turbine from sailing away.

This isn’t the first floating turbine we’ve discussed, but the minimalist design is certainly innovative. Sails have been harnessing wind energy and converting it into kinetic energy for thousands of years. This process is a little less direct, since the energy will be stored before it’s used, but it’s still a wonder that this idea hasn’t been used sooner.

One of the other interesting features of this design is the attractive look. Many of this issues with turbines involve ruined views. Aside from the fact that a fleet of these turbines would be far away from living areas, the sails themselves are by no means bad looking. They also offer little to no danger to passing birds; the structure is clearly visible, and there are no horizontal blades to cause an accident.

There’s no word yet on where this design will be used, but so far it looks like a very promising take on offshore wind farming.

 

Backlash Against Turbines: Arguing the Other Side

by
Comments are off for this post

Discussions on wind energy usually focus on the positive side – new innovations to technology, the benefits of green energy, and similar topics. However, there are two sides to any story, and sometimes, too many wind turbines can be a bad thing. So this week, we’re going to take a quick look at some of the drawbacks and complaints against turbines that have been making the news.

the Dark Skies in Scotland

Image credit The Telegraph

For safety reasons, nearly any large man-made construction is going to need lights. Whether it’s to improve security or keeping a low-flying plane from accidentally hitting a turbine mid-flight, wind farms usually need a certain degree of illumination. However, illumination is exactly what the Dark Sky Park in Galloway Forest wants to avoid.

The park was officially opened last year to give astronomers a clear view of the skies. The lack of any human light pollution in the area is relatively unique; the park is the only one of it’s kind in the UK. Sadly, the reason that there’s so little light pollution is that there’s a lot of open land – land that could easily be used for larger projects. And in this case, larger projects means wind farms.

Most of the planning applications for the area have been rejected. However, the chairman of the board of trustees for the park, Mark Gibson, mentioned that there are currently 9 pending applications for wind farm development in the surrounding area. Even a single accepted application could ruin the beautiful darkness that makes the park so valuable to astronomers. The board of trustees, as well as several astronomers, have petitioned the UK government in the hope that none of these projects go through.

Blocking Wind Turbines in Connecticut

On the other side of the spectrum is the current legislative war in Connecticut. For the past three years, there’s been an effective ban on wind farms. Why? Through a hold-up centered entirely around regulations.

Wind farms are technically legal in the state. However, no farms can be built without appropriate regulations. And each time a new series of proposed regulations is created, they’re rejected.

The main issue is the how much control local officials will have over the development of new wind farms or the placement of turbines. The proposed regulations would allow developers to get a waiver to skirt restrictions on distance from other buildings, style of turbine, or even local zoning restrictions.

It makes sense to allow exceptions to these rules; no two situations are completely the same, and making the occasional allowance can be great for an industry. However, if there’s even a possibility that these waivers could be abused, locals could lose all control over whether or not a wind farm enters their neighborhood.

Weighing the Pros and Cons

Each of these stories brings to light the same issue: at what point does the need for clean energy outweigh the other needs of the public? No matter which way you look at it, a wind farm can be a disruptive thing. From ruining an aesthetic view to causing a serious increase in light pollution, there’s often a reason to avoid putting a farm in place.

In each of these cases, and in any future ones that arise, it’s important to asses why the wind project is being opposed. If it were placed elsewhere, would there be less opposition? Could an adjustment to the construction plan solve a problem for the local government? And will the extra revenue the farm brings in outweigh any of these concerns? Each project needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. And sometimes, the ruling will need to be against wind energy. Even in this case, you can have too much of a good thing.

Keyboardist Plans to Play on Top of a Wind Turbine

by
Comments are off for this post

The noises associated with wind turbines are generally those of any large machine. Whirrs, creaks, and the blowing of the wind are all you’d expect to hear. But on October 2, one wind turbine is going to be sounding quite a bit more musical.

Staging a Protest

Welsh musician Cian Ciaran, keyboardist for a band known as the Super Furry Animals, has played in a lot of places, but few of them are as unusual as on the top of a turbine. He plans on performing his newest solo album for the first time to a crowd of 7 people – the viewing platform is too small to fit any more.

This isn’t just an advertising gimmick; it’s a protest in favor of clean energy. Much of Europe continues to switch over to cleaner energy. In Wales, Ciaran’s home country, there’s only one nuclear power plant left, and it should be shut down within the next few years. Unfortunately, the United Kingdom wants to build new reactors at the same location. The proposed contract would last 40 years, during which time the energy company would be guaranteed government subsidies.

Ciaran’s protest is in favor of building more wind farms instead. He believes that wind energy is a cheaper and healthier option. So he’s making a stand on top of a turbine to draw attention to his cause.

The concert itself probably won’t be that big of an affair; you can’t fit that many people on top of a wind turbine. Still, the message fits perfectly with his new album. Ciaran actually describes it as a “protest album,” and this is the perfect way to kick it off.

Choosing Wind Energy

The United Kingdom’s specific situation aside, Ciaran’s protest brings to light an important issue many governments face: the choice to switch to wind energy. In some cases, it’s easier or less expensive to stick to conventional methods, even if that means damaging the environment or losing money in the long run. It takes active effort to build a wind farm, and even more to start switching energy grids over. Add that to zoning issues and the losses accrued by taking down an old energy plant, and it’s easy to see why many governments are still reluctant.

A picture of the turbine in question, courtesy of The Guardian

Will Ciaran’s protest have any effect? We’ll just have to wait and see.