Wind Power Without The Mills

[FLPanhandle]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/billtucker/2015/05/07/wind-power-without-the-mills/

Vortex Bladeless is a radical company. It wants to completely change the way we get energy from the wind. Think wind stick instead of a massive tower with blades that capture blowing winds.

Wind stick. Really. Lest you think I’m mad, I’ve included a picture of this bladeless generator that helps with the visualization and explains the company name.

See? There are no blades. What that “stick” (the company prefers, mast) does is capitalize on an effect of the wind which has been a very serious problem for architects and engineers for decades.


What the engineers at Vortex Bladeless are doing is embracing this effect instead of avoiding the aerodynamic instabilities to capitalize on the oscillation and therefore capture the energy. The mast is designed to oscillate in the wind (which is very different from Blowing in the Wind). As you can see in the picture above, this is not your usual wind turbine. It consists of a fixed mast, a power generator that has no moving parts which come into contact with each other and a semi-rigid fiberglass cylinder. The power generator is a system of magnetic coupling devices which means there are no gears needing lubrication and an overall system needing less maintenance.



In addition to the lower carbon footprint of a wind turbine, Vortex claims even further reductions. Because there are no spinning blades, no birds are caught up and sent to their deaths in the name of greener energy. And the lack of blades means something else; much lower noise.

[Sherman A1]

1. Cool!

Looks interesting

[FLPanhandle]

3. Being bird friendly is a big plus in my book.

Even if this idea doesn't work out, it's great to see all the effort and innovation people are coming up with.

Some will be winners.

[Andy823]

2. K&R

It really sounds great. Cheaper, and less noise with no birds killed, it really sounds like winner! Thanks for posting.

[haikugal]

4. Thanks...I like it! Kicked and rec.

[misterhighwasted]

5. Just like my bladeless cooling fan. Or my Dyson vac.

Similar I believe.
Genius.

[exboyfil]

6. Need more technical details

Just kicked the story to my daughter who is a Junior Mechanical Engineering student. She just finished a Wind Power course and has Energy courses coming up in the Summer and Fall.

[Orrex]

7. Sure, it looks safe, but what happens when it fails?

It'll spill air all over the place.

[Jackpine Radical]

17. Safer than solar panels, though.

I think they require some kinda radiation to work, so what if one of them melts down or something up there on your roof?

[-none]

36. I never thought of that, they do don't they?

People with solar panels on the roof, need to add a layer of asbestos and lead under the panels to be safe.

[a kennedy]

27. ha ha ha....

this is supposed to be funny right. I got it, and LOL.

[hughee99]

35. They can send hazmat teams in for cleanup. Nt

[malthaussen]

8. Ah, but our rulers would rather pollute the air...

... and keep those danged eyesores away from their chateaux.

-- Mal

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Further along in the German design I see

Traditional farms will have issues in the EU for some of the medical issues emerging. (Unintended consequences) so there was an uptick into blade-less systems that can be closer to people. (And farm animals)

[SoapBox]

10. Wow...what an interesting device.

It sounds like it could be a better, next generation wind generator.

Something to keep an eye on.

[Android3.14]

11. If it works as efficiently as they claim

The design appears simple enough that DIY-ers might be able to duplicate it.

[Chakaconcarne]

12. You can concentrate these into a smaller area as well.

Very Cool!

[Martin Eden]

13. That appeals to me on more than one level.

Aside from the obvious green benefits, I'm a lifelong slowpitch softball player.

I really like to swing the bat, and that bladeless generator looks like a monument to my sport.

[sendero]

14. Wow....

... this looks like some TRUE innovation! Awesome!

[OnlinePoker]

15. Here's a quick (20 second) video of this in action

[OnlinePoker]

16. And another one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=162&v=2_5K4kmnsL4

[FLPanhandle]

22. Thanks!

That's pretty cool.

[yellowcanine]

18. Yeah sure but what about the lesser kangaroo rat which might try to nest inside the vortex?

[awoke_in_2003]

19. Very cool. K&R. nt

[littlewolf]

20. K & R being bird friendly is a big plus for me. nt

[Thespian2]

21. Very interesting. Excellent concept.

The Koch bros are already pissing themselves over wind power...this design should excel...unless dirty energy corps get their sock-puppets to ban green energy...

[Scuba]

24. Would the Kochs really do something like that? Of course they would ...

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/05/scott_walker_budgeted_250000_to_figure_out_if_wind_turbines_are_making_people_sick/

http://www.wisconsingazette.com/wisconsin-gaze/why-scott-walker-killed-wind-energy-jobs-in-wisconsin.html

[Thespian2]

26. Thanks for the link, Scuba

Scott Walker, who has never had a job outside politics, is the best example of a Koch sock-puppet...

[RoccoR5955]

23. There are other different widmill designs

One French design looks like a tree: http://www.treehugger.com/wind-technology/beautiful-wind-turbine-trees-generate-clean-energy-urban-environments.html

others are shaped like a helix, and stand vertical: http://www.helixwind.com/en/

I believe that there is more to wind power than meets the eye.
The Dutch had an industrial revolution with windmills before the industrial revolution.
I am certain that it can be done again.

[lunatica]

34. Thanks for posting the links

This subject is very close to my heart. I also like the idea of high rise self-sufficient farms They could be built anywhere (like desserts, inside cities, or any remote places on the planet). I can picture hundreds of small helixwind turbines built into the buildings to catch the wind too.

[Fairgo]

25. This gives me hope...

for a better future.

[zipplewrath]

28. Fundamental problem

It's not that these things don't work. But it's been shown over and over again that "bigger is better" in wind power. And not just a little, but alot. Wind power is a highly distributed power. It's not like water where we pile it up behind dams at narrow points and concentrate it into turbines where all the water flows through. Wind energy is spread out all over and in order to capture it, you need those blades to be "all over" too. And oh, by the way, you want these things high in the air so they are away from the "boundary layer" where the wind doesn't blow as fast.

I'm not say that they have no use, I'm suggesting that if I'm gonna invest in a large mast and want to collect large amounts of energy, I'm gonna build really big blades. But yeah, if I'm looking to power a specific activity and I can get away with this, I might "simplify" to this kind of design.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

29. fantastic!!! I love it! love the details, too

Like magnetic couplings instead of mechanical. No grease necessary? That's clever.

And I especially like the fact it won't hurt any flying critters!!!!

[PeoViejo]

30. If people would curtail their use of Electrical Energy

These towers might never be needed. Trees do the same thing, store the energy until needed, and sequester CO2.

[jtuck004]

31. I really like the blade-less designs...want to explore how they can be done at home.

http://atelierdna.com/masdarwindstalk/



Thank you for your post.

[mountain grammy]

32. This is great. Wind energy is our future.

[caraher]

33. The obvious negative tradeoff is land footprint

The power available to a conventional horizontal axis wind turbine is proportional to the swept area of the blades, which can be quite large. These present a fairly small effective area to the wind, so while they may be quite efficient in harnessing the power of what wind interacts with them you'd need a pretty dense forest of these to generate a lot of power.

This potentially makes them less suited to integrating with other land uses. These might be great for low-maintenance generation where demand is not great or in isolated locations, but the technology probably doesn't scale up well.