Very Efficient Vertical Wind Turbine Once Thought Impossible to Build
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By on January 28th, 2009 |
As wind industry claimed that vertical turbines are ineffective, inventor Adam Fuller developed a project to prove this theory wrong.
He designed a windmill consisting of 8 turbines, each having 4 structural steel wind scoops. The vertical turbine has 32 scoops in total and the wind can blow from any direction making the blades spin. By now the prototype is working flawlessly and even the slightest breeze of wind can make its blades spin. The turbine has a 12 feet diameter and is 36 feet tall.
As nobody made a large scale vertical turbine before , Fuller thinks his will be the one: “I’ve been able to demonstrate that for every 10 feet of baffle, there’s a 300 percent increase of output with the rotor. So my thought is that a 40 foot baffle will increase output by 1200 percent. If the 40 foot baffle system is successful, that means that 1 turbine and baffle system (about $200,000), would have the same amount of power as 12 turbines without baffles (about $150,000 ), so there’s financial efficiency. That’s a big change” .
Fuller wants to build a 120 foot model of the vertical wind turbine which he estimates could produce 30,000 to 75,000 kWh each month, enough to power up with energy 30 to 70 homes.
His success in implementing a large scale vertical turbine will probably depend on government funding. But as his project seems to work perfectly he will probably not need to knock on many doors to fulfill his dream.
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Jan 30th, 2009 at 3:45 am
Will be interesting to see how the bigger model performs. I think it’s a bit optimistic to assume linear increase with size.. But hey, time will tell.
I’ve always thought vertical wind turbines would be worth looking into: they don’t need the directional adjustment and they are a lot more compact in some ways and you could have the “guts” of the generation mechanism nicely located at ground level too (advantages for servicing and safety of workers)
Jan 30th, 2009 at 4:02 am
[...] Click here for the entire post! [...]
Jan 30th, 2009 at 4:30 am
original article from 2007
Jan 30th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Nobody’s made a large scale vertical wind turbine before? Nonsense, there are plenty of vertical wind turbines. Every try googling “vertical wind turbine?”
This is why I hate the internet!
Jan 30th, 2009 at 10:42 am
BTW vertical turbines are now made even in Taiwan so you can make the cost factor half now
BTW I am not Taiwanese or Chinese or even in energy sector and this is not an AD.
I found this on alibaba
Place of Origin Taiwan
Brand Name HiEnergy
Model No DS400
Payment & Shipping Terms:
Minimum Order Quantity: 50
Packaging Details: 50×50x150 cm
Payment Terms: L/C,T/T
Jan 30th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. Anybody with half a brain who does some research on this subject will find that there are many MANY studies that show vertical axis wind mills like the one this guy designed use more material and achieve less efficiency than a 2-3 blade horizontal axis propeller.
if you want a really efficient vertical axis go look up “Darrieus wind turbine” Way more efficiency that what this pile of junk can do. And uses less material to build too.
It’s reporting like this that dooms us to using oil and coal and nuclear and destroying our planet in the process.
Jan 30th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I made a vertical turbine back in 1984 and all the guys at the VC company I took it to showed very little interest. I felt so humiliated that i just went home and gave up.
Jan 30th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Sorry but vertical shaft turbines have been around forever.
Is this not a large scale vertical turbine?
I agree with Sturmey.
Jan 31st, 2009 at 9:00 pm
The problem with this story is that it makes no mention of the cost per kWh of the vertical turbine. I’ve talked to engineers about the physics of wind turbines before and the biggest problem is that there are few places in the US that has enough wind speed to generate cost effective electricity, especially if you’re talking about low altitude wind like this guy is proposing.
The two biggest variables in energy potential of wind is:
E = Surface area of wind being swept x wind velocity^3 x C
The reason horizontal axis blades are used is because it is the most efficient way of increasing Surface Area while using minimal material since the length of the blade and area surface area is related by a power of 2.
Surface Area of Circle = 2*pi*radius^2
The other thing to note is how important velocity is. The difference between the potential energy of 15mph wind and 20 mph wind is:
15^3 = 3375
20^3 = 8000
8000/3375 = 2.3
So 2.3 times more energy can be derived from 20 mph wind than 15 mph wind. That’s why turbines are built so tall. As you go to higher altitudes, wind speed increases.
When it comes to building grounded wind turbines, many very smart engineers have already worked on this problem. If vertical turbines were more efficient, I’m sure we would see more of them. There are lots of new innovative ideas of how to generate wind energy more efficiently that are based on capturing high altitude winds by putting wind turbines on big balloons or kite-like vehicles. I don’t know how viable these ideas are, but even the best solutions are still at least 20 years away from mass adoption.
Jun 22nd, 2009 at 4:59 am
skyrota, low speed turbine vertial vawt reliable
Jun 25th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Yes, I agree. Until wind turbines of any orientation become as expensive per KWH as Nuclear or clean coal power plants to build we will not be seeing many commercial applications. When we figure out how to build one that we can be sold to the public over the next 40 years so corporate america can reap profit on it for decades, as well as charge you for the power it’s making, then we’ll see lots of them!
ARMchair engineers, got to love them. Just like when your at a party and the grill won’t start. All of a sudden you have 30 drunken experts on the subject and everbody has a different idea about what’s wrong and how to remedy it. My hat’s off to this chap for getting off his duff and doing something productive that actually IS PRODUCING power as opposed to generating hot air….
If you’ve never built something to prove what your TOLD or READ as correct or incorrect try to keep your pie hole shut and your comment to yourself. If you want to hear yourself talk there are philosphy groups that like that sort of thing. Were in the situation were in now because there are so many ’smart’ people out there that don’t know anything. I’ve seen 6 year mechanical engineering graduates from prestigious institutions that did not even know what an allen wrench was. And we wonder why there is no manufacturing in this country!?
Jul 6th, 2009 at 9:39 am
I wonder how long it would take to regain your investment?
Sep 11th, 2009 at 4:14 am
Nice article you posted . Congratulation to gecide going green and clean. We also preserve nature and save money by using free cost wind energy and that was by the help provided in: Thanks for your post.
Sep 12th, 2009 at 12:15 am
What a great read. It is great to see more people getting involved in the renewable energy movement – especialy in wind energy.
I really like that he has through outside of the box with this homebuilt wind turbine. Top job.
Sep 15th, 2009 at 10:59 am
A great post. I am loving that there are more and more new designs entering the market for wind turbines lately. This is definately a growing area in renewable energy.
Oct 4th, 2009 at 9:38 am
MUCH BETTER WIND ORIZONTAL WIND STATION
Oct 12th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Everybody seems to have a reason it won\\\’t work. If it works at all, and produces electricity that is anywhere near the cost of what I get from my local coal fired plant, then SIGN ME UP! I don\\\’t live in an area where i can install a 200 foot tower and mount a 90 foot windmill, and i am certain that the local power company is too enamored with their bottom line to spend ANY money for a real wind turbine. But i bet i could put one of these on a mast that can get above the surrounding trees and generate more than the zero kW that i am doing now. How about the rest of you naysayers? How many of your wonderful horizontal wind turbines do you own? I think its wonderful to think about the big picture, and impress everyone about how much you studied in college, but there is a time and place to act locally, even if we are thinking globally. Even if they are not the perfect wind turbine solution, vertical turbines are a PERFECT idea for individual supplemental capability. Even if you can only offset a few kW per day, its a start. If everyone had one, it could make a real impact. If we all sit around on our collective behinds pontificating about the ultimate in efficiency and waiting for the greedy power companies to spend their \\"hard earned profits\\" on wind power, we will forever be in the grips of that same fossil industry. Do you think folks two centuries ago worried about the relative efficiency of the wooden windmill they were building? I doubt it, they just needed water pumped, or grain ground, and they needed it now. If a windmill would help at all, they tried it. If vertical wind turbines put these devices in the range of individual households, then lets see one of you \\"Cannot\\"s come up with a better idea!
Oct 12th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Hey Ron, your comment really gives a sense to fight for Green Power. The real issue is not to think how much the actual developments can bring but how much we can save from our planet. And even though actual technology is not so bad for sure development will not stop here. Even if we do small steps on our way it’s much better than none. Appreciate your comment and hope to be an inspiration to everybody.
Oct 15th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
MY ORIZONTAL WIND POWER STATION IS MUCH BETTER AND MUCH EFFICIENCY
Dec 19th, 2009 at 4:00 am
That is an interesting disign, very unique. I personally like to make my VAWT unique as well. My personal favorite is a three bladed savinous rotor, made out blue transparent arylic. Not as as large as your turbine though, only about 3 sq ft sweep area.
Two online sources I recommend to look at regarding building wind turbines, and
Jan 16th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Hey All:
There are a lot of interesting comments out there. I have built a magnetic train, a pnuematic robotic arm, and several other things just because I came up with an idea and was able to find the scraps around to try. If you do nothing, you will accomplish nothing. I live at the bottom of a hill at the end of a row of houses and it acts like a wind tunnel. I do not have a lot of room so my windmill will have to be vertical. Building the windmill will not be as much of a challenge as integrating into my home, that will be the interesting part. I think I will try… If it fails, I will find out what didn’t work and fix it. If I can learn something and even offset my electric bill a little, it will be worth it. Go Legos…
Jan 18th, 2010 at 10:47 am
Vertical wind turbines are creative design.I think it can make full use of the wind power.I am DIYer,intend to build my homemade wind turbines.Now I have some questions,can this kind of wind turbine be made by home scale? How much does the materials cost?
This is my current plans
Feb 3rd, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Vertical wind turbine to be looked at as simpler and no gear (at top) is required. I suggest combining wind and solar by making the blades metalic painted BLACK and tilted so to accept heat from sun, heated metalic blades will create flow of hot air that does wind action on airfoil, hence solar heat combined with wind rotate the vertical turbine. I think in middle east may be less wind speed but burning sun. In the night the reverse hapens, metalic blades cool faster than surrounding air that create another effect. Why not rain also does another action, please advice
Read more: http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2009/01/28/very-efficient-vertical-wind-turbine-once-thought-impossible-to-build/#ixzz0eT7U63kw