New way to harness wind power

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ChristianLoeschel
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New way to harness wind power

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Savonarola
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Re: New way to harness wind power

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ChristianLoeschel wrote:THIS is absolutely amazing!
I love it, but I'm going to have to ask a few questions:

How does the power output compare? (I suspect that it's much lower, but I might believe that the ability to draw energy from low-speed wind could make up for it.)
How do lifetimes of the materials compare? I recognize that turbines have a rather limited span of low-maintenance life, but I can see vibrating membranes losing tension and/or structural integrity, too.

Lest anyone think I'm crapping on this idea, I'm not. It seems to me to have lots of potential. (Ba-da-bum.)
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Re: New way to harness wind power

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This may have great potential. Couple of things tho...

In low wind conditions, there is very little power to be extracted. That's not going to change. The "power in wind" and thus the amount of energy we can extract goes up exponentially with increased wind speed. (I say this because there is a little myth going around that our energy needs can be fixed by people putting up little fan like windmills on their roof. Ain't gonna happen.)

These little ribbon generators may work on a very small scale for small things (it takes practically nothing to make a little LED light up). Whether it would be in any way practical to start stretching these things across valleys is quite a "stretch" indeed! It is a fascinating idea and may be great for very small power needs. But in a high wind situation, where the real power is generated, will these compete with a turbine? I doubt it.

There is also the idea of putting little turbines on a cable and hanging them up in the air like a kite. We'll see.

D.
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Re: New way to harness wind power

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I wouldnt be too worried about longevity...Mylar is incredibly durable. As for the power output, Im not sure just how low it is...its all about how fast you can move that magnet at the end of the tape in and out of the coil of wires, and that is directly related to the frequency that the tape is vibrating at...which is actually pretty high. The one concern that I do share is how easily this scales up. Not only is it. as Darrel pointed out, a "stretch" to set these up across canyons and such, I would assume that on a large scale, the belt would become much more vulnerable to be damaged. Although, given how cheap these are to make, replacing the belt may not be that bad. Either way, the simple benefit of portability and affordability makes this thing huge especially in developing countries.
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Re: New way to harness wind power

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ChristianLoeschel wrote:The one concern that I do share is how easily this scales up. Not only is it. as Darrel pointed out, a "stretch" to set these up across canyons and such, I would assume that on a large scale, the belt would become much more vulnerable to be damaged.
Perhaps I missed something, or perhaps I'm being simplistic, but I was under the impression that this idea would be implemented via multiple "not-so-big" units. I'm still trying to visualize the difference in power-generating effect using a big unit versus a small unit, effects of altering the placement of the magnets and coils, etc. Christian might be able to analyze this better than I could.
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Re: New way to harness wind power

Post by tmiller51 »

I've seen this video before; maybe a couple of years ago. I also have a difficult time imagining how it can generate very much power but I'm not discounting the idea. Unless the ribbon is slowing down a lot of the air that goes by it can't generate much power. Since it's been a while I wonder if anyone's done more work on it?

Tim
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Re: New way to harness wind power

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Savonarola wrote: Perhaps I missed something, or perhaps I'm being simplistic, but I was under the impression that this idea would be implemented via multiple "not-so-big" units. I'm still trying to visualize the difference in power-generating effect using a big unit versus a small unit, effects of altering the placement of the magnets and coils, etc. Christian might be able to analyze this better than I could.
The original idea is for small scale, but the inventor mentions the idea scaling up by spanning across large valleys. Youre correct that if the magnet is placed at the end of the band, the amount of electricity generated is the same, since the magnet would move the same distance. If I remember my physics correctly, the amount of electromotive force E in volts is proportional to the number of coils of wire the magnet passes through (please do correct me here if Im wrong, its been a LONG time).

E = -N (d(Phi)/dt)

where N is the number of coils of wire and d(Phi) is the magnetic flux.

Considering that, it would seem to make more sense to me to place the magnet as close to the center as possible, but im not sure how that would affect the harmonic oscillation of the band.
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Re: New way to harness wind power

Post by Savonarola »

I'm thinking kwlyon is a physics buff. He might know whether your math is correct; I have to admit that I don't, although it seems entirely reasonable to me.
ChristianLoeschel wrote:Considering that, it would seem to make more sense to me to place the magnet as close to the center as possible, but im not sure how that would affect the harmonic oscillation of the band.
This was my conclusion as well. But I can see that placement causing relative instability and thus irreproducibility, if not outright unreliability. A heavy enough magnet would turn the ribbon into more of a one-wavelength oscillator than a half-wavelength oscillator.

Imagine embedding coils in the horizontal (parallel to the ribbon) portions of the support in the prototype. Now use a magnetized ribbon. Or reverse it: have magnets along the horizontal supports and make the "ribbon" out of very elongated (think rectangular) loops of wire. How would this fare?
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