OT. New design "Wind Turbine"

[harry]

Sounds like bollix to me.

[Chris Hogg]

They say it oscillates at 20Hz, "just about the quietest noise humans can hear". Bearing in mind that sounds at those frequencies can cause discomfort, headaches and nausea, and can actually be dangerous at high intensities, I can't see them being very popular. Then there are the possible resonance and interference effects, one column with another.

[Fredxxx]

Agreed, but then conventional wind turbines are also blamed for ill health from subsonic emissions.

I would expect that this effect might actually improve efficiency if there is any measurable coupling.

[Syd Rumpo]

I wonder what happens in very strong winds where a normal turbine would be feathered.

Cheers

[polygonum]

Regardless, Hertz ain't no measure of quietness/loudness. Not appearing to know the difference between Hertz and decibels doesn't auger well for the project.

[Brian-Gaff]

Hmm, well I don't know. Perhaps Mr Dysan could use some of his fans in reverse? Brian

[newshound]

I can't see it capturing energy particularly efficiently, especially at low wind speeds. In a howling gale it does not need to be so efficient. OTOH in howling gales, I would be very interested in the stresses and strains on the various parts, and hence the fatigue life.

[Chris Hogg]

Quote from Harry's link "The Vortex is 30% less efficient in generating energy than a wind turbine" . Bearing in mind the pit-falls of such weasel wording, that's 70% of not-a-lot. They claim it can be compensated for by placing them closer together than wind turbines. An artificial forest of vibrating masts. Lovely, I don't think!

[JimK]

/Regardless, Hertz ain't no measure of quietness/loudness. Not appearing to know the difference between Hertz and decibels doesn't auger well for the project. /

One presumes they are referring to pitch not sound level...

Jim K

[The Natural Philosopher]

comes to mind....

[Geo]

From the headline, they don't need to be reversed "...future of wind generation"

I thought someone had found a way of rotating the turbines on windless days.

[newshound]

Scott Adams had so many things nailed!

Your sig line is also somewhat apposite, given that the Thatcher ethic was often interpreted as "Sell your dreams (no matter how daft)"

[alan_m]

How are they going to synchronise all those 20Hz oscillations?

[alan_m]

I believe he gets most of his ideas from people who actually work in the industry.

Before the company had to save serious money, the company I worked for employed a new set of consultants every few years to put in place the latest 'management/production improvement fad", often originating in the US of A. What top management and the consultants didn't realise was that Dilbert had already covered the topic in depth and identified the underlying b******t.

[Vir Campestris]

The little one behind him as a talking head seems to be about 4Hz, and the bigger one they were setting up in a field was less than that - maybe 2. I assume as they get bigger they'll slow down.

Andy

[harry]

The point is,as they are so narrow they interrupt such a small volume of air, they is little energy to be extracted.

[harry]

Why would they want to?

[Chris Hogg]

Quite. Presumably they'll be constructed to generate DC which is then converted to mains-synchronised AC, either individually or after combining all the DC outputs.

[Chris Hogg]

But can't you argue the same for windmills? Although the blades rotate and sweep out quite a large area, the actual sail area onto which the wind impinges is only a small fraction of that, and most of the wind goes straight past, between the sails. Whether this is covered by Betz's law, I'm not sure, but TNP will know.

's_law

[alan_m]

They are claiming that the 20Hz reduces noise pollution but what do they get with lots of towers producing asynchronous 20Hz noise? Probably a low hum being modulated at a much lower frequency which will much more annoying to surrounding home occupiers.