- posted
16 years ago
rooftop wind generator
- Vote on answer
- posted
16 years ago
Bet it'd be bloody noisy on a realistic sized version.
- Vote on answer
- posted
16 years ago
Don't ask me, whoever you are ...
But thanks for this.
Mary
- Vote on answer
- posted
16 years ago
He's saying that you can't get a turbine under 50W but then proposes to generate pwoer for lighting. Call me daft, but he appears to be overlookign the need for batteries, charge regulators *and* a decent current for charging. I suspect even a 50W turbine would be too small.
He's also overlooked the fact that effcient small wind turbines don't have gearboxes, so his drivel about gearboxes is irrelevant.
- Vote on answer
- posted
16 years ago
He IS talking about something which could be affordable in the slums of Haiti where any sort of manufactured turbine is out of the question economically. The video showed it driving a couple of LEDs. I don't know that it's the answer to world poverty but it seemed like a fairly neat diy-able generator which might interest the technically minded (rather than politically argumentaive) in this group.
- Vote on answer
- posted
16 years ago
Being able to afford something useless doesn't seem that valuable. There is a concept of appropriate technology, and there are affordable designs for wind turbines.
For example a bicycle dynohub based design can output 5W at 6V, which is a huge improvement over the design shown and it costs about £7 to construct.
Other larger wind turbines can be built using techniques available and familiar in third world countries, and there's no real need for expensive parts since key components can be sourced from scrap vehicles and from the large number of hard disk drives discarded each year.
- Vote on answer
- posted
16 years ago
I'm not convinced it's appropriate for that particular application and it may be a solution looking for a problem but I think it's an interesting one all the same.
- Vote on answer
- posted
16 years ago
I think of all the energy being unused round holes in the road which are protected by vigorously vibrating hazard tape.
Mary
- Vote on answer
- posted
16 years ago
My thoughts as well, has nobody made a "whistle" with a blade of grass and their thumbs? Or driven past a truck with a vibrating strap...