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Interesting Wind Power Concept
#7
RE: Interesting Wind Power Concept
(October 24, 2010 at 9:16 am)orogenicman Wrote: 1) I think Scotty addressed this one.

2) Why would it be a problem for these stalks to come into contact with each other?

3) One would think that these stalks would be more natural to birds than wind generators, since, except for the fact that they don't have branches, they look a bit like trees.

4) My understanding is that any movement would create electricity. I just find it unlikely that any location where they could be installed would have such utterly constant wind velocity that you envision. Perhaps it could actually be located in more places than typical wind farms because constant wind velocity would not be a requirement.

5) Huh?

6) I can imagine that they would produce some kind of noise, most likely a whistling or swoshing noise, a bit like wind blowing through trees, but not as loud because they have no leaves. I don't see it as being a problem in areas where wind farms are typically located.

7) It appears to me that the design indicates that the only maintenance would be at the base of the stalk. If there is a problem with the stalk itself, I would think that the only thing you could do would be to replace it. As far as maintenance in excsssive wind conditions, you would simply not work on them under such extreme conditions. I doubt if even wind farms are worked on in extreme wind conditions.

I think most of these issues could be worked out once a demonstration project is designed and built. It is an interesting concept, but I admit that I don't understand all of the issues that could arise with such a system, the biggest one for me, of course, being whether or not it could generate enough electricity to make it worth the effort and expense. Thanks for posting your thoughts on the subject.

1. The fact that system is not fundamentally frictionless means there will be wear and tear, and it's not clear how the hysteresis loss will impact its mechanical efficiency.

2. Even mild contacts between swaying stalks will impart local loads and stresses near points of contact much higher than the stalks would experience as part of normal swaying, and will also create complex oscillation modes and frequencies throughout the length of the stalk not normally to be expected in normal swaying. Carbon fiber in matrix structures are not particular tough under impact load. So possibility of contact will require the stalks be made much more robust, heavy, and thus more costly and inefficient than otherwise.

3. I am not sure if a dense field of comparatively very thin, swaying stalks will appear to birds to be something for which they would have appropriate instincts.

4. The point is a supposedly green generating resource that can not produce a reasonably constant output over time scale of a 5 or 10 minutes is not very green. The power grid can't just take any power. It must take power offered, along with power services required to ensure grid reliability in voltage and frequency. This means if it were to take power from a source that fluncturates quickly, like this stalk field, It must also simultaneously take rapidly centrally controllable power, called regulation service, to damp out short term fluctuations in the green resource. Fast response units capable of providing good regulation service tends to thermally inefficient, and providing this regulation service would further require that they run in an suboptimal part of their output range. So the green generation that can't maintain reasonably constant output must then account for the emissions of the regulating thermal resources they require to provide useful power to the grid. When that is factored in, the fluctuation in output in a green renewable resource would indeed be quite costly in both non-renewable fuel and ghg emissions.

5. There is no way to independently modulate the output of the stalk field to provide smoother power output like one could conventional wind turbines with variable pitch blades.

6. Wind turbines are not loud, but people complain about their noises anyway.

7. The point is stalk fields can't be worked on even in a light wind because there is no provision to fix a stalk and prevent it moving. Wind turbines can feather their blades and lock their shafts.







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Messages In This Thread
Interesting Wind Power Concept - by orogenicman - October 24, 2010 at 1:00 am
RE: Interesting Wind Power Concept - by ib.me.ub - October 24, 2010 at 2:50 am
RE: Interesting Wind Power Concept - by Autumnlicious - October 24, 2010 at 3:26 am
RE: Interesting Wind Power Concept - by Anomalocaris - October 24, 2010 at 3:59 am
RE: Interesting Wind Power Concept - by orogenicman - October 24, 2010 at 9:16 am
RE: Interesting Wind Power Concept - by Anomalocaris - October 24, 2010 at 11:21 am
RE: Interesting Wind Power Concept - by ib.me.ub - October 24, 2010 at 4:43 am

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