New helical wind turbine fence concept

[Supervstech]

Touted as silent, and generating 2200kW…

Super impressive wall of wind turbines yield 2,200 kWh of quiet energy

Urban landscapes cannot install giant horizontal turbines to tap into wind power. A sleeker, eye-pleasing turbine like Airiva's solves this problem.

interestingengineering.com

 

[BentleyJ]

Seems like they mean 2,200kWh. Nice design aesthetics. Wonder how these would look and perform stretched across the Southern Border with razor wire on top.
I know, controversial subject, couldn't help myself. Issue has been in the news A LOT lately.

 

[cs1234]

I don't think my HOA would approve.

 

[Ampster]

The fundamental flaw in that concept is the disturbance of wind by the ground and nearby buildings. In the perfect setting it could work fine.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Put them along the coastline boardwalks.

Oh wait, you'd have stupid spring break teenagers pushing each other into them

 

[SeaGal]

Seems like they mean 2,200kWh.

Unbelievable they got the units wrong.

Nice design aesthetics. Wonder how these would look and perform stretched across the Southern Border

They're just a set of revolving doors.

 

[murmeister]

The fundamental flaw in that concept is the disturbance of wind by the ground and nearby buildings. In the perfect setting it could work fine.

You're right about that. What they hint at but don't say, is these are intended to go on top of tall buildings. In the text, they say they are targeted at urban areas and are hoping for hotels and apartment buildings to adopt them.

Something like this is a long way from being useful to rural homesteaders.

I did see a concept video for a horizontal wind turbine that mounts on the ridge line of a home's roof. It makes use of the laminar flow that comes up the slope of the roof to "clean" the wind before it hits the turbine. It got me excited and I went looking for it. Alas, it was someone's fantasy but not ready for prime time.

 

[740GLE]

But how will they kill birds?

 

[cs1234]

Put them along the coastline boardwalks.

Oh wait, you'd have stupid spring break teenagers pushing each other into them

And?

 

[Steve777]

Nice idea, but not all that practical IMO. Just look a bit more closely at the numbers: 2200KWH/yr is an average of ~6KWH per day. And that for an object that is roughly 14' long x 7' tall (plus some thickness which they don't give but looks like ~3'). In my location, PV panels that can make that much energy would be roughly 1200w of panels, at a cost these days of about $400. I have my doubts that this new "turbine" can be had at a similar cost.

I agree with previous comments about ground level winds. There is a reason commercial wind farms use horizontal axis rotors that are way up on towers. It seems every so often someone resurrects vertical axis wind turbines idea again, then "we" slowly remember why they did not catch on the last time...

 

[SparkyJJO]

And?

Probably break the turbines trying to wind each other into them.
I'm not exactly worried about the dumb teenagers themselves.
Boy, I'm just a grouch in my "old" age.

 

[Steve777]

I did see a concept video for a horizontal wind turbine that mounts on the ridge line of a home's roof. It makes use of the laminar flow that comes up the slope of the roof to "clean" the wind before it hits the turbine. It got me excited and I went looking for it. Alas, it was someone's fantasy but not ready for prime time.

Before attaching a wind turbine to any structure you should go listen to the noise of a typical small wind turbine and feel the vibration on the tower pole, and realize that that noise and vibration will be transmitted through your structure. It is a lot of noise/vibration. Not really livable for most people. Also there are structural concerns, most buildings are not designed to take the additional loads a wind turbine would place on them.

 

[TechRider]

If it's 6kwh / day, you'd still generate 3kwh during hours when the sun is down. That'd help my batteries a little at night.

They don't mention what kind of wind speeds they'd need to generate that however.

 

[cs1234]

Fortunately, wind speeds seem to be picking up a bit around here in Texas lately.

 

[TechRider]

Same in Ohio. I'd love to be able to get around 1kwh at night.

 

[Steve777]

If it's 6kwh / day, you'd still generate 3kwh during hours when the sun is down. That'd help my batteries a little at night.

They don't mention what kind of wind speeds they'd need to generate that however.

Yeah, at the high level of looking at things, that's what you'd expect. However like most things, the devil is in the details. How much wind do you get at night, what direction does it come from? What's the nature of that wind, moderate and steady or gusty or very strong. Lots of variables go into how well a wind generator will produce. While it's pretty obvious when PVs won't produce well (nighttime or clouds or snow covered), it is a bit more complex for wind. What we feel as windy weather is often not ideal for making wind energy. Without knowing the details of this wind generator and the wind details of your site, you won't be able to predict whether you'll get that outcome.

 

[cs1234]

I just want a 14' tall fence. Too bad it's got big holes in it.

 

[Ray Clout]

The fundamental flaw in that concept is the disturbance of wind by the ground and nearby buildings. In the perfect setting it could work fine.

Not true. These are VAWT....vertical axis wind turbines...and unlike the horizontal axis type are quite happy to work in wind gusts or disturbed air around buildings. I was involved in installing a 12kw VAWT on the roof of a 17 story building in the middle of the city, with multiple surrounding tall buildings. A wind survey was performed in a wind tunnel of a model of the surrounding precinct. The results showed that wind was disturbed radically....racing up the side of the building and spilling over onto the roof...cross drafts...etc. The VAWT performed very happily with no issues. The point is the VAWT is actually designed to operate in urban environments

 

[Zwy]

Touted as silent, and generating 2200kW…

Super impressive wall of wind turbines yield 2,200 kWh of quiet energy

Urban landscapes cannot install giant horizontal turbines to tap into wind power. A sleeker, eye-pleasing turbine like Airiva's solves this problem.

interestingengineering.com

Ground mounted here won't work in winter when some extra generation is needed. Don't need the VAWT in summer, plenty of extra generation just from PV.

We get this white stuff that blows around and those VAWT's at ground level would be under 10 feet of that white stuff. I put up snow fence every year along my windbreak until the spruce and cedar get large enough.

One would be better served installing vertical bi facial's in N/S orientation with enough clearance under it to keep the snow from drifting in.

 

[OffGridForGood]

You're right about that. What they hint at but don't say, is these are intended to go on top of tall buildings. In the text, they say they are targeted at urban areas and are hoping for hotels and apartment buildings to adopt them.

Something like this is a long way from being useful to rural homesteaders.

I did see a concept video for a horizontal wind turbine that mounts on the ridge line of a home's roof. It makes use of the laminar flow that comes up the slope of the roof to "clean" the wind before it hits the turbine. It got me excited and I went looking for it. Alas, it was someone's fantasy but not ready for prime time.

"Ridgeblade" - still in development

 

[wdwtx2.0]

Looks good in theory.

 

[OffGridForGood]

New Helical wind turbine Fence concept - but will not work well close to the ground, buried in snow, shouldn't be in a place where you could touch it,
a row of PV in a fence will produce more power for less money using less space:

"New Helical wind turbine for top of tall buildings concept"

 

[Ampster]

Thanks for the explanation. I stand corrected.

 

[Hedges]

Not true. These are VAWT....vertical axis wind turbines...and unlike the horizontal axis type are quite happy to work in wind gusts or disturbed air around buildings. I was involved in installing a 12kw VAWT on the roof of a 17 story building in the middle of the city, with multiple surrounding tall buildings. A wind survey was performed in a wind tunnel of a model of the surrounding precinct. The results showed that wind was disturbed radically....racing up the side of the building and spilling over onto the roof...cross drafts...etc. The VAWT performed very happily with no issues. The point is the VAWT is actually designed to operate in urban environments

Not because it is VAWT, rather because it is a "drag" device like an anemometer, not a "lift" device with an airfoil.

Air foils run much faster than the wind and produce more power per unit area. But they stall with turbulence then produce much less.

What kind were you involved with? Got photos?

 

[robbob2112]

Fortunately, wind speeds seem to be picking up a bit around here in Texas lately.

Politicians talking?