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Two technologies that we are unabashedly in love with here at EcoGeek are wind power and lighter-than-air craft. So a system that combines blimps and wind turbines is certain to draw our attention.
{digg}http://digg.com/environment/Flying_SuperTurbines_To_Capture_More_Wind_Power_PICS{/digg}With wind turbines, most schemes to increase power have focused on increasing the swept area of the blades and improving their aerodynamic performance. But that's not the only way to do it. The Selsam SuperTurbine is a concept for a multiblade wind turbine for either land-based or off-shore installations. With the smaller swept area of each individual rotor, this turbine promises to be less visually obtrusive than other types of off-shore turbines. A design featuring a simple stalk with multiple sets of rotors all turning a shared axle allows this turbine design to produce more power despite the smaller swept area.
In off-shore installations, the Selsam turbine can also be lowered, or even submerged, in violent storm conditions in order to protect the turbine from damage. This ability also makes maintenance and repair work easier, rather than needing to have workers scaling multiple-hundreds of feet to access them. For larger scale generation (over 1 megawatt), the blimp-lofted design would have dozens of rotor sets along the axle in order to turn the generator, and the weight of the axle would be supported by a blimp to lift the far end.
Obviously, a lot of work will have to be done to determine whether this system truly could increase the financial viability of wind power. But for pure inspiration and beauty we have to give Selsam our most enthusiastic thumbs up.
via: Groovy Green
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written by Karsten, April 18, 2008
Fiction may be inspiring, but it is easy. Especially if one stops right there.
Karsten
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written by P Proefrock, April 18, 2008
It's still a long ways off before the blimp turbines arrive, but they've got something built to test their concepts, albeit at a much smaller scale.
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written by Fang Liang, April 19, 2008
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written by frisbee, April 19, 2008
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written by Fat guy, April 20, 2008
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written by larz, April 23, 2008
be smarter to do this in marginal lands like
Greenland or Canada's far North. They would be much
easier to maintain. Too cold? Well, forget the
balloon and anchor them to the ground. Nobody's
using that land, anyway. Canadian winds could
feed the planet.
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Ideas on paper are important and possibly inspiring. Nevertheless, presenting good renderings or photo realistic drawings may lull many into thinking that there are solutions out there already and all we have to do is build them. Especially if one ignores science or other realities.
Fiction is easy.
Karsten