Vertical Axis Disk Wind Turbine
http://www.skyalgae.co.cc/ How the turbine works: Rotatable shutters mounted on a circular disk automatically open when directed into the wind, irregardless of the wind’s direction. Pairs of upper and lower shutters are geared together. The lower shutter acts as a counterweight to the upper shutter. The bottom shutter opens in the downward direction and its weight helps to lift the upper shutter in the upward direction, as the wind applies an opening force against both shutters. When the shutters reach the vertical position, stops prevent them from opening further and the force of the wind is transferred from the open shutters to the circular disk. And the circular disk is attached to the vertical axis for power output. The circular disk, shutters, and outer vertical axis rotate together. The outer vertical axis is mounted via bearings over an inner vertical axis that is stationery.
The shutters are blown closed by the wind (no stops in the opposite direction) as they reverse direction during their rotation and move into the wind on the opposite side of the wind turbine. When the wind is not blowing, the shutters open by gravity because the lower shutter is weighted to be slightly heavier than the upper shutter and it therefore can cause the upper shutter to open via the force of gravity as the two shutters are geared together. Wind blows against the open shutters and the open shutters with stops apply a force against the disk, but the open shutters with no stops (opposite side going into the wind) merely close due to the force of the wind (not applying a force against the disk) and the wind turbine begins spinning no matter what direction the wind comes from. Operation of the turbine is remarkably quiet as compared to the appearance of the video due to biasing members that absorb the shock of the opening and closing and provide useful energy output.
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April 1st, 2009 at 9:20 pm
at what wind speed was the video taken?
what are the sizes of the vanes?
April 5th, 2009 at 2:00 am
I don’t want to sound pessimistic but why did you build this ? I know that it’s interesting to experiment, but are there any advantages over usual turbines ?
April 6th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
arcuz13 your right, it is perfect for water turbine.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Wind turbines generate electricity by spinning with alot of force, not by spinning as fast as they can. Large conventional wind turbines are pretty limited in the speed they can spin anyway.
April 11th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Efficiency would probably be half that of a propeller and looks much more expensive. More moving parts means higher maintenance expense as well.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
how can it work well at low altitude? if it works well then it could be a new breakthrough. i dont care who makes money from these ideas i just want more efficient and cost effective clean energy
April 14th, 2009 at 5:43 am
Cool idea, looks like you get torque over speed but that usable power.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Why not just cover up half the system and put a tail on it. it will work the same but you can keep the fins fixed.
April 18th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Very ineffiecent design, it can never build up much speed and as size is rendered up it becomes even for ineffiecent.
Another patent hound clogging up the system with trash.
April 24th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Doesnt look that efficient, but it looks like it could be made to be very portable, which may be good for generating in remote areas.
April 25th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
It is way too noisy.
April 27th, 2009 at 1:55 am
Oti, galing mo,.. mas ok ito kung gagamitin as water turbine,.. keep up the gud works.
April 27th, 2009 at 2:16 am
I don’t think this idea was meant to revolutionise the commercial production of wind power. A design like this is never going to be as efficient as a 10+MW HAWT. There is another market for wind and that is aimed at the end user. A design like this would fit much easier into the urban environment where people don’t want to see turbines towering over all the houses. Keep these great ideas flowing I say. Great stuff!!
April 29th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
It is a drag design. Drag designs get less than 15% efficiency. So it is a waste of time.
April 30th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Don’t worry. People ridiculed Einstein, Edison and Marconi too. Put everything you have into your design, it will either succeed and be useful or it will fail and add to the overall repository of human knowledge. Either way your work is fruitful and not a waste of time.
May 3rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Looks like a lot of energy is wasted opening the metal blades. If the blades were super light and they were being signaled to open that might produce interesting results. Might be less efficient too. I do like the way the design is very sleek as it is pushing into the wind on the return part of the rotation.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Interesting design, but I bet it’s less efficient than a propeller type wind turbine.
May 8th, 2009 at 8:25 am
I bet this is real quiet scaled up.
May 9th, 2009 at 4:53 am
too much can go wrong with this design.
May 9th, 2009 at 4:57 am
this would be an interesting bullet trap
May 9th, 2009 at 5:30 am
directed at both the person who posted the video and the foul-mouth fool who defended him.
May 10th, 2009 at 5:52 am
Sorry you have taken my comment the way you did. If you’re going to post your “ticket to fame & riches” on YouTube, be prepared and willing for others to give you a reality check. I simply gave you my honest opinion based on my many years of engineering experience. As far as patents: I have many in the medical device/Aerospace industry. What I see in your device is a clever way of making a disc rotate horizontally; it’s just not a device which trumps current technology. Be nice.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:29 am
its too complex. too much energy is being wasted on flapping the blades.