When I see windfarms, several questions occur to me -beyond ‘Do we really think these are a viable energy source?’ Why, for example, is all the gearing and generating equipment located 10m in the air?
Today’s invention is a new form of wind turbine. Two sets of turbine blades rotate about a horizontal axis on top of a column. The outer ends of each set of blades are supported by a bevel-geared ring which bears on a vertical-axis bevel gear wheel near the ground. The blades-and-wheel assembly is free to rotate about this vertical axis in response to changes in wind direction, as usual.
As the wind blows, the gearwheel rotates a generator located conveniently near ground level and protected within the support column (which can be a comparatively low-strength structure). No more swinging the whole affair around in the sky.
Hmm. Have you tried getting a quote for a 10 m diameter bevel gear?
Ok, maybe it’s nonsense…but if we scaled up production to several million a month…no, you’re right, it is nonsense.
Actually it’s about as unconvincing as the case for windfarms.