http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/ Engadget Comments for Superpowerful small wind turbines light up the night http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/

At least we are making progress from those freaking huge tri-blade towers....]]>May 13th 2008 5:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
No.]]>May 13th 2008 5:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
If it was positioned well, then it could also be used to recharge batteries when stationary too.]]>May 13th 2008 5:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
I believe it could only add net power to an electric/hybrid vehicle system if it popped up during breaking and folded down during other times, resulting in no additional resistance during acceleration and maintenance of cruising speed.]]>May 13th 2008 6:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
1. Big and few.

2. Small and many.

Small and many en-masse will be better. Besides, why build ginormous towers where you can build tons of tiny ones and get even more power?]]>May 13th 2008 6:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
The big ones may be harder to get up and running.... but once they're there, they stay and they work for years.]]>May 13th 2008 7:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 7:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 9:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 14th 2008 12:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 14th 2008 12:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/Jun 19th 2008 6:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/

Or at least scratched lol.....]]>May 13th 2008 5:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
If these are durable enough they could stick this in the 100's of thousands of unused acres in the Everglades which could generate a ton of power during a hurricane, or the windy open hills and deserts like here in Northern California.]]>May 13th 2008 5:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 6:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 7:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.aerotecture.com ) and if you look into it these guys created a really advanced wind turbine technology that actually works in Chicago]]>May 13th 2008 8:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 8:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
On a further engineering note, sequenced turbines have the potential to generate more power than a single large scale turbine if correctly balanced, as seen above. If this array is designed to reduce turbulence and vortex shear at the blade tips, they should be quiet enough to put on the roof of your house. Maybe. :P

Ultimately, this story suggests a step in overcoming three of the four main barriers to widespread adoption of wind powered turbines: cost (and return on investment), noise, and size (the fourth of course being consistency).

It's a good idea, and if a funcitonal, efficient version were to become available, I would put a set of them on my roof in an instant, with an accumulator pile in my house, and an excess tap selling power back into the grid to reduce my household costs.

Kudos (if it really works)!]]>May 14th 2008 3:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.nwpwr.com/products/wind/air_x_marine.htm]]>May 13th 2008 5:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/he's getting 200 watts from 13 small turbines which isn't really much of an achivement]]>May 13th 2008 5:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
Saying that he's wired 14 blades together and calling it 14 turbines is akin to calling a dual propped boat motor, a boat with two engines.

From what I recall, he had to overcome turbulence issues with that many blades by designing them in a special manner so they wouldn't interfere with one another. He's designed 3kw designs that function with 25 blades and one end is supported by a balloon. Not 100% practical but very interesting.

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-05/ten-times-turbine]]>May 13th 2008 5:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
Is that even possible??]]>May 13th 2008 5:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/

]]>May 13th 2008 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 7:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 8:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 14th 2008 12:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
]]>May 20th 2008 8:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/"With 18" diameter rotors, we're putting out a varying current running between 100 and 200 watts."

pretty hard to take these guys seriously if they don't know the differance between power(watts) and current(amps).]]>May 13th 2008 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 8:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
A varying current results in varying power output when applied at a constant voltage. They were correct in what they said.]]>May 13th 2008 9:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
The wire seems to be running down his arms, and he's standing on the barrel with the light bulb.

I like this idea. It's small enough to be useful around most homes, and it's likely pretty cheap too.]]>May 13th 2008 5:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-05/ten-times-turbine]]>May 13th 2008 6:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 9:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/
It didn't blow out a bank of "car batteries". It blew out "car headlight bulbs"

"An easy 200 watts in about a 20 mph wind or so, lighting the four 50 watt car headlight bulbs ..." "In stronger winds this prototype blows out these lights like flashbulbs - poof!"]]>May 13th 2008 5:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/13/superpowerful-small-wind-turbines-light-up-the-night/May 13th 2008 5:47PM