The ultimate test will be on generation output on area of land, and possibly installation and maintenance costs .

 

I have not been up close to a conventional rotary wind farm. I have heard that they are noisy and that the thrill of the windmill shortly passes.
I also understand that there is a minimum and maximum wind limits. Also very high maintenance. And a list of other complaints.
What if we could mass produce a vane at 20-30 bucks a piece. We could install a vane every square foot or so. An un-shining sea of grain.... I mean vane.
No maintenance......just have the landowner replace. No min or max wind speeds. Replace and forget.
Can be aesthetically placed in landscapes. Should be a rushing like noise....i.e. woods noise. Excellent for high latitudes and polar work.
And don't forget the animals and birds.......they are used to this kind of movement.
I can't find anything in the minus column.

 

I can't find anything in the minus column.

Scale. "Small" wind is very inefficient in its use of capital. That's why, at the commercial level, there is only "big" wind – those giant turbines perched atop tall towers. Wind speed tends to be proportional to elevation above the ground. So for any given plot of land, you'll get more wind by going up. Then, there's the simple geometry that the swept area goes up with the square of the blade radius. A 6-foot diameter blade collects 4 times the wind energy of a 3-foot blade.

There are strong economic incentives to make any wind turbine as high and as big as technology allows.

 

Do you think that using a crankshaft to turn the input end of a fairly high ratio gearbox, to turn the shaft of a generator is the most viable means to convert that oscillating mass action into usable electrical power? The losses in that gearbox are substantial.

The gearboxes that I've worked with, in the range of 2 to 20 MW transmitted power, typically have an efficiency of around 98%. These are all bull gear and pinion type gearboxes, but I doubt that the planetary gearboxes in wind turbines are much different efficiency wise. 2% of a few MW is a considerable amount of heat that needs to be dealt with somehow, but in terms of overall efficiency I don't think you can do much better right now.

As for those oscillating vanes I too think that the limited motion, more specifically the low average blade velocity judging by the video, will also limit its power output compared to conventional wind turbines. But maybe the costs/economics are that much better ...

 

2% of a few MW is a considerable amount of heat that needs to be dealt with somehow,

Not really. About 205,000 BTU or less than your typical vehicle's radiator or two average sized residential heating systems produce.

 

I have not been up close to a conventional rotary wind farm. I have heard that they are noisy and that the thrill of the windmill shortly passes.

Not really. We have a large one a few miles form my place and it's not noticeable. A typical highway or rail road line is way noisier.

As for maintenance they're not bad either. I've been trying t get a job servicing the ones near me for years but the utility isn't hiring because they don't need much of a workforce to keep them going. One guy for every 100 or so units is what I was told.

The pay must be good and the workload light because the guys who have the jobs now won't give them up.

 

A good example of a large windfarm:

45.649379,-120.612298

or

96900 Herin Ln, Wasco, OR 97065

I've worked there a bit, and regardless of the wind, the windmills noise was apparently below ambient; you couldn't hear them over the sound of the wind itself. I've driven through other similar windfarms within 150 mi or so of that one, all with similar equipment, and only under certain circumstances can they be heard.

The cranes used to erect the towers, set the generators, and install the blades are very, very large and the costs to bring one to these windfarms are substantial. Only time will tell of how failed units will be typically handled for replacement, substantial maintenance or demolition. My feeling is that the owners of these windfarms will neutral pitch the blades and let units, requiring repairs on the scale that will necessitate the use of one of these large cranes, to sit unused until a large enough quantity of failed windmills exist within a given radius or area to justify the costs of bringing in that large equipment to make the needed repairs. Simply climbing the ladder in the column to do work of any sort in the generator unit is an awful experience.

Personally, I'm skeptical about the figures used for unit lifespans, costs of maintenance and repairs, replacement, etc..

 

the windmills noise was apparently below ambient;

I guess it depends on thee individuals. The low frequency thumping from the blades was obvious to me at quite a few wind farms that I visited.

There are. Also news reports. Of complaints on that. Including from some ardent and very well known environmentalists.

 

My feeling is that the owners of these windfarms will neutral pitch the blades and let units, requiring repairs on the scale that will necessitate the use of one of these large cranes, to sit unused until a large enough quantity of failed windmills exist within a given radius or area to justify the costs of bringing in that large equipment to make the needed repairs.

That's what I suspect as well. Our local wind farm had one unit lose it's blades to a likely tornado incident and it sat parked for a year or more before the service crane came in and when it was there I can recall several others having had it next to them over a period of a month or so.

The service job I want to get into is the one as the a person who checks over the individual units from time to time. Basically visual inspections and climbing up and checking the gearboxes, generators and related systems hands on to make sure they are working properly.

Personally, I'm skeptical about the figures used for unit lifespans, costs of maintenance and repairs, replacement, etc..

I think that a lot of that depends on the manufacturer and locations the units are used in. I understand that while the now more mature designs and technology that's behind the newest generation of units was being developed that there was a lot of guess and hope engineering that came up short in real life applications that went into the refining the designs that gave them the bad rep on reliability and some manufacturers were way worse at it than others.

Some manufacturers were worse at it than others and they gave the whole industry a questionable rep. Then add in how many more good usints were put in terrible locations where they would never pay for themselves simply due to bad politics and it made things worse.

Where I live they work and they work well and we know they are profitable here and we want more! The numbers hare add up to show they are worth the investments in our region!

 

I wouldn't call these a "wind turbine" I'd call it a "jiggler". I wouldn't think those tiny movements could get much power but maybe they can.

Wait, if I used the jiggling motion to put pressure on a piezoelectric crystal, won't it generate electricity?

Does anyone know if the movement actually moves a generator to make electricity? Has anyone made one at home?

 

Wait, if I used the jiggling motion to put pressure on a piezoelectric crystal, won't it generate electricity?

yes. as does putting that piezo directly in the wind -> wind noise generates electricity.

 

https://techxplore.com/news/2017-01-turbine-hummingbird.html

 

https://techxplore.com/news/2017-01-turbine-hummingbird.html

I smell scam.
http://www.treehugger.com/wind-technology/startups-wind-generator-flaps-its-wings-hummingbird.html

I think this was their last company.
http://newatlas.com/saphonian-bladeless-wind-turbine/24890/