The Wind Dam Could Be Better Than Wind Turbines
By Nick February 29, 2008
A Londoner architect has built up a project for producing wind energy and is supposed to be better than conventional wind turbines. According to Laurie Chetwood, founder of Chetwood Associates architectural company, the wind goes around the turbines rather than through its turbines.
Laurie’s idea consists of a wind dam which is attached to a giant turbine - the power is generated with the help of a spinnaker sail which traps high-speed winds. The wind dam should produce almost 120 megawatts, an amount enough for 35 homes. The concept is blamed by Stephen Conners, an expert in the matter from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative. He says that the dam will not support the pressure if the wind will blow from multiple directions which is going to create turbulences and the wind won’t make it to the turbine’s rotors.
Laurie is aware of this issues has come up with some solutions - the dam will have a conic shape that will reduce the turbulences and it should be built in areas where the wind comes from one direction. The project has already been financed by a Finnish company which has allocated $5 millions for a 17,000 square-foot Kevlar dam which will be anchored in a valley near Lake Ladoga in Russia. The project is expected to be completed by next year.
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120 MW will be way more than enough for 35 homes. General rule of thumb is ~1-3 kW per home.
$5 million for a 17,000 square-foot wind dam that powers 35 homes? Totally worth it.
This is quite a poorly written article. Firstly, 120MW is enough for around 35000 homes not 35. Secondly, “The concept is blamed by Stephen Conners, an expert in the matter from…” The concept is blamed? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Or do you mean something like ‘The concept is refuted, or rubbished or something along those lines.
Interesting idea, but there are a few reasons why wind turbines generally don’t use these designs typically called “tunnels”. It’s not as effective in capturing winds as one would hope. Secondly, when it does work like its supposed to it would likely run too fast and brakes would have to be applied.
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It won’t work. If you think about a vertical cylinder of water and a funnel the same height filled with water, the pressure at the base is the same. You can’t extract much more work from the wind this way, there’ll be no increase in pressure. Google for “Bernouli’s equation”. (it’s the same reason you can’t *supercharge* your car by attaching a big funnel to the air intake to “pressurise” the air.)
it looks like underwear O.o
How do you deal with the orientation? Any wind shift will be a problem and the there is the beating itself to death problem when the sail luffs. I’ve done a lot of yacht racing in my life and I can’t see it being practical but I don’t have all the details. Anyone who has ever carried a sheet of plywood across a yard on a windy day will think twice about this. Maglev man myself.
Cool stuff. This thing can change the future. Any one knows how solar concentrators and this compares ?
Looks like a better use for this would be as a giant bird-blender, cuz I’m pretty sure that’s what it would turn into. Like setting a giant jet engine up in a migratory path. On the bright side, KFC’s productivity would be up 500 percent!
how big is it maybe it would make a great rotating roof.
yeah like a ram jet engine on a stick
power = force*velocity. Altho the pressure will be similar, the area is smaller, hence the force will be greater. this coupled with greater velocity will lead to greater power