Re: Treadmill motors

On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:50:19 -0600, Don Foreman
<dforeman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 13:29:19 -0600, Richard J Kinch
<kinch@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


If degrading yourself to a primitive life is your goal, windmills are a
very effective technology.

Megawatts of power are generated by wind both in Holland near the
Zuider Zee, and in SW Minnesota.

http://www.me3.org/issues/wind/

You might argue that wind power is more "primitive" than fossil or
nuke-powered steam turbines, but ever-improving power
semiconductor technology is playing and will continue to play an
important role in the development of economically-effective, clean,
sustainable electric power generation from wind. The
semiconductors come into play because, while a steam turbine can be
controlled to run at a given speed, wind is variable. Controls make
it possible to maximize the output from a windmill under existing
wind conditions.
I like the idea of wind power. But it really bugs me that all the
windmills have a feature that stops them in high winds. I know why
this done, but it still rankles. I hope someone comes up with a
windmill that can keep generating when the winds are really fast.
Years ago I read a book about props and according to this book a 1
bladed prop would be best for transmitting or absorbing energy. Of
course the balance is a big problem. But Boeing built a huge one blade
windmill. Where the other blade would be is a stump. This stump is a
counterweight. I guess that the stump is in an area that doesn't
produce much power so the drag and turbulence it causes has a minimal
effect on the power produced. As far as I know though, only one was
built. Doing a web search just now I could find no info on that one
bladed windmill. Maybe it never produced any power. Maybe my memory is
wrong.
ERS
.

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