Posted on 11/08/2005 9:56:10 PM PST by saganite
CHEYENNE, WYOMING, USA -- Terra Moya Aqua Inc. (TMA) is ready to go into production of a new vertical-axis wind turbine design that resolves some of the shortcomings that have plagued the traditional propeller design.
While many of the new design features are superior to the familiar propeller, Ron Taylor, who is the inventor of the new vertical design, as well as founder, Chief Operations Officer, and chairman of the board for Terra Moya Aqua Inc., is modest in his approach. He does not see his vertical turbine supplanting the existing propeller infrastructure, but rather views it as supplementing the field.
Ten years in the making, with seven iterations, and countless hours in a wind tunnel being tested by a premier wind engineering firm, as well as years of data collected from prototypes installed just outside of Cheyenne (one of the more windy locations in the U.S.), the TMA design is now ready for commercialization.
While the various propeller designs now in use harness from 20 to 28% of the wind’s power, with some newer designs edging to between 30% and 40%, Taylor says that TMA's design captures over 40% of the wind’s power, all across the profile, from low- to very high-speed winds. Depending on the harsh Wyoming weather, a production prototype is expected to be completed in 5-7 months, at which time they will then launch full-scale manufacturing.
Power from Push and Pull
Perhaps the most fascinating feature of this new design is the fact that it not only gathers energy from the push on the front side, but actually is pulled forward on the back side through a lift effect, similar to the principle that causes lift on a wing. "The back pressure creates a vortex that pulls it around, turning drag into lift," says Taylor.
The result is that the turbine spins just slightly faster than the wind speed -- 1/100ths faster on average, beginning with winds of about 5 miles per hour.
This facet is the "technology breakthrough" that makes it unique, according to Taylor.
This is the crux of their design, and of the approximate sixty claims between the two U.S. patents awarded and a third pending, and numerous international patents secured as well. "We have received notice of the acceptance of the 2nd USA Patent from our attorney but have yet to receive the printed version with the number," said Taylor. "Our patent attorney is very pleased with how broad our patent protection is."
Trial and Error
Earlier designs had 7-8 rotors on them, but in wind tunnel testing, they found that the wind tended actually to blow around the turbine – much as water flows a rock in a stream – rather than through it. This is a case, the inventor confirms, in which “less is more.” Their present design has only two rotor blades with three directional foils.
The independent Fort Collins wind-engineering company, Cermak Peterka, Perterson, Inc., that tested TMA's various design iterations, is considered one of the most competent in the world. For example, the company’s track record includes running the wind analysis on the WTC Twin Towers prior to their construction. (Ref) TMA also used some of the same software used by large automobile and airline manufacturers such as G.M. or Boeing, for data collection on materials stress and wind flow.
As a result of implementing changes based on these professional analyses, TMA's latest vertical turbine performs eight times better than their first.
Ready to Come out of the Chute Ronald J. Taylor Inventor of the design, as well as founder, Chief Operations Officer, and chairman of the board for Terra Moya Aqua Inc.
Taylor said that his company has taken a very low-key approach in the development of their technology. "We would rather under-promise and over-deliver [than the other way around],” he said. Now they are ready for the spotlight, which has landed on them since a story that was released on Friday by the Casper Star Tribune was immediately picked up by the Associated Press. Their phone has been ringing non-stop.
Cost is Below Conventional Energy
Taylor says that the energy generation cost for their turbine comes in at around 2.5 to 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour, depending on the regimen, comparable to the most efficient propeller designs available. He arrives at this figure by taking into consideration the power curves, cost of construction, and all testing and design work. However, he might be overly modest in saying that. Just this year wind power reached the benchmark of becoming competitive with conventional energy generation, which is in the range of 4-6 cents/kw-h -- nearly twice as expensive as the number Taylor gave. (Ref.)
Taylor said that were it not for the production tax credits that wind turbines receive, there would not be nearly as many built, and they would not be as competitive with commercial generation systems. He doesn't think that the TMA turbine will require a tax credit in order to be competitive, especially in higher wind areas.
Handles High Wind Speeds
The optimal speed for harvesting wind energy, between 28 and 33 mph, is the same in both the traditional propeller design and the TMA design. However, TMA's vertical axis design can generate electricity from winds as high as 70 mph, while the propeller designs typically can only generate energy into the low 50's. This means that the TMA design can go into areas of stronger winds beyond the tolerances of the propeller designs.
In propeller turbines, the pitch of the blades must be changed depending on the wind speed. At lower speeds, the blades are more flat, and become more angled with higher winds, catching less of the wind’s capacity. Once the wind speed surpasses a propeller's top speed, it is designed to be braked to a stop. This eliminates damage from outward-thrusting centrifugal forces which the props are not designed to handle.
The TMA vertical axis design, on the other hand, doesn't have to be braked to a stop. "We do not have to change the angle of our rotors," said Taylor. He said their fixed configuration works equally well at low and high speeds. Once the wind goes above 70 mph, the rotor is disengaged from the generator and gear box so as to not damage them, and is left spinning freely and harmlessly at close to the speed of the wind. The diameter of the rotating vertical axis turbine is much less than of the propeller design.
Taylor said the TMA turbine will begin to spin with winds of around 5 mph, at which point it is just free-wheeling. It begins powering a trickle charge as the gearing system engages when the wind speeds reach between 8 and 10 mph.
The TMA design is rated by structural engineers to handle winds of 156 mph without any damage to the structure. This is just below a category "F3" tornado wind speed. (Ref) Subjected to winds of 180 - 212 in early testing under controlled conditions, an earlier prototype withstood this force, with the only consequence being that a lock collar loosened by 1/8 of an inch.
In the 1960's, 108 mph winds wrecked an array of propeller turbines in Spain. TMA's prototype near Cheyenne was recently subjected to winds of 104 mph and "kept on going," said Taylor. "We do not take down he turbine in storm conditions as it is designed to handle nearly any situation. Obviously a hurricane or direct hit from a major tornado will do damage to anything man can build, but we are satisfied with the durability of the TMA turbine in most extreme wind conditions."
The ability of the TMA turbines to generate electricity during stronger winds offers a tremendous power advantage. The physics of wind power is such that for every doubling of wind speed, there is an eight-fold increase in the amount of wind power. Given the wind-speed limitations in presently-available horizontal-turbine technologies, the region of mid 50 mph to 70 mph will essentially be held exclusively by the TMA technology. This is double the 28-33 mph optimal range for prop turbines, and offers the promise of eight times the power output capacity in windier regions.
Kind to the Birds; More Quiet
One of the primary environmental drawbacks of the propeller wind turbines is that they kill birds. The tips of the blades spin much faster than the wind speed, chopping through the air sometimes at speeds of 200 mph. The birds generally just don't see them coming.
The TMA vertical axis design probably "looks like a building to the bird," said Taylor. "We've never seen a dead bird at our test site." Likely this is because birds don’t normally fly into solid walls.
He notes that his company has been able to secure permission to install their turbine in several California counties where propeller turbines are banned because of the known bird carnage.
Also, because of their lower speed, the TMA turbines produce much less noise than the propeller counterpart.
wow, less noise and it doesn't kill the birdies.
Could this be an elecric windmill liberals will actually allow to be built near them???
Excellent! Now all we need is an affordable, high-capacity battery for cars. Then we could build a jillion of these new turbines and tell the camel jumpers to go get humped!
Not too shabby. But for the long term, my money's still on nuclear.
The biggest advantage is visual--these new wind turbines are physically vastly smaller than traditional wind turbines, which means much lower visual impact so neighbors won't complain so much about visual pollution.
Not many pics available, apparently, but here is their web site: http://www.tmainc.net/
Sounds interesting, I am working for a company that uses jet engines to spin the turbine, this sounds like a free energy electrical generation machine
I'm confused.
You're using a fan to send wind to power a windmill?
Nope. Any energy source that becomes economic is automatically verboten to the greenies. They love any energy source that isn't practical. They hate any one that is.
He doesn't think that the TMA turbine will require a tax credit in order to be competitive, especially in higher wind areas.
That sentence is the most interesting part of the article to me. If they can produce power from these turbines without subsidies then they have my full support.
I can't tell if these are industrial size or if they are thinking about making one for the residential user as well.
Does anybody know if these go up on towers too or do they stay on the ground with the "critical components" alluded to in the article?
Ah here we go, from the original article:
Still, he does not see a need to go to a huge size, but intends to design these turbines for output of between 1 kilowatt and 1 megawatt. A 1 kW turbine would stand around 18' feet high, including the control systems under the rotor area. This is in the low range to handle home power supplementation, and is small enough to be permitted in most residential zoned areas. The municipal-grade 1 MW turbine would be about 220 feet high, half the size of a comparable propeller system. The production prototype will be a 25 kW machine and stand approximately 34 feet tall.
he he he, that is a good way to put it
the jet blows on a free spinning turbine, but that free spinning turbine is connected by a hard shaft to a generator
you excite the field to the generator to increase voltage and amperage, keeping the rpm's of the generator constant, while the engine goes up to full speed, 10,000 rpm's
each engine makes approx 25 MW in 15 minutes
twin packs make 50 MW
So the point of this is to use Jet fuel to make electricity? Sounds like a pretty inefficient method.
"Excellent! Now all we need is an affordable, high-capacity battery for cars."
Hey, install a mini-version on top of the car, or in back of the electric powered pickup - perpetual motion in the making - and you have a built in governor - reach 70 mph, the thing goes to free-wheeling, and no power until the thing slows down!
Was thinking the same thing for my sail boat. Not enough wind, I'll just put a fan at the back and blow the sails. I can use a windmill at the front to generate the power to drive the fan at the back.
however, it is quick, produces a LOT of power and takes up a small space and the emissions are scrubbed immensely
no coal plant can claim that
wind power ping
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