Introducing the Honeywell Wind Turbine

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http://www.earthtronics.com/honeywell.aspx

It only costs $6000, that's a lot cheaper than a solar array. If it is as simple as it appears, then it looks like it would survive an EMP.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Starts producing at 2mph!

[Mike]

It only costs $6k.  But what if it were mass produced,.... like cars,.... in china.  $600???

Such a simple idea!  Collect the electricity at the tips rather than at the axle.  Does this suggest that the giant windmills planted across America are obsolete? 

Giant windmills are sprouting across the US.  I seriously doubt it is the result of market forces.  I'll bet it is the result of government incentives.  Which only goes to show that Soviet and Fascist economic decisions are not as efficient as market economy decisions.

From the pictures it appears that the bearings are still on the axle.  It is probably a characteristic of the bearings' material that they can carry the forces of a 6' blade without any trouble.  To scale this kind of turbine larger, maybe it would make sense to carry and true the blades by using rollers near the tips also.

This is pretty amazing.

[offdalip]

5479 Wh / day running 24/7 in 25kt wind

12x 175W solar panels will put out 12600Wh / day w/sun shinning 6 hr day

[Mike]

How much does 12X175 watt panels cost?

[wander]

Around $1500 a panel, times 12... roughly $18K I'd say. Probably cheaper if you can find good deals or know someone.

My assumption is you'd still need the battery bank, step downs and inverters, etc, so those would be static costs.

Where I live, wind is usually around 5-10 Mph steady, and gusts of up to 25 on a normal day. I'd rather have wind than solar.

[Mike]

Thanks

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Starts producing at 2mph!

I wonder how much juice we could get out of it if we engineered our own venturi for it.

[The Future]

I think this is a good find.

How much does 12X175 watt panels cost?

This site lists them for $700 each.  However a complete system, as listed here, will need to include the accesories listed and runs at $9100.  Note this does NOT include a battery bank, which is the single greatest expense with these systems.  Grid tie is great while the grid works.  The minute the grid is down you sure will wish you had battery backup.  Without it, you system is very unstable.

With batteries, you can add a few grand to the price.  Add install and you are looking at +$15,000 for the equivalent solar system.  But to be fair, the wind turbine doesn't have battery storage either so apples for apples compare $7500 installed for the wind system with $10,000 installed for the solar.  In general I would say wind is more consistent in my area, especially in the winter.  Even 5 hours of sun per day is optimistic and even then, have they factored in the ANGLE of the sun (which if not square to the panel causes power output to drop off dramatically.  In most northern areas with say 8 hours MAX of sunshine per day with cloud cover....you would be lucky to get half that on average).

I checked my weather service and I am not sure how they measure "sunshine" (intensity level of?) but Nov last year mean 6 .1 hours.  Dec 4.9 hours. Jan 4.9 hours.  Feb 5.2.  Mar 6.3.  These are going to be the lowest months for my area.
Ave 5,5 hours per day.  Not bad.

[offdalip]

How much does 12X175 watt panels cost?

I get mine for about $600 each

pure sine 2000W inverter for $400

charge controller for $200

misc. wires $200

so lets say a round $8000 for the system not including the battery bank.

in our neck of the woods we rarely get more than 4-5mph winds except from november thru march.
It just depends on if you think you will get CONSISTENT wind or not, the sun will always come up tho'

[Atash Hagmahani]

the sun will always come up tho'

I take it you did not explore my part of the world carefully the last time you were here. 

You know, the jokes about children in Seattle being frightened by a mysterious bright object that appears in the sky on rare occasions in August. 

[Stump Rancher]

I ran the numbers on the Honeywell unit, and at 2500 KWh per year, it would take 24 years for me to pay for it, and that is 25 percent of my annual electricity consumption. That's just the turbine itself, not including the batteries and other gear needed, which I'm sure would double the $ 6k price tag.

Several years ago, while working in Dayton, OH, I met an inventor named Roman Szpur, who developed and patented a novel wind turbine arrangement that he explained was inspired by his thinking about the wings of birds. He gave me a tour of his lab, and I was left thinking that here was one of the last of a breed of true geniuses of mechanical invention! I always intended to follow up with him on this, but sadly, he passed away last year according to an internet posting I recently read. Here is a link to an article about the design:

http://www.inventionatplay.org/inventors_szp.html



 

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Cool turbine. I could build one and run the axle to a car alternator with a built in voltage regulator. An array of these would probably satisfy all of my power needs. Add a few golf cart batteries and I'll have enough electricity to power a radio, a computer, a water pump, and some lights. That's about all I need.

[offdalip]

I take it you did not explore my part of the world carefully the last time you were here.  laughing002

No, I always go during the summer up there. that may change soon.

I still think a marine self excited alternator mated to a windmill is the best way to go for wind, if you have any.....
automotive alternators are not self exciting......

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To think I have lived four decades on this Earth and up until this point I had never heard or read of self-exciting alternators.