| ARE WIND TURBINES TOO BIG? Recent published accounts give the current utility sized windmill as being 200 tons in weight! |
 | Greenhouse gas reduction | |
| Conservation of valuable | |
| natural gas and oil | ||
| Distributed power to | |
| enhance the efficiency and reliability of the utility grid |
It is easy to understand why the capital expenses for such
wind turbines are astronomical.
Only very high velocity and stable wind can make such a
project pay off.
The cost and siting difficulties of such turbines are great.
Fear of damage to such expensive and hard to maintain
turbines assure that they can be used only in optimal wind
speed and wind stability locations, thus greatly reducing
the ability to place them where they may be needed.
Due to the fear of damage in over speed high winds, and
the fact that these turbines cannot operate on many days
of low wind, due to the need for high stable winds, these
turbines, despite their great expense cannot operate
productively on many days of the year.
And lastly, even at the great expense of these turbines,
there is no provision to store power, so the turbine only
produces power when the wind is perfect, and power is
often not there when it is most needed.
Is there a better way?
Consider this: The trend to mass
production and economic viability of
technology, whether it be autos,
computers, robots, etc., has been
Wind turbines have instead grown larger,
heavier, and more expensive with each
passing year.
What is needed is a lighter, lower, simpler,
cheaper wind turbine that can operate in
conditions of extreme wind variability, and
able to use it's cost advantage to provide
energy storage on the ground, to provide
peak power on demand when it is needed.
The Irvington Design system is designed to
do exactly that.
wind turbines are astronomical.
Only very high velocity and stable wind can make such a
project pay off.
The cost and siting difficulties of such turbines are great.
Fear of damage to such expensive and hard to maintain
turbines assure that they can be used only in optimal wind
speed and wind stability locations, thus greatly reducing
the ability to place them where they may be needed.
Due to the fear of damage in over speed high winds, and
the fact that these turbines cannot operate on many days
of low wind, due to the need for high stable winds, these
turbines, despite their great expense cannot operate
productively on many days of the year.
And lastly, even at the great expense of these turbines,
there is no provision to store power, so the turbine only
produces power when the wind is perfect, and power is
often not there when it is most needed.
Is there a better way?
Consider this: The trend to mass
production and economic viability of
technology, whether it be autos,
computers, robots, etc., has been
- Smaller
- Lighter
- Cheaper
Wind turbines have instead grown larger,
heavier, and more expensive with each
passing year.
What is needed is a lighter, lower, simpler,
cheaper wind turbine that can operate in
conditions of extreme wind variability, and
able to use it's cost advantage to provide
energy storage on the ground, to provide
peak power on demand when it is needed.
The Irvington Design system is designed to
do exactly that.
Our system brings together the well known and mature
technology of VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbines), Compressed
air storage in a combination that provides on demand power
through a slower turning, but high torque turbine.
The case for what we call the slow, low, cheap and "dumb" rotor
is that it can provide inexpensive clean on demand power in more
places for more days of the year than the huge expensive, high
fast "smart, but very expensive "turbines" as described above.
THE DIFFERENCE IS TORQUE
The Case Against The VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbine)
It is only correct that we deal with the case against the vertical
axis turbine now.
There have been many attempts to produce power with the VAWT
system, and most have failed. The well known Darrius turbine
(example at left compared to a three rotor conventional HAWT)
has proven too complex and not reliable for power production.
However, the Savinious wind turbine (left), a drag type turbine of
simple vertical axis design has proven to be a much more useful
turbine. It does not turn fast enough to produce great amounts of
electricity directly. It is however a very high torque rotor that is
commonly used for such jobs as pumping water, grinding,
compressing air, and other low speed high torque applications.
If this type of turbine is used to store power, for example through
compressed air or pumped water storage, the torque advantage
can be used not only to produce power, but to produce on
demand power when most needed, at times of peak usage.
Our turbine takes advantage of it's inexpensive construction,
lower height and great torque to capture and store energy by way
of compressed air. Air compression is a mature industry, with
compressors and storage tanks being readily available in a wide
range of sizes. The system is therefore scalable to suit the
needs of the market place or the user.
Irvington Design
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