New US Rooftop Wind Turbine Lab. Power generation system utilizing wind draft from vehicular traffic - Chen, Taiming. The present invention relates power generation, and in particular, to a systems for electrical power generation by utilizing wind draft force from vehicle traveling on roadways.
Energy sources used in for generation of electricity include wind, water, solar, nuclear and chemical reactions have been developed for using such energy to generate electricity, typically by performing useful work to drive an electric generator. Chemical reaction, in particular, fuel burning consumes limited natural resources and produces unwanted wastes.
Many efforts have been made to exploit previously unused energy sources. Many methods and systems have been proposed to use existing forces or mechanical work to generate electrical power. In particular, several systems and methods have been developed to capture and use the kinetic energy contained within the wind. Catching Up with the Wind. Everybody's talking about wind power right now, and it's easy to see why -- a combination of new developments, high energy prices and (in the northern hemisphere) the return of brisk fall breezes put us all in the wind turbine frame of mind.
While we've all been busy getting WorldChanging: The Book completed (can WorldChanging: The Motion Picture be far behind?) , a number of wind-related stories have piled up on my desktop. Rather than let them go to waste, I thought I'd give you an old-fashioned bullet point rundown of the developments. The article on the piezeoelectric wind turbine is behind a subscription wall. Posted by: Engineer-Poet on 14 Nov 05 Odd. Sorry about that. Posted by: Jamais Cascio on 14 Nov 05 Well, as far as I can find right now (4:50 pm), the only references to the story are links to the Nature article -- which, as I said, was completely open earlier today. Posted by: Jamais Cascio on 14 Nov 05. Shawn Frayne Makes Another Leap in Wind Power: Breakthrough Winner Update. A year ago,Shawn Frayne won a Breakthrough Award for his Humdinger Windbelt.
When air passes over the device's tiny ribbon-like vane, the fluttering vibration converts into a small amount of electricity. It was a novel approach to wind power, with the potential for a wider range of applications than a traditional turbine because of its compact profile. Windbelt, Cheap Generator Alternative, Set to Power Third World. October 1, 2007 12:00 AM Working in Haiti, Shawn Frayne, a 28-year-old inventor based in Mountain View, Calif., saw the need for small-scale wind power to juice LED lamps and radios in the homes of the poor.
Conventional wind turbines don't scale down well—there's too much friction in the gearbox and other components. "With rotary power, there's nothing out there that generates under 50 watts," Frayne says. So he took a new tack, studying the way vibrations caused by the wind led to the collapse in 1940 of Washington's Tacoma Narrows Bridge (aka Galloping Gertie). Frayne's device, which he calls a Windbelt, is a taut membrane fitted with a pair of magnets that oscillate between metal coils.
Frayne hopes to help fund third-world distribution of his Windbelt with revenue from first-world applications—such as replacing the batteries used to power temperature and humidity sensors in buildings. Piezoelectricwindgenerators_v3b - SET2011-PiezoelectricWindGenerators.pdf. WIND POWER FROM NEW JERSEY HIGHWAYS. Wind, as we all know, can be used to generate electricity.
Turbines installed in wind-prone areas have been proven generators of clean, green power. But most of the time, you need open areas and large spaces to locate these. So how do you bring wind power to the city? Mark Oberholzer may have just the solution, designing a system that would generate power from a rather unique place: The New Jersey highway. And he doesn’t propose that we install wind turbines near the highway, but rather, that they be put in the highway, and that they power a light-rail transport system. The design, a runner-up in the 2006 Metropolis Mag Next Generation Design Competition proposed the integration of wind-turbines into the highway barriers that divide the traffic.
“The peaks of traffic flow more or less coincide with those of energy use,” Mark says. Honeycomb 'Wind Lens' Turbines Could Boost Energy Generation 3X. Forget about traditional tri-blade wind turbines — the ultra-efficient turbine of the future might look completely different if Kyushu University professor Yuji Ohya has anything to say about it.
Ohya and his team recently unveiled the Wind Lens, a honeycomb-like structure that purportedly triples the amount of wind energy that can be produced by offshore turbines. The Wind Lens was unveiled at this month’s Yokohama Renewable Energy International Exhibition 2010. The structure works similarly to a magnifying glass that intensifies light from the sun — except in this case, the lens intensifies wind flow. Ohya’s design doesn’t have too many moving parts — just a hoop (AKA a brimmed diffuser) that “magnifies” wind power, and a turbine that is rotated by wind captured from the hoop. Each Lens, which measures 112 meters in diameter, can provide enough energy for an average household. Vibro-Wind Piezoelectric Pads Harness Wind Energy Without Turbines. Francis Moon, a mechanical engineering professor at Cornell University, has designed a novel type of wind energy generator that vibrates in the wind rather than cutting the breeze like a turbine.
Dubbed Vibro-Wind, the design consists of a series of pads attached to piezoelectric cells that generate current when the pads flutter in the wind. This low-impact design could revolutionize localized renewable energy while providing a safer alternative to bird and bat-unfriendly turbines. Each of the Vibro-Wind’s individual pads generates just a trickle of energy, but when framed in an array they’re capable of producing a significant amount of usable electricity.
Professor Moon created a panel of 25 pads to start, but the concept could be easily scaled to virtually any application. They can be easily attached to the facades of large buildings (where there is a constant breeze) or to any outdoor surface. Via New York Times and Kottke. Flapping Piezo-Leaf Generator for Wind Energy Harvesting. Project Member: Shu-guang Li, Hod Lipson & Francis C.
Moon Goal: Biological Propulsion Laboratory at CALTECH [Wind Energy Research] Caltech Field Laboratory for Optimized Wind Energy (FLOWE) A New Approach to Wind Energy. John Dabiri Caltech on Urban Mini Wind Farms. Midwest Mechanics Seminar Presents John Dabiri: Bio-Inspired Wind Energy.