Home

Cable-Suspended Wind-Power Conversion
over Valleys

 

The cable systems that form the basis of suspension bridges can be adapted to wind power generation and may be ideally suited for turbines that rotate on a transverse axis, such as the design from BroadStarTM.  A cable suspension system allows several of the BroadStar units to be coupled to each other via a flexible drive connection and drive into a single alternator. In some valleys the power generation units may be placed 500 ft to 1000 ft above the valley floor, above a river or above an oceanic channel. The alternators may be positioned close to the valley walls where it would be easier to absorb torque reactions. A system of counter-rotating turbines would neutralize the torque reactions and allow greater freedom in the placement of the alternators. Several successive batteries of cable suspended turbines may be installed across valleys in regions that experience predominantly unidirectional winds.

Cable-suspension systems may also allow for the installation of a conveyor system of multiple vertical-axis turbine blades that drive into a single alternator. The blades move upwind in a relatively straight line near the valley walls where the boundary layer effect would help reduce aerodynamic drag. A large number of blades moving downwind capture all or part of the wind energy and exert greater tensile force on the cables that drive the alternator. The conveyor system borrows from the research of Dr Wubbo Ockels from Delft University in the Netherlands and moves the conveyor horizontally instead of vertically.

Cable systems may also suspend giant windbelts at high elevation in windswept valleys. The wind would ideally induce sinusoidal movement in the windbelts and this energy may be converted to electric power. Airfoils may be added to the giant windbelt so as to enhance the potential to generate electrical power. The airfoils may operate on the free-wing concept so as to reduce the amount of energy needed to steer them. Transverse pairs of wings attached to the front and rear of each alternative section of the windbelt could help induce and maintain sinusoidal cyclical movement about the transverse axis. Rudders attached to the front and rear of each alternative section of the windbelt would induce sinusoidal cyclical movement around the vertical axis. Cables attached to the front and rear of rudder-equipped sections would connect to the winch-and-clutch mechanisms mounted on the valley walls to drive alternators.

There is much ongoing research into the field of airborne and towerless wind energy conversion. Cable-suspended wind-generation systems installed across or along valleys offer the potential to generate large amounts of electric power while avoiding many of the problems associated with tower-based wind-power generation.

Harry Valentine

[Bold and links are editorially added.]                                  [TOP]

And see more:






Advance on valley-wind-energy capture by Harry Valentine

for bi-directional system

File started 11 February 2006