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There are a number of companies and people working on potentially innovative ideas, but it's not an easy thing. Serrated trailing edges and vortex generators ar
by scblock 10y ago
There are a number of companies and people working on potentially innovative ideas, but it's not an easy thing. Serrated trailing edges and vortex generators are easy enough to test (reduced noise from one, increase energy from the other). Others such as shrouded turbines, or multi-segment blades are difficult.
Another thing vendors are doing now is purposefully running generators beyond their design at higher wind speeds (getting 2.2 MW from a 2.0 MW generator, for example), provided that other operating parameters are measured to be within range. This is usually driven by cooling requirements.
- beat 10y agoRight. It's a diverse industry with the chance to make some very large money over the next few decades and beyond. The engineering efforts are fascinating. So when Cringely rolls his eyes and smirks at those conventional wisdom know-nothings ignoring the genius of his buddy... well, I suppose it's about what I expect from Cringely.
- dmix 10y agoThis over-confidence in your ability to change an industry is a good trait IMO. It powers entrepreneurial activity. While his hypothesis might be wrong in full implementation, it's possible there is some partial innovation here that could come out of testing out this idea. It's possible the constraints faced by large wind mills are not the same for smaller ones, for example. It's easier to dismiss radical thinking than to continually pursue them in the face of pervasive dismissiveness.
- beat 10y agoRadical improvements aren't generally from minor refinements.
- LoSboccacc 10y agotime for this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_antenna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_antenna but with fields of turbines as a system