Hi Pierre: Sounds good at first. And I’m a big fan of the Sharp rotor concept. However, the idea of the flettner/magnus concept is to increase “circulation” around the “wing”, meaning to increase the speed of airflow over the top of the wing, compared to the bottom of the wing.
The Sharp rotor USES the force of the wind hitting the top of the rotor, to spin the top of the rotor backwards. It seems to me that this would DECREASE the velocity of the wind over the top of the rotor, rather than increasing it. To push the top of the Sharp rotor back, requires force, which would slow the wind speed over the top, not increase it.
What I’m thinking now is that our previous discussions of the Sharp rotor did not include the fact that pushing the top of the rotor downwind would reduce the wind speed over the top. To believe otherwise might be similar to thinking one could fly by pulling up on one’s own shoelaces - a “perpetual motion” scenario.
Am I missing something here? Quite possible. I’d love to know your opinion! 