Slow Chat II

[dougselsam]

@Windy_Skies

That’s a very nice idea.

This is an example of how the people making videos, running discussion groups, etc., involving wind energy, are the least aware people of all, regarding the efficacy of the various technologies.

@Windy_Skies

With the higher solidity it can rotate slower and with that lower the requirements on the blades and with that their cost,

Slower rotation = lower efficiency. Farm water-pumping windmills get about half the power of regular electric wind turbines, and all attempts to electrify them have fallen by the wayside.

@Windy_Skies

and also increase the rotor diameter further before your blade tips are going supersonic,

more ignorance: tip speed is not controlled by diameter.

@Windy_Skies

and now instead of huge bending moments on the blades you can rely on the tension and strength of the bicycle wheel.

You mean like this debunked wind turbine,
(27) The Curse That Keeps on Giving: Honeywell WindTronics Redux | LinkedIn
also promoted by the same guy associated with the old forum that just restarted his nonsense here today? Can this be a coincidence? Nope, it’s par for the course. You guys are all the same!

@Windy_Skies

All roads lead to bicycle wheels, I guess.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, copycat - get your own slogan!

@Windy_Skies

It is a simpler, more practical way to do rotary tensile torque transfer.

Ah yes, the newbie myth that somehow “torque” is some mysterious, hard-to-transfer force!
Yes it seems compelling. I remember seeing a bicycle-wheel turbine in my first pamphlet on wind energy in the 1970’s. Part of the hippy movement. It was already not being taken very seriously, way back then. Somehow, the idea never worked out well enough to gain any traction.

@Windy_Skies

Or maybe if ever larger rotors using the current methods don’t pan out, you could look at this.

Yeah yeah yeah, maybe this, maybe that…

@Windy_Skies

I would raise the hub height though to move the entire wheel off from the ground maybe, and perhaps make it a downwind rotor.

Yeah, and make all that crap on the ground rotate with the turbine. The perpetual newbies always have all the answers!

@Windy_Skies

It’s a descendant of this: WindJammer IV Infomercial and other similar concepts.

Wow, great quality video! So old it was still touting the now-debunked officially-sanctioned outrage over “acid rain”. Yes, this design has come a long way now, hasn’t it? That’s because it’s so great!

@Windy_Skies

Let’s ignore how to make, erect, and maintain such a giant wheel for now though.

Yes, let’s ignore any and all details of any aspect of this, so we can keep saying how great it is!

Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE ideas like this and have many myself. However, at some point, we have to see through the trees and look at the whole forest. A Ferris-wheel that can’t aim and gets less power than a wind turbine, being far less efficient, while costing more, will always be just “a nice idea” and nothing more! And it’s only “a nice idea” for people who don’t know any better. All this stuff is well understood by those in the know. That’s why they are not in production today! not that complicated.