Typhoon-proof Wind Turbines

I just found this as a draft, which I guess was before i was not allowed to post for a few weeks - it’s about what happened to the “typhoon-proof” Chonese turbines once a typhoon actually happened.:

OK, so I posted the press-release breakthrough “news” here, quite recently, regarding China’s many “typhoon-proof” wind turbines, which, like the many “rendering-only” press-release imaginary turbines we’ve recently suffered through, are stated by the promoters, to be able to continue producing power during unGodly strong winds, such as typhoons.

It’s only a few weeks later, and, well, they had a typhoon in China.

This article features a video of one - the side-by-side dual-turbine installation on a “Y”-shaped tower, said to “keep producing power” in a typhoon with winds of 256(?) kph, in 90-foot waves.
Watch as super typhoon batters world’s largest two-headed floating wind turbine | Recharge (rechargenews.com)

The typhoon only came “near” the Y-shaped wind energy system, and there are certainly NOT “90-foot waves”, yet THE BLADES ARE NOT EVEN ROTATING, let alone “producing power”.

Who TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN?
Who told you operator in their right mind would even TRY to keep a turbine operating in a typhoon? Why would they? To make a few hundred bucks worth of power, risking destruction of millions of dollars worth of turbines??

Now let’s look at the “typhoon-proof” turbines that were closer to actually being HIT by the typhoon - they are all destroyed!

Here are a few articles trying to explain why the “typhoon-proof” turbines were destroyed. Just remember WHO told you the articles were false, and the turbines would NOT in fact be “producing power” during typhoons, and most would not in fact, even survive.

Why were ‘typhoon-proof’ Chinese wind turbines flattened by Typhoon Yagi? | Recharge (rechargenews.com)

Typhoon destroys wind turbines that were supposed to be storm-proof | Watch (msn.com)

Super Typhoon Yagi flattens ‘storm-resistant’ wind turbines in China | Watch (msn.com)

Typhoon-proof floating wind turbine debuts in Guangdong

Typhoon turbine: Japanese engineer develops wind turbine to harness power from typhoon - TomoNews

The turbines were still under construction or not in operation.

There are lots of places around the world that would benefit from typhoon-resistant wind turbines, and it makes sense that progress is being made.

Hi Pierre: Professor Crackpot never sleeps! Harnessing enough power from typhoons to power Japan all year. Yeah, sure. Someone needs to do a little more math, on the implications of that concept. Note, one of pProfessor Crackpot’s favorite tricks: Combining multiple bad ideas together, and calling it an improvement.
Let’s see,

  1. Vertical-axis turbines: bad idea.
  2. Flettner blades: bad idea
  3. Producing power during typhoons: bad idea
    But the good professor knows none of this. All HE knows is HE IS A GENIUS!!!
    SUCH a genius that he is capable of transforming the art of wind energy, without knowing anything about it!
    So he combines three (3) bad ideas, and the sad thing is others, also without any wind energy knowledge, will believe it! :slight_smile:
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Sure, and there are lots of places that need kites for disaster relief too, you read about it all the time!

ANY wind turbine should be designed to withstand whatever peak winds are likely at the installation site over the 20+ year expected lifespan. Normally, wind turbines feather their blades in extreme storms, and thereby get away with minimal damage, assuming they are not hit directly with the very strongest part of a tornado, hurricane, or typhoon.

However, statements of continuing to produce power during a typhoon are laughable, as no operator in their right mind would risk destroying their turbine for a few paltry extra dollars during the few hours of an extreme windstorm.

So, claiming that any turbine could continue producing power in a typhoon is not a statement that anyone who knows anything about running wind turbines takes seriously. I even furl my 10 kW turbine here when storms are approaching, on advice of a local installer. Even then, turned sideways to the wind, it can easily overvolt the inverter in a storm, at which point the inverter lets the turbine run unloaded, which brings the blade tips up to about Mach 0.6 At a 200\2-foot diameter, with each blade weighing 50 lbs, calculate the G forces at 450 RPM! let’s just say you need grade 8 bolts holding the blades!
Letting any turbine keep producing power in extreme storms would be like taking your Ferrari offroad to see how fast it could go over big rocks! You would prove nothing except you were so dumb you ruined your Ferrari!

But further, most wind turbine will likely be damaged or destroyed, even with the blades feathered and the rotor braked, under a direct hit from the most powerful winds in a hurricane, typhoon, or tornado.

That is why the turbines along the shore were destroyed while inland turbine remained intact: Such tropical storm winds derive their power from the warm vapors of tropical waters, and immediately lose strength upon encountering land.

The fact remains, nobody but idiots claim that their turbines will keep producing power during a typhoon, for not only is it unlikely, but if possible, it would make the turbine cost many times as much, which cost could never be rationalized by its return of value in extra power produced.

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3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Slow Chat III