|
|
Nature gave
us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature’s
way again
Wind Energy - Inventions,
Research, Innovations, Breakthroughs
..
..
You are at: Oilgae
Home > NewNergy
> Wind Energy
Oilgae Highlights
- Oilgae Energy Portal
– Get to know everything about the energy industry.
- algOS
– An Open Source movement for biodiesel production from algae
The main categories @ NewNergy – What’s new in energy?
– Energy Industry Inventions & Breakthroughs > Algae Fuels, Alternative Energy, Batteries, Biodiesel, CO2 Sequestration, Energy Conservation, Energy Efficiency, Energy from Waste, Energy for Transport,
Energy Tech, Ethanol Fuel, Fossil Energy, Fuel Cells, Gravitational Energy, Heat & Geothermal, Human Powered, Hybrid & Electric Cars,
Hydro Energy, Hydrogen Energy, Nuclear Energy, Ocean Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Wave / Tidal Energy, Wind Energy, Other New Things
See also: Wind Energy
Resources @ Oilgae Energy Portal
Breakthroughs,
Inventions, Discoveries & Pioneering Efforts in the Field of Wind Energy
Do have a look at this section and please let me ( narsi
at esource dot in) know if you could think of any improvements / refinements
to make this section more useful.
Content will be continuously updated.
Wind Energy
Wind Energy - Inventions, Research, Innovations,
Breakthroughs
http://www.oilgae.com/energy/nn/win/win.html
- Floating Windmills – from Hydro.com
– Nov 2005
- The World's First "Magnetic Levitation" Wind Turbines
Unveiled in China - Chinese developers have unveiled the world’s first
permanent magnetic levitation wind power generator at the Wind Power
Asia Exhibition 2006 in Beijing. The device is called a MagLev
generator, and is being regarded as a key breakthrough in the evolution
of global wind power technology. The generator was jointly developed by
Guangzhou Energy Research Institute under China’s Academy of Sciences.
The MagLev generator is expected to boost wind energy generating
capacity by as much as 20 percent over traditional wind turbines.
Read more from this July 2006 article of Tree Hugger. Read more
from this July 2006 article
of Tree Hugger
- Why are R&D Needed for Wind Power? – European
Commission Article
- Wind energy turbine - Document Type and Number: United
States Patent 7168251 - Abstract: A wind energy turbine includes a tower,
a nacelle rotatably supported by the tower, a rotor rotatably supported
by the nacelle, and at least one unit to be cooled and arranged in the
tower and/or the nacelle. The unit is adapted to be cooled by a cooling
medium flowing in a cooling circuit from the unit to at least one heat
exchanger. The at least one heat exchanger is located outside of the
tower and/or nacelle and configured to be cooled by ambient air.
See more about this 2005 patent from
Free Patents Online
- Utilization of Wind Energy at High Altitude - Alexander
Bolonkin - V.P. of Consulting and Research Co., NY, USA – Abstract -
Ground based, wind energy extraction systems have reached their maximum
capability. The limitations of current designs are: wind instability,
high cost of installations, and small power output of a single unit. The
wind energy industry needs of revolutionary ideas to increase the
capabilities of wind installations. This article suggests a revolutionary
innovation which produces a dramatic increase in power per unit and is
independent of prevailing weather and at a lower cost per unit of energy
extracted. The main innovation consists of large free-flying air rotors
positioned at high altitude for power and air stream stability, and an
energy cable transmission system between the air rotor and a ground
based electric generator. The air rotor system flies at high altitude up
to 14 km. A stability and control is provided and systems enable the
changing of altitude. Read the full 2007
report here (PDF)
- Global Marine Begins Work on Pioneering UK Wind Energy
Project - August, 2006 - Chelmsford, United Kingdom - Global Marine
Systems Limited has begun subsea cable installation work on the Beatrice
Wind Farm Demonstrator Project (Beatrice Project), a flagship project
for offshore wind energy development, states the release. The initial
project will use two wind turbines 25 kilometers off the east coast of
Scotland to test the viability of the Beatrice Oil Field as a future
site for a commercial deep-water wind farm – Read more from this Wind
Energy News blog @ Blog Spot
- The Kite Generator: a Breakthrough in Wind Energy? - Aug
2005, ASPO Italia - Wind energy is free and abundant, but we continue to
have problems harnessing it efficiently. A possible way to overcome some
of the problems would be to get rid of the wind tower altogether and use
aerodynamic lift to position the wind collecting unit high in the sky.
In other words, to use kites. This idea has been already proposed in
various forms, but recently Massimo Ippolito of Sequoia Automation
S.p.a. has developed a simple and elegant concept that promises abundant
energy at rock bottom costs: the kite wind generator (KiteGen). Read
more about this from this ASPO
Italia report
..
..
- Small Wind Energy Technology Breakthrough - A new
technology for small wind turbines has just been introduced by Southwest
Windpower Inc of Flagstaff, Arizona. Called the AIR-X, this compact
400-watt wind turbine is designed to use the energy in the wind to
charge batteries that provide electricity for remote homes, water
pumping, telecom transmitters and sailboats. Although wind generators
have been around for nearly a century, the company claims this new
technology reduces the size and allows them to operate much quieter than
previous designs. The AIR-X has incorporated a microprocessor,
previously only found in today's state-of-the-art Megawatt sized wind
turbines, to improve performance while allowing it to operate quietly -
read more from this press
release from Southwest Windpower @ Renewable Energy Access
- China Makes Huge Breakthrough in Wind Power Technology -
Zijun Li – July, 2006 – Chinese developers unveiled the world’s first
full-permanent magnetic levitation (Maglev) wind power generator at the
Wind Power Asia Exhibition 2006 held June 28 in Beijing, according to
Xinhua News. Regarded as a key breakthrough in the evolution of global
wind power technology—and a notable advance in independent intellectual
property rights in China—the generator was jointly developed by
Guangzhou Energy Research Institute under China’s Academy of Sciences
and by Guangzhou Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Science & Technology Co.,
Ltd. Read more from this
WorldWatch Institute report
- Owens Corning Announces Breakthrough Single-end Roving
for Wind Energy - WindStrand™ Allows Longer, Stiffer, Lighter Blades for
up to 20 Percent Less Cost Than Other High-Performance Materials;
Product is First Application of Company's new Stronger, Lighter High
Performance Reinforcement Platform, HiPer-tex™ - Owens Corning announced
in Mar 2006 a breakthrough single-end roving and knitted fabric,
WindStrand™, which will allow the wind energy market to take another
step forward in competing successfully against other alternative energy
sources by reducing the cost per kilowatt-hour (kwh.) The product will allow
turbine manufacturers to increase blade lengths by as much as six
percent and deliver up to 12 percent more power - for up to 20 percent
less cost than any competing carbon-glass hybrid solution currently on
the market. In addition to the cost and performance benefits of
WindStrand, the product also provides manufacturers with the traditional
processability of glass, combined with the stiffness strength and weight
of other high-performance materials. Read more from this Social
Funds web site report
- Digital Gas, Inc. signed an agreement with International
Trade and Technology Centre Ltd. of Dublin, Ireland which gives Digital
Electric the exclusive right to manufacture and market a breakthrough
wind energy technology that is anticipated to deliver a return on
investment that is significantly greater than conventional wind power
generation systems. The new wind energy systems will result in
approximately 35% greater power output at 10% less cost per unit,
according to the company. These efficiencies in capturing wind energy
are created by using a series of self-adjusting multiple hydraulic pumps
and multiple variable speed generators. By transmitting power from the
wind blades hydraulically to turbine generators located at ground level,
the cost of maintenance is dramatically reduced. Read more from this Find
Articles page, Apr 2006
- Wind Power Pioneer Interview: Robert Thresher, National
Wind Technology Center - Robert Thresher, director, National Wind
Technology Center, Golden, Colorado - Feb 2003 - Bob Thresher has more
than 30 years of research, development, engineering, and management experience
in wind technology. He directed wind turbine research efforts at Oregon
State from 1970-1984, and he also spent two years in Washington, D.C.,
managing research projects for the Department of Energy. Bob later
conducted wind research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and
by 1989 he was managing the wind research program. Today, Bob works
closely with DOE (Department of Energy, Gov of USA) on various wind
energy projects. See an
interview with him at the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy
section of the US Department of Energy web site
- NREL Wind Research - Selected publications on wind
turbine research & development - topics include: Blades;
Certification; Components; Computer Modeling; Control Systems;
Drivetrains; Dynamometer Testing; Emerging Applications; Partnerships;
Towers. Full report
here
- Low Wind Speed Technology Phase II: Breakthrough in
Power Electronics from Silicon Carbide - Peregrine Power LLC - Project
Description: All commonly used power semiconductors in power converters
today are based on standard silicon technology. These have numerous
limitations that power electronics designers work around. Newer designs
in wind turbine drive trains will increasingly depend on such power
converters to allow full power conversion and variable speed. Silicon
carbide (SiC) has much better performance characteristics, including:
Lower resistance and conduction losses, Faster and cleaner turn-on and
turn-off characteristics that result in much lower switching losses,
Much higher dielectric constant which permits higher voltage
applications, Much higher thermal conductivity, Much higher operating
temperatures, Much greater ruggedness and reliability, Positive feedback
as to resistance which automatically causes current to be shared well
among parallel SiC dies to achieve higher currents. This project will
perform baseline characterization of SiC chips to determine their
operating characteristics. Based on these data, some preliminary designs
and cost estimates will be developed to determine SiC’s potential impact
on wind turbine power converter designs, efficiency, and operating costs.
Original note at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) web page (PDF)
- Rooftop Turbine A Breakthrough In Wind Power - By Paul
Kelbie - The Independent - UK, May 2004 - A rooftop wind-turbine the
size of a domestic satellite dish is being hailed a breakthrough in the
acrimonious debate over the future of wind power. The miniature turbines
have just been fitted to the first roofs in a pilot project which could
provide a personal electricity supply for every home on which they are
perched. The inventors hope to begin full-scale production by the end of
the year and hope to be making more than 3,000 a year by 2006. Read more
from this web page.
..
..
Some Pictures:
Wind
Turbines @ Lake Benton, Minnesota
Global Annual Wind
Power Installations – Chart 1980 - 2005
Check out the latest inventions and
breakthroughs in energy & alternative energy, on the following topics @ NewNergy Blog
Energy Sources - Main Sections
Notes:
- We’d like to regularly add more useful content and web
resources to Oilgae.com. Should you know of any good web resource for
Biodiesel production from algae, do let us know by sending a note to
[narsi]@[esource].[in] (remove [ ] for the email address). Many thanks
for your patience.
- All content at Oilgae are available for reproduction and
usage under the GNU Free Documentation License. Please see explanation
at the end of this page for more details.
Add Links/Submit Links: Do you have a web resource that belongs to here? If you have a
web site that you wish to include in this page, do let us know the details by
sending a note about your URL to [narsi]@[esource].[in] to add URL (pl remove
the [ ] to get my email address!). We’ll quickly review the web site, and if
found relevant, add it to the database. Thanks!
Oilgae.com content is available under
GNU Free Documentation License: All content at
Oilgae.com is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation (GFDL). Put simply,
under this license, anyone is free to copy & use any amount of content
@ Oilgae.com, make changes to it and use it in any way they wish, as long
as they also allow the same rights to anyone else for this content and give
credits to Oilgae by giving a link to the specific page/s from where the
content was taken (a mention of Oilgae.com and a brief description about the
site is enough for offline usage). To those who wish to use content from
Oilgae.com, our only request is that they acknowledge the source and provide
a link back to Oilgae.com. Put not so simply, see the Oilgae.com GNU
Free Documentation License .
About Oilgae - Oilgae - Oil & Biodiesel from Algae
has a focus on biodiesel production from algae while also discussing
alternative energy in general. Algae present an exciting possibility as a
feedstock for biodiesel, and when you realise that oil was originally
formed from algae - among others - you think "Hey! Why not oil
again from algae!"
To facilitate exploration of oil production from algae as well as exploration
of other alternative energy avenues, Oilgae provides web links, directory,
and related resources for algae-based biofuels / biodiesel along with inputs
on new inventions, discoveries & breakthroughs in other alternative
energy domains such as solar, wind, nuclear, hydro, geothermal, hydrogen
& fuel cells, gravitational, geothemal, human-powered, ocean & wave /
tidal energy.
|
