What is the name of this type of windmill?

pengyou
pengyou Registered Users Posts: 2
I think it was back in the 1970's I saw an article in Popular Science or Mechanics about a windmill that looked like a ferrish wheel turned on its side and mounted in a building that looked like a house. What is the name of this type of windmill? how effective would it be in an area that has 7m/s wind but only mounted 30 feet from the ground with no surrounding structures to interfere with the wind?

Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: What is the name of this type of windmill?

    Something like this one?

    http://www.wind-works.org/cms/typo3temp/pics/KaiserWilhelmKoogVAWT_01_32426d47d6.jpg

    From this page:

    http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=219

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    Re: What is the name of this type of windmill?
    pengyou wrote: »
    I think it was back in the 1970's I saw an article in Popular Science or Mechanics about a windmill that looked like a ferrish wheel turned on its side and mounted in a building that looked like a house. What is the name of this type of windmill? how effective would it be in an area that has 7m/s wind but only mounted 30 feet from the ground with no surrounding structures to interfere with the wind?

    I believe you are referring to a VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbine). They are not very effective, run at quite low efficiency and are large and heavy for their output as compared to a HAWT (Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine). The VAWT is less affected by low level turbulence, is about their only advantage.

    The reason the efficiency is so low with a VAWT is because their swept area is basically only half the rotor circumference. There has been various manufacturers that have built them, the most successful being PacWind (now sold to another outfit). The PacWind turbines had a LenzII-style airfoil and worked reasonably well - however, again the size and weight (and expense) is considerably more than for a HAWT of comparable output capacity.
    --
    Chris
  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: What is the name of this type of windmill?
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    I believe you are referring to a VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbine). They are not very effective, run at quite low efficiency and are large and heavy for their output as compared to a HAWT (Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine). The VAWT is less affected by low level turbulence, is about their only advantage.

    The reason the efficiency is so low with a VAWT is because their swept area is basically only half the rotor circumference. There has been various manufacturers that have built them, the most successful being PacWind (now sold to another outfit). The PacWind turbines had a LenzII-style airfoil and worked reasonably well - however, again the size and weight (and expense) is considerably more than for a HAWT of comparable output capacity.
    --
    Chris

    For many many years (at least as early as 1960?) there was a wind turbine mounted on top of an octagonal house on a hill above a main highway north of San Francisco. I can't remember exactly where. It was a flat circular deck with about 10-20 half 50 gal. drums on top of it. It looked quite impressive but was hardly ever turning.
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
  • peakbagger
    peakbagger Solar Expert Posts: 341 ✭✭✭
    Re: What is the name of this type of windmill?

    I see them every so often, I expect the majority of them are best called kinetic sculptures instead fo generators