Next Gen Wind Power Generator - Popular Mechanics 2007 Breakthrough Award winner

http://www.scribemedia.org/2007/10/12/shawn-frayne-windbelt/

by chaostheory • 19 years ago

32 39 19 years ago

asdflkj3• 19 years ago

I take it the admins don't edit submission titles anymore...

bluishgreen3• 19 years ago

"When used judiciously, swearing can be hilarious, poignant, and uncannily descriptive. More than any other form of language, it recruits our expressive faculties to the fullest: the combinatorial power of syntax; the evocativeness of metaphor; the pleasure of alliteration, meter, and rhyme; and the emotional charge of our attitudes, both thinkable and unthinkable. It engages the full expanse of the brain: left and right, high and low, ancient and modern. Shakespeare, no stranger to earthy language himself, had Caliban speak for the entire human race when he said, "You taught me language, and my profit on't is, I know how to curse."

- Steven Pinker

asdflkj3• 19 years ago

I don't see any swearing, though. How is this relevant?

chaostheory2• 19 years ago

I still don't understand what was offensive considering no actual expletives were used... I guess nowadays even special ascii characters aren't safe

amichail2• 19 years ago

How is this related to the resonance frequency of the belt? Is the system efficient only at certain frequencies? Do you need to select a belt to match current wind conditions?

whacked_new• 19 years ago

You can probably change the resonance frequency by dynamically adjusting the tightness... It seems possible to make a rudimentary mechanical device that would do this.

gibsonf1• 19 years ago

Damn, that is impressive! But... Does it really scale? I sure hope so.

mhb3• 19 years ago

Scale in what sense? The stated motivation for the invention was to provide small amounts of power.

nickb• 19 years ago

Cool tech! My only concern is noise levels... anything that oscillates at high(er) frequencies is bound to produce a lot of uncomfortable noise.

joeguilmette• 19 years ago

wow thats really cool. between this and dean kamen's stirling engine, i have a feeling the third world is in for some major changes in the next decade or two.

really awe inspiring :)

jkush3• 19 years ago

I wonder how much power it would generate if you had a gazillion of these things lining our major highways. I bet there's nearly a constant 10mph breeze from all those cars.

amichail2• 19 years ago

How about generating power from speed bumps?

bls3• 19 years ago

What is your objective? If your objective is to help the environment, then this won't work; you are replacing coal/nuclear-generated electricity with gasoline-powered electricity, using a combination of of extremely inefficient mechanisms.

If your goal is to get free electricity by leaching off of cars, without regard to the environment, then it might work. But, there is a huge fixed cost to manufacture, transport, install, and test the machinery, and a non-negligible variable cost in maintaining the system.

fauigerzigerk3• 19 years ago

The wind cars generate is not causally related to fossile fuel. Solar driven cars would also cause wind. And even now, generating additional energy from burning the same amount of fossile fuel can hardly be bad for the environment.

jkush3• 19 years ago

Your latter comment would be one use. There are a lot of ways to recapture wasted energy (such as all the wind that cars generate when they go by). If this wind turbine can generate electricity from just a little wind, then highways are a great candidate!

chengmi• 19 years ago

1. This method wouldn't work in heavy traffic. 2. That "nearly constant 10mph breeze" is improving fuel efficiency for the cars behind you through reduced wind resistance. 3. A similar idea for generating power from traffic is through the use of speed bumps as power generators. But that doesn't work either. Here's an interesting article from wired: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2001/06/44518

jkush3• 19 years ago

Cool, thanks!

rms2• 19 years ago

So is this the real deal?

mhb3• 19 years ago

What real deal? It doesn't seem far-fetched that it can generate enough power to run a few LEDs. Probably a pinwheel can do that too.

rms2• 19 years ago

I meant the real deal in the sense of supplanting fossil fuels and/or nuclear power with regards to cost efficiency.

Dani seems to think that it is the real deal, and I hope that the Illuminati doesn't make the patent holder an offer he can't refuse.

lkozma• 19 years ago

Only if it generates enough current to run the fan ;)

bluishgreen3• 19 years ago

The next logical step is to take it to the nano level and make a paint that will make electricity when it gets a mild breeze.

ambiversive• 19 years ago

Excellent idea!

ivankirigin4• 19 years ago

The problem with the next generation of energy isn't creation, but storage and distribution.

Efficient batteries mean more progress than most generation breakthroughs.

DaniFong2• 19 years ago

I don't really think that batteries are so necessary, and this development is phenomenal.

This is huge. It means wind is cheaper than nuclear, even with most subsidies.

We don't need batteries -- Arthur Rosenfeld has done work going way back that shows how distribution isn't a problem for windpower. That's a widespread myth, perpetuated by media echo chambers, funded by big business.

ivankirigin4• 19 years ago

Peak wind != peak demand.

That's all you really need to know to realize this is a storage and distribution problem.

Nuclear, coal, oil, natural gas, geothermal, hydro --- all the ways we currently make power are always available.

shiro• 19 years ago

Right, but could this type of small-scale generator partially alleviate the distribution problem? I think that's one of the main points of this invention...

ivankirigin4• 19 years ago

The issue with distribution is getting power from where there is wind to where there is not. It is not about just making the generation system distributed, though that would also be a good thing.

zach• 19 years ago

And yet he didn't register windbelt.com or .org, which is too bad, because it's such a great name and a good place for people to learn more about it. I guess it's quite clear he's not in it for the money, though.

Next Gen Wind Power Generator - Popular Mechanics 2007 Breakthrough Award winner

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