Is The Following: Floating Wind Turbines?

As we know it
Our dependence on fossil fuels and other non-renewable forms of energy has reached a saturation point. With earth no longer able to agitation in the required amounts of conventional forms of fuel to meet our growing energy needs, researchers and scientists are increasingly looking more alternatives are sustainable and clean. Apart from the Sun, the other renewable source is the wind.

Always present, with a potential to feed the demand of almost all the planet's energy, wind power is becoming increasingly more be regarded as a solution to our energy problem. As such, wind turbines are used to replace conventional power generators than ever before. Countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy and Denmark are currently among the forefront of the use of wind energy.

Need for change
While the use of the wind is a great way to get much needed clean energy, there are some problems associated with it. First, establish wind turbine requires large tracts of land. This may not be feasible in areas where space is a problem. Already erect a single single turbine does not meet the requirements of energy from a village or a factory, needs a considerable amount of land to establish one sufficient number of them.
Another factor to consider is the fact that the wind is not coherent. There will be times when there is no wind, so power generation will be minimal or nonexistent. What happens then?

Manufacture of wind turbines is also expensive. Of course, if countries are produced on a large scale commercial, prices would fall. However, this is not the case in the current situation, so the majority occur, can burn a big hole in your pocket.

What is next?
Floating wind turbines are ideal for those areas located near the coast and those who cannot afford to give away large tracts of land for its erection. Here, a turbine is mounted on top of a floating structure that is tied to the bed of a body of water.

Bright above i.e. that does not require allocating land to install wind turbines, leaving room for other development projects and housing. Most people also like spoiling the landscape and views with huge turbines, so if it can be displaced to float in bodies of water such as oceans and seas.

While the concept of a wind turbine is not new, previously it could only be anchored at shallow depths. Now, however, floating wind turbines can be configured in many deeper waters, even at a depth of 70 meters. In all likelihood, floating wind turbines will generate coherent energy as they are always higher speeds of wind on the water.

Here are three concepts which could pave the way for the world to invest capital, time and resources in this ingenious idea.

1 Single floating wind turbines Vestas and WindPlus

Vestas Wind turbine manufacturer is working with WindPlus to create a wind turbine that sits on a floating platform. Unlike other floating turbines, this concept by the two companies will allow the platform controlling the movement of the wind and the waves so that the turbine can be placed in deep waters. Responsible for implementing Costa Portugal, the floating wind turbine called the Vestas V80-2.0MW, if successful, will be the first of its kind to make use of the technology of floating platform.

2 Platform of floating wind hexagonal Hexicon

Conceived by the Swedish company, Hexicon, hexagonal wind floating platform is a central axis that will be able to accommodate about six or seven wind turbines. With a capacity to generate power 40MW Hexicon floating platform will require minimal maintenance, as old and worn-out turbines can be replaced easily.
Wave power plants can also be hosted in the Centre if you need additional power. On the other hand, the set up mounts on the site. The central axis will also be more efficient space as the entire facility is compact.

3 Floating turbine wind power in the North Sea

Floating wind turbine in the North Sea
Areas like the North Sea could soon become floating home wind turbines if it rises through a project by Norsk Hydro. The winds generated at sea guarantee to maintain consistency, which is always a gamble with ground wind turbines. Three modules measuring 60 meters in length will join a turbine that sits on a standing 200 meters high steel tube.

 If successful, the concept of Norsk Hydro will be the first prototype to be displayed on a large scale. The huge structure will be able to reach depths of a staggering 500 meters below the surface of the sea.



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Energy Bag: Energy accumulated under the sea wind turbines

Today we bring you a very interesting development: energy bag, a buffer submarine of compressed air that works as a store of energy for marine wind farms. We told you what this means.

The developer of this technology is the thin Red line aerospaceCanadian company. energy bag device is immersed approximately 600 meters deep, still connected to the turbines wind that filled with air this big globe. At these depths the pressure is 60 or 70 times higher than the air, the energy bag works in fact as a tank of compressed air. So the energy that can contain is great really: 600 m of depth, a bag of 20 meters in diameter can accumulate the 70MW hours of energy equivalent (what is generated with 14 hours of the turbine wind-generation more powerfulNavy in operation).

The accumulated energy is available to be released into generators when necessary. It could thus make up for the intermittent wind moments or meet the demand at peak times.

Wind energy | Vertical axis turbines 10 times more efficient than the traditional

The study has been developed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and it has carried out a study of single field so far, in a wind park pilot of two hectares located in the North of Los Angeles. In this park are installed 24 turbines of vertical axis (vertical-axis wind turbines or VAWTs) 10 meters high and 1.2 meters wide.

Despite improvements in the design of the wind turbines that have increased their efficiency, wind farms are still quite inefficient. According to Dabiri - director of research - this can be resolved with a proper installation of the turbines.
The modern wind farms usually employ horizontal axis turbines (horizontal-axis wind turbines or HAWTs), the most famous, with their typical format of a high tower with a propeller that rotate slowly.
These holdings, the turbines individual must be widely separated between themselves. Not just enough so that their giant blades do not touch, but much more, since the wake of wind generated may interfere the aerodynamics of the neighboring turbines. This great distance implies a greater amount of land and therefore more investment.

There have been - it says - a tendency to try to compensate for this loss of energy making larger propellers and the more high towers, to absorb the energy of the wind at higher altitudes, there where bursts are more powerful. But this brings other problems, such as higher costs, more complex engineering problems and a greater environmental impact.

Models for HAWTs and VAWTs
The solution, says Dabiri, is to focus on the design of the wind farm itself, to maximise efficiency in the Heights close to the ground. To this end the turbines VAWTs (vertical axis) are ideal, since that can be placed very close to each other. This allows them to capture nearly all of the energy of the wind.

You have each turbine rotating in the opposite direction to its neighbors, also enhances its effectiveness. As explained, this decreases the friction allowing the turbine to spin faster.

In field tests conducted during the summer of 2010, Dabiri and his colleagues measured the speed and the power generated by each of the six turbines, placing them in a number of different configurations. This was done by leaving a turbine in a fixed position while the other had a system of portable site that allowed that they were displaced.

Tests showed that when the you turbines were placed spaced between Yes by a distance of approximately 5 meters (equivalent to 4 diameters of the turbine) was removed entirely interference aerodynamics between neighboring turbines. In comparison, the Elimination of aerodynamic interference between the largest currently in use horizontal axis turbines require a space of about 20 diameters of distance (more than one mile).
The six vertical axis turbines (VAWTs) generated between 21 to 47 Watts of power per square meter of land. While a comparable size farm consisting of horizontal axis (HAWT) turbines were generated as little as 2 to 3 Watts per square meter.





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