New Wind Turbine, Does it work?

liamdenn

Hi All,
Havnt posted on this forum before but have been an avid reader for a while. Just wondering if any of you have come across this crowd from Germany. I saw them at the sei show earlier in the year and was blown away but cant help thinking its too good to be true! Would love to hear what you guys think. The guy told me a 1kw would do for an average house as it is more efficient than a regular turbine.
http://www.energy-age-wind.de/produkte/animation.php

homer911

Looks very neat - perhaps Quentin will comment..

I wonder what they mean by single occupancy house (one person?)

gooner99

Hi,I don't know anything about these,but there is something along the same lines erected in my area by the company at the link below.I think it's a German product also,as one the guys in the company is originally from there.I have no connection with this company,other than they are based in my area and I know a guys that works for them.BTW the guy I know that works with them told me that they have just started to manufacture their own wind turbine.Mods not sure if it is ok to post the link,please delete if not and I can pm instead.

http://www.maassen.ie/home/index.php?id=51

liamdenn

Saw those fellas too. I love the idea they have of sucking the air through the unit like a formula one car

Eurorunner

homer911 wrote: »

I wonder what they mean by single occupancy house (one person?)

According to that presentation on their website, its produces sufficient energy for the average use of a single family dwelling (most housing in Germany would be apartments).

Its got to be too good to be true! (but hoping as always its not).

The most promosing thing about vertical wind generators is the fact that they are very tolerant of turbalance, a major issue in cluttered areas.

Saw those fellas too. I love the idea they have of sucking the air through the unit like a formula one car

I wonder just how much the housing improves efficiency over a standard vertical wind generator.

Here's a simple DIY jobbie..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UPe6A_UVPc

quentingargan

Many companies have tried to develop a wind turbine for urban households - not surprising, since the vast majority of us live in urban areas, so it is potentially a huge market.

DIT in Bolton St. is also trying to develop a vertical axis generator. The venturi aspect is interesting. It gets over the usual vertical axis issue that while one blade is workign well, another blade is going the wrong direction in relation to the wind. There are other problems with vertical axis machines though, one of which is their massive size and weight, which prevents you being able to mount them on a tall tower at an economical price.

If you look at their 5kw machine here, it is absolutely huge (or else the bloke in the picture is tiny). Because there is wind shear close to the ground, you need to get as high as you reasonably can. Getting this 5kw machine up to 12 to 15m off the ground is going to be expensive.

As to predicted production, you would need to see power curves and I don't see any published on the site as yet. I'm sure this is in the development phase, as are many other VAWTs.

I wouldn't agree with their view of mounting any of these on a building though, unless the building was purpose built for the turbine.

But I reckon in the long run, solar PV will be the way for urban dwellers to produce electricity. Wind will probably remain the domain of country dwellers in good sites, regardless of the technology used.

Eurorunner

@liamdenn: Did they give you any indicative pricing on the 1KW unit?
Just wondering if these show any improvement in terms of payback period...

liamdenn

Yeah they gave me pricing, it was a nearly a year ago and i lost the sheet but my understanding is that it was around the 12,000 mark installed. they told me it was 3 times as efficient as a regular one, in the sense that the blades are moved quicker by the air being sucked through the housing. But you know the thing that struck me the most. That they were German. You just know they are not bull sh1tting. They had this kind of "but of course it works, why would we make something like this if it didnt work" attitude and in fairness to the germans they have a good old track record of making things that work!!! I just watched that grand designs on 4od about the huf haus and it is deadly how well everything went.

Eurorunner

liamdenn wrote: »

I just watched that grand designs on 4od about the huf haus and it is deadly how well everything went.

Yes, have seen the same programme - but in the case of Huf the problem there is that they are savagely expensive!

Fries-With-That

liamdenn wrote: »

Hi All,
Havnt posted on this forum before but have been an avid reader for a while. Just wondering if any of you have come across this crowd from Germany. I saw them at the sei show earlier in the year and was blown away but cant help thinking its too good to be true! Would love to hear what you guys think. The guy told me a 1kw would do for an average house as it is more efficient than a regular turbine.
http://www.energy-age-wind.de/produkte/animation.php

Great looking design, but you can't mount this on a house.

I don't think it would pass the rules and regulations that have been put in place, about planning for wind turbines in Ireland.

Did the price they quoted include the grid tie system or batteries and inverter, either of these make wind turbines very expensive.

If you're committed to the idea of a wind turbine and you have the room available to install one so that it meets all the criteria ( distance from bounderies etc).
Take a look at www.otherpower.com diy turbines you can also look at www.gotwind.org.
I have a small diy turbine in my garden to power garden lights but I'd have to be in a more rural area to install one that would have any hope of running a house.

Regards,

Fries.

Fries-With-That

Fries-With-That wrote: »

Great looking design, but you can't mount this on a house.

I don't think it would pass the rules and regulations that have been put in place, about planning for wind turbines in Ireland.

If the house has been designed with one in mind, then there will be no issues in mounting it on the (suitably constructed) roof.

Planning shouldn't be an issue as the rules are written with standard blade types in mind, this type would be mounted much lower and the "swept area" is confined to the aperture, the issue of aesthetics is of course a different matter.

liamdenn

That looks cool fries with that. Unfortunatly I cant remember if the grid tie was included although I left the stand thinking it was an "all in" price.

liamdenn

so guys would u buy one????
and what should i do now to find out more? or rather what do i need to know about this product to know if it will do an 1800ft house

quentingargan

liamdenn wrote: »

so guys would u buy one????
and what should i do now to find out more? or rather what do i need to know about this product to know if it will do an 1800ft house

First off, anyone considering a wind turbine needs need to know if their site is suitable for wind at all. I've put in an attachment which is a guide on one way of doing this. The other way is to put an anemometer up for a year.

You will see in that guide that you need to get a power curve for the wind turbine and enter those figures. This will then tell you what the likely electricity production will be for this turbine on your site.

You can compare that output to your electricity bill - whether it meets your needs depends on how much power you use, particularly whether you cook or heat your house with electricity etc. You will always be either buying or selling power depending on production / consumption at any one time, but it may balance out nicely. You will get paid by ESB 19c per Kw Hr exported for the first 3,000 units per year (for the first five years). Above that, the rate paid falls to 9c.

Would I buy this sort of turbine? Have I switched to Window 7 yet? or even Vista? That all depends on your pioneering spirit. The current design of three blade horizontal axis turbine has been well proven over decades, whereas there are a lot of unknowns in this machine. I would have some slight concern about the belt drives and the water brake. I wouldn't imagine that the heat output would be worth plumbing for example. A wind turbine runs 24/7 under a wide range of conditions, not commonly seen by cars or other machines. It is awkward to get at for minor repairs, and for that reason, I prefer to keep things at the top of a tower as simple as possible.

I would also worry about availability of parts in the event of a failure. Most turbines are fairly modular - if the company went bust you could fit someone elses blades or generator later, whereas this is all quite unique.

But it is an interesting concept which I wouldn't dismiss out of hand. Pioneers are brave so we can all know in five years time if it is a lemon:)

liamdenn

Thanks Quentin,
Thats brilliant. I am currently looking for a site and i would like to have one of the considerations being that it is suitable for a turbine.
If a house was close enough to passive standard and you had a average site would it be possible to get a turbine to produce most/all the electrical requirments for lighting/appliances/hrv? I was hoping to heat the house with a wood stove and back boiler with electric backup. Am I mad?

quentingargan

liamdenn wrote: »

Thanks Quentin,
Thats brilliant. I am currently looking for a site and i would like to have one of the considerations being that it is suitable for a turbine.
If a house was close enough to passive standard and you had a average site would it be possible to get a turbine to produce most/all the electrical requirments for lighting/appliances/hrv? I was hoping to heat the house with a wood stove and back boiler with electric backup. Am I mad?

No - we built a 1600 sq ft strawbale house which we power with a 2.5kw Proven generator and for the most part it meets our requirements for lighting, hrv and fridge, freezer, washing machine. I used a battery system at the time because grid-tie was out of the question, but I would grid tie any system these days. Batteries are terribly inefficient really...

But our electricity requirements are modest. For example, we hand-fill our washing machine with hot water from the tap (heated by either solar or wood stove) and we seldom use an electric kettle and we don't even posess a hair drier or a tumble drier (our clothes dry in the conservatory).

Conservation is always the first step in energy reduction. Renewables come second:).

bladespin

On a good site (you need an annual average of above 5 metres per second at turbine level, not 70m high) using a 2.5kw turbine you'll generate around 4000 units, better sites will produce a lot more (windspeed is king here).

You should compare those figures to your power demand to gauge feasability, I hope it works out for you.