Idea for a Vawt, need opinions if it will work or not

Hi

I'm thinking about building a vawt, using a barrel and some guttering for the blades, I intend to put the generator and electronics inside the barrel to keep it nice and dry

but I think it would look real nice and smart if I have the barrel in the middle the actual blades of the vawt

I have never seen this done before, so I am wondering if there is a reason for this, maybe it will ruin the air flow?

my gut feeling is though it may actually improve things as the air would be diverted from the barrel onto the vawt blades?

anyway I guess i should probaly do a small scale mock up and see if it works or not

it is going to be used for lighting for the shed/greenhouse and running a few little pumps for the pond

thanks for looking

Hey Antony,

I'm not quite getting how this would work by your explanation? Perhaps a drawing? Guttering for blades may work if they aren't too long. You're likely to run into a lack of rigidity if the span gets too long. That said... try it out, you never know!

Good Luck! Lets us know!

Hi, Anthony.

I think I can picture this in my head. Looks like an interesting, well balanced design, if it matches that picture in my head. Slanted blades attached to a round barrel, which turns on standard bearings or magnetic bearings on a fixed pole? Length of blades attach to length of barrel? Width of blades determine the surface area of caught wind outside the barrel, sort of like a paddlewheel on one of those old river steam boats built around a barrel and turned vertical?

As long as the long blades are properly spaced and angled, it should work well. The bigger around the barrel, the more power generated?

How high would you intend to mount it?

Antony, I wasn't sure what a vawt was. Had to look it up. Looks like there are all sorts of different designs out there. Might as well try yours out!

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=vawt&qpvt=vawt&FORM=IGRE