The Wing'dmill - 18 year old design from a fluid mechanics Ph.D

The guy has absolutely no concept of what makes a good video but that doesn't mean his fluid mechanics and engineering are wrong.

The concept:

1. A wind turbine that is better in low speed wind instead of high speed like nearly all other designs.  

2. One that is low to the ground so you don't have to build a 30ft tower to construct it or do maintenance.

3. One that can be built with local workshops instead of the factories needed for solar panels and turbines

4. One that is *inherently safe* against overspeed

I'm always interested in more ways to make modern living something we can do ourselves instead of being fundamentally dependent on faraway factories, so this is right up my alley, and I want to build one.

It's always cool to see someone finding a way to exploit marginal resources. But the problem is just that: they're marginal. Low speed means low power unless you make up for it with massive flow by having a huge swept area. A small turbine (strike one - low swept area), close to the ground (strike two - boundary effect and friction decreasing wind energy), in a residential setting (strike three - buildings and vegetation nearby causing turbulence and dissipating the wind) is chasing poor returns. This inventor is at least only contending with two of those in his demo, since the wind across a body of water will be mostly unimpeded.

Solar and battery has become so cheap now that there are only a few edge cases where it's not the obvious choice hands down. Obviously, winter in high latitudes is one, but if the primary need is heat then wood makes more sense anyway. And sites with simple hydro close at hand are hard to beat, but they're not all that plentiful. I get the attraction of homegrown tech, but panels with a 50 - 75-year effective lifespan can be viewed as a one-time investment and you could roll your own battery and electronics if you were really motivated.

i like the sheer wackiness of it, its disturbing to watch it ---for me ---which means --it would freak out the neighbours ,the council, but at the same time generate power from homebrewed mix of salvaged parts ---great idea---but way down on my list of things to make

It's definitely got a mad scientist vibe to it. I don't know if I would trust the braking and holding features in the sort of storm winds we can get here.

Phil Stevens wrote:It's definitely got a mad scientist vibe to it. I don't know if I would trust the braking and holding features in the sort of storm winds we can get here.

As I understand it, It's not a brake. It's physics. It actually gets less likely to move as the wind speed goes up.

Personally I want one, not as a primary power source but as a backup that will always be working and can always be fixed, even if trade wars or something means I can't get new solar panels.

well you could always have a go at building your own solar panels ----check out missed history and low cost solar ---guy built them in 1905 ---and they were totally rebuildable---no use up and throw away---maybe not high performance---but diy---just thought i would perhaps add another project onto the list