In reply to Stephen A. Lawrence's message of Wed, 13 Apr 2005 16:23:43 -0400: Hi, [snip] >> Note that the turbines in the skywindpower gadget are horizontal, like >> autogyro rotors. (They look horizontal to me.) The wind turns them the >> same way it turns the unpowered horizontal rotor in the autogyro. > >I might guess that they do that to minimize drag. A turbine works at >pretty much any angle, as I understand it, and the angle at which you >place it depends on what you're trying to optimize. [snip] The turbines need to be at an angle, because they perform two functions. One is providing lift, for which they would ideally be horizontal, the other is intercepting wind flow, so that they can tap into the energy, for which they would ideally be vertical. Since they need to perform both functions, they need to compromise.
Regards, Robin van Spaandonk All SPAM goes in the trash unread.
