Lee Batdorff of the University Circle Blog [1] sent me an amazing write-up on Dr. Majid Rashidi, a Mechanical Engineer at Cleveland State University, who has developed and engineered a “smart energy spire” that includes multiple, miniature turbines on each of its spires that can generate electrical power at very low wind speeds. The write up below indicates these "Bernoulli Principle"-based "smart energy spires" are not only an innovative idea, but they are going into production with Green Energy Technologies, which projects sales of approximately $93 million by 2009, along with the creation of at least 77 jobs. Below are some related articles and links worth checking out - it seems the big money will be innovation with wind manufacturing at the personal and campus level... how big could this be for NEO?
Read an article on this technology in the Cleveland Plain Dealer here [2] and consider the strong support Cleveland State University is showing for this project, wanting the first production spire to be on CSU campus. Green Energy Technologies says they have orders for five other spires already, so this seems for-real. Some other mentions are below. What do you think about this?
Friday, 01 September 2006 A Wind System using the Bernoulli Principle [3]
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Green Energy Technologies (GET), a company based in Akron, Ohio, USA, is introducing a unique wind system (with 1MW, 500kW, 100kw and custom rooftop models) called the SmartEnergy Spire, which creates a ‘wind tunnel’ effect forcing the wind around the Spire. Using the Bernoulli principle, the Spire design creates an efficiency of 1.676 two times the throughput over a traditional wind turbine using ambient wind. |
Interview with GET CEO Mark Cironi on GCBL here [4]
Cleveland State Press Release below.
Harnessing the Power of Wind: Taking a Good Idea and Making it Better
Landscapes dotted with individual windmills as well as massive wind farms are slowly becoming a reality in an economy burdened by its reliance on fossil fuels to generate electricity and power. According to the American Wind Energy Association, “wind energy will generate over 24 billion kilowatt-hours in the U.S. in 2006, enough electricity to power 2.3 million homes”. Traditional wind turbines, however, have suffered from a reputation as being unsightly, harmful to wild life, and plagued by mechanical failures.
Dr. Majid Rashidi, a Mechanical Engineer at Cleveland State University who sees a strong future in wind power, thought we could do better. Working off of an 18th century theory called the Bernoulli Principle— that when any fluid goes around a structure, an increase in velocity occurs—Dr. Rashidi developed a “smart energy spire” that includes multiple, miniature turbines on each of its spires that can generate electrical power at very low wind speeds, something which cannot be accomplished with standard large blade windmills (Figure 1). The multiple wind energy generation units installed along the surface of the tower creates a fail safe redundant system that allows electrical power to be generated even if individual units fail to operate.
Moreover, each of the miniature turbines uses gearless drives, an advancement that addresses not only a critical problem of traditional wind turbines and gear failure, but it also eliminates the possibility of electronic magnetic interference in the electrical power supply. The technology also addresses wind direction change by allowing the wind tower to rotate into the incoming direction of the wind, with production capacity rated at two times greater than a conventional wind turbine configuration because of the amplification caused by the spire systems innovative design. Finally, the materials used for the “smart energy
spire” addresses the manufacturing costs of such a tower by standardizing the manufacturing process in a “piece-by-piece” method, where each turn of the spire can be molded, with the ability for mass production and thus lower costs.
With this technology and innovation in hand, Cleveland State is working with Akron-based Green Energy Technologies to bring the smart energy spire to the marketplace as a unique system of towers and roof top units (because of the unique spiral design, the number of turns—and thus size—can easily be adjusted based on the needs of clients). These towers are expected to be very versatile, from spirals that provide electricity to the current power grid (as is being explored by First Energy Corporation) to spirals that include RF communications electronics in the same structure (for use by cellular phone communication companies) and spirals that provide electricity to large organizations (such as Cleveland State University).
By tapping into this market potential, Green Energy Technologies projects sales of approximately $93 million by 2009, along with the creation of at least 77 jobs.
Cleveland State University researchers are always looking for ways to make life better in Northeast Ohio. Fortunately for the region, Dr. Majid Rashidi has aptly accomplished this task, providing not only new power sources, but also creating a new industry and new jobs.
For additional information please contact the CSU Technology Transfer Office at 216-687-9228
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Wind Spire Crop.JPG [5] | 44.54 KB |
Links:
[1] http://www.clevelandcircle.org/
[2] http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/chris_sheridan/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1159605501268330.xml&coll=2&thispage=1
[3] http://www.windtech-international.com/content/view/751/69
[4] http://www.gcbl.org/economy/sustainable-business/sustainable-business-green-energy-technologies-inc
[5] http://realneo.us/system/files/Wind+Spire+Crop.JPG
[6] http://realneo.us/content/dr-rashidi-serves-wind-earmark-baloney-csu
[7] http://realneo.us/content/dr-rashidis-csu-fenn-college-federally-funded-wind-spire-hoax
[8] http://realneo.us/content/pearl-rd-auto-wrecking-installs-1st-sensible-wind-turbine-neo