Aerodynamic Characteristics

"Aerodynamic Characteristics of Seven Symmetrical Airfoil Sections Through 180-Degree Angle of Attack for Use in Aerodynamic Analysis of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines" : Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, March 1981, 118 pages.

Aerodynamic Characteristics

Aerodynamic Characteristics

Usually an aircraft is not attached to a steel support structure. For an aircraft, flying without that (ground attached) steel structural support, drag is paramount.

A Wind Powered Generator is attached to a steel structure. For a Wind Powered Generator, operating with that (ground attached) steel structural support, as long as the structure can withstand the drag, the drag is not much important at all. Drag has importance, but the tower is there directly for that force.

An airplane is usually mobile. It uses its inertia and/or its driving force in counter to the drag.

A Wind Powered Generator is stationary, except for rotating. It uses a structural tower in counter to the drag.

Big difference.

If the wings of an airplane in flight were to be set coherently at 45 degrees to its direction of travel, the resultant drag would be so great that it could not maintain its vector of travel. The airplane would intrinsically change direction until either it tumbled uncontrollably or its combined vectors became a new vector of travel which in itself is now less than the airplane's shape's combined stall angles. There is a way to stop the change in direction: Attach the airplane to a sufficient structural support, and attach the structural support sufficiently to the ground, as can be commonly seen in wind tunnel testing of aerodynamic designs. At that point, the drag for the airplane is compensated for and the drag for the airplane has also become not so much important also. Of course the drag could cause damage to the airplane wings, or the airplane structure, or be used to calculate stall angles, but airplanes are not designed to be stationary (as Wind Powered Generators are).

If a Wind Powered Generator in flight ... Oh, wait, Wind Powered Generators do not fly. Wind Powered Generators sit attached to a tower which is attached to the ground. But what about the change in angle due to drag on the blades? Again, look at the tower. The tower is attached to the ground. The tower absorbs the drag force. Thus, there is no change in the angle of the Wind Powered Generator due to the blades except that the blades turn the center shaft around and around . And the forced turning of the blades is converted to torque on the central shaft. And the torque on the central shaft is used to turn that central shaft. And the turning of the central shaft is used to create electricity via an alternator. So Wind Powered Generators do not fly. No really, they are attached to the ground. Wind Powered Generators use the wind force to create electricity. And the drag on a Wind Powered Generator? Oh, that is handled by the tower. Remember the tower. The tower is there for a reason. The tower holds the Wind Powered Generator. The Wind Powered Generator does not fly. It turns round and round. But it still does not fly.

If an airplane is permanently attached to the ground by a sufficient tower, then the comparison might make sense. But with out that tower, the comparison is illogical.

Here is the real problem: A "wind turbine" uses aerofoils. Why? Because the wind might blow the "wind turbine" away (oops get a better tower, that is what it is there for), and the drag has to be considered in the design (oops make the supporting structure of the blades stronger), because, well because. Because. Because what? As long as the structure of the "wind turbine" can handle the wind loads, who cares about the drag; seriously, who cares? To produce electricity, the blades need to turn. If someone is so confused as to worry about the drag (which is taken care of by the structure) then they might as well use no blades at all and have a straight stick pointing into the wind for minimal drag. What did you think that tower was there for? Looks? Or, maybe to give an observer a vertical line for their eyes to key on and keep them from getting motion sick from seeing the blades turn? The tower takes care of the drag force. The tower. The tower. Remember the tower. Ok, there is no reason for a "wind turbine" to use aerofoils. Aerofoils for wind energy conversion is silly. Unless you simply do not want them to work. And unless you want to convince the brain dead members of the general public that they can never use the phenomenal energy capacity of the wind.

Think. Drag and aerofoils are for airplanes. Towers and flat plate blades on a 45 degree angle are for Wind Powered Generators. The tower. The tower. Remember the tower. The tower is there for the drag force.

Wind Powered Generators do not fly.

Wind Powered Generators do not need aerodynamic "lift". They use impact vector dynamics on a 45 degree plate.

Airplanes fly.

Airplanes need aerodynamic "lift".

The tower. The tower. Remember the tower. The tower is there for the drag force.

Aerodynamic Characteristics

Aerodynamic Characteristics

Aerodynamic Characteristics

LOOK at the graph CLOSELY.


There is about a 90% of [what they are calling lift] retention from about 30 degrees to about 55 degrees.




or


About 90% of [what they are calling lift] retention!


If the wind does not hit the aerofoil for "lift" almost exactly correct, then a "wind turbine" has a very sharp drop in energy conversion.

If the wind hits the Wind Powered Generator's 45 degree angled blades at a range from about 30 degrees to about 55 degrees our wind powered generator STILL HAS A HUGE AMOUNT OF ENERGY CONVERSION !

And remember: Drag is taken care of by the tower. The tower. The tower. Remember the tower. Drag is taken care of by the tower.

Wind Powered Generators DO NOT FLY ! They are designed to AGRESSIVELY convert wind energy to electric energy. They do not fly. We showed you this example so that you would see the illogical use of aerofoils for wind energy conversion. Now think about this: at a 45 degree angle, the "lift" being described by Sandia National Laboratories is probably NOT flow rate lift on a free-flight test object, it is impact vector lift. Get that? If you hold a flat plate (or semi-flat aerofoil) at a 45 degree angle, and do not allow it to be moved by drag, and if you measure the resultant vector forces on it, then you could refer to the result in a misleading manner as "lift" but it is not the same as free-flight "lift." It is mostly the vector result of forces on the STABLE test object which is held WITHOUT MOVING in a test condition. Get this straight: Windmills, and Wind Powered Generators do not use aerofoil "lift" as attributed to airplane wings. The force, at a 45 degree angle, is BEYOND THE STALL ANGLE, and thus is NOT free-flight lift. Hello? Physics and Newton's Third Law of Motion! Remember that. Do NOT allow the "Wind Turbine" people to lie to you! Get that straight. Windmills and Wind Powered Generators do not use aerofoil "lift." If a vector force hits a flat plate blade at a 45 degree angle, then the resultant turning force is incrementally a multiple of the initial vectored force. HELLO? You should have known this! When you first saw those silly three-bladed illogical waste-of-space wind turbines, you KNEW that they did not work. You KNEW that!




Why did your elected officials, spending billions of dollars on those silly three bladed wind turbines NOT see this? Or, maybe they did, and maybe they were paid billions of dollars to keep their mouth shut. There could be trillions of dollars in energy available from the wind. If the elected officials were not paid in billions of dollars to keep quiet, then maybe they got short-changed on the deal of keeping quiet. Billions, Trillions, hey folks there are vast amounts of money at stake here and currently the taxpayers are being hurt hard by the "wind turbine" lies.

A Wind Turbine uses a support pole to handle wind loading, but many advertisers ignore the support pole and describe the blades as "flying" (like airplane wings "fly").

Wind Turbine = A device designed to not work, which has one or more group of silly, illogical, waste-of-space, aerofoil lifting blades.

A Wind Powered Generator uses a support pole to handle wind loading and is definitely NOT described by us as "flying."