New (very old) wind tech

[Timo]

I saw this technology mentioned somewhere elswe this morning, went directly to the company's website, and thought i'd post it here for reactions and thoughts. From what i can tell, it's wind energy with no blades, but more like a sail on a sailboat. The wind produces kinetic energy, that in turn is converted into mechanical energy via hydraulics, the pressure from which can then be saved for use when the wind is not blowing. Plus, they claim efficiencies of 30% to 35% greater than traditional bladed turbines. Holy cow! Maybe the best part is that there's no magic black-box technology, and it's affordable! Just to try it, the risk is very low, and the potential payback is very high. I want one!

http://www.saphonenergy.com/index.php

[lper100km]

I checked the web site but found the information to be high on presentation and hype and low on detail. Also, 2 to 3 times efficiency of existing methods? That’s a large variation in claimed gains and too vague to have real meaning without substantial evidence.

However, they are a private venture and can reveal as much or little as they wish. At the moment I would rate it as one of those tantalizing possibilities that stretch the limits of credulity, but plausible enough to attract funding. The energy field is a magnet for this kind of stuff.

[JohnRM]

First patented in Tunisia? Barely passable English translation? Highly suspect.

[TreeFarmer]

On top of everyone else's criticisms, the only way I could see storing the energy would be to use hydraulics to create compressed air. To store a meaningful amount of compressed air you would need to seal off an abandoned mine. I don't see this one being useful on anything other than a tiny scale.

TF

[cephalotus]

Plus, they claim efficiencies of 30% to 35% greater than traditional bladed turbines. Holy cow!

Current rotor designs are near the physical limit of efficiency (the Betz' limit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betz%27_law )...

There is also no need for improvement, current designs are already good enough.

You have to make huge rotors and you have to get them where the wind blows. This is the challenge...