News
New wind turbine design
Clarkson Professor Ken Visser and his team of graduate students have been researching wind turbines for the past six years. They've been trying to come up with a design small and efficient enough for the average consumer.
May 6, 2006
in News 10
"Our designs and our focus is really for the homeowner and for the rural environment especially like in the north country here," said Visser.
It all starts with a computer design. The design is then made into a scaled down model right on campus. That model is put into a wind tunnel and data is gathered.
Visser says each model they tested brought them one step closer to the final design.
"What we found, first in the computer then in the wind tunnel, that it seemed to indicate more blades and the particular orientation of the blades could give us a better performance than just three blades," he said.
The research team's design is now being backed by Warner Energy, of Syracuse. A patent is pending and if the full sized prototype is successful, Visser says all of their research could become a reality.
"They're very interested in commercializing the technology, which is a huge leap from the lab. You know going from just building some models and testing some things and reporting on some data to actually try to take that kind of technology and and commercialize it into something viable, you know this is terrific," said Visser.
And Visser's graduate students are also looking forward to seeing their research become a real product.
Matthew Brown said, "We're working on wind turbines that could be turned into a product, and then actually see them in backyards across America, that's pretty exciting. That I might have my hand in that project."
Visser expects a full sized prototype of the new design to be ready by July.
It all starts with a computer design. The design is then made into a scaled down model right on campus. That model is put into a wind tunnel and data is gathered.
Visser says each model they tested brought them one step closer to the final design.
"What we found, first in the computer then in the wind tunnel, that it seemed to indicate more blades and the particular orientation of the blades could give us a better performance than just three blades," he said.
The research team's design is now being backed by Warner Energy, of Syracuse. A patent is pending and if the full sized prototype is successful, Visser says all of their research could become a reality.
"They're very interested in commercializing the technology, which is a huge leap from the lab. You know going from just building some models and testing some things and reporting on some data to actually try to take that kind of technology and and commercialize it into something viable, you know this is terrific," said Visser.
And Visser's graduate students are also looking forward to seeing their research become a real product.
Matthew Brown said, "We're working on wind turbines that could be turned into a product, and then actually see them in backyards across America, that's pretty exciting. That I might have my hand in that project."
Visser expects a full sized prototype of the new design to be ready by July.
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