Pope Design’s portable wind turbines could deliver power to disaster relief or an outdoor concert.
Despite numerous improvements to wind turbines, they share one minor drawback: they’re static. A network of designers under the banner of Pope Design (www.pope-design.net) has come up with a mobile wind-turbine concept that might just change all that. Able to generate and store enough power, the turbine could also be erected anywhere the wind blows.
The idea of the mobile wind turbine is to place a three-blade turbine on the back of a six-wheeled truck. Once driven to a site, two stabilizers supports on each side of the vehicle would extend outwards, each driving hydraulic spikes into the ground.
One blade is permanently attached while the worker would attach the other two.
A glass-filled, thermoplastic tower consists of two-hinged pieces would open like scissors when raised. The lightweight, self-erecting tower is raised using hydraulics on the main boom and a winch on the top section. One turbine blade is permanently mounted on the rotor hub while the others detach for ease of transport. The driver would attach the other two with the help of a self-threading mechanism.
As the single-occupant cab suggests, this is a one-man operation. Once the blades are in place, the tower would be raised without extending outside the vehicle’s footprint of 62.5 x 45 ft. (19 x 13.7m). At full stretch, the tower reaches up 97.6 ft. (29.76m).
Trailer-sized battery units would store power that the site does not use.
A bank of onboard batteries would also store generated power when there’s little energy demand. A separate trailer full of batteries could store more.
The designers suggest applications such as a housing development built using wind power. Or it might work at a rock concert where amplifiers and lighting needs are met by several turbines.
Filed Under: News, Turbines
