Wind Power
 

This idea has been bugging me for some time now and I figured you guys should be able to put it to rest....

Can power be drawn some what efficiently from wind? Here is my idea;

-A wind capturing device of some sort mounted inside a scoop either on the bottom or side of your vehicle used to generate power to run a single 12V battery.

-A modified turbo and using the pressure to spin this device and generate power to keep a 12V battery charged

-A wind capturing device mounted inside a tailpipe in order to generate wind to keep a 12V battery charged

I just think that we can utilize some of the wind currents either created by our car or going around our cars in order to maintain a charged battery. Multiple of the system is efficient enough. This would at least allow us to run alternator free.

The floor is yours ...

i think you'd pay for the drag somehow but it might be a good way to charge batteries on a parked car. you could have a small generator pop out of the trunk or something when you park it.

the short answer is no, it's not worth even thinking about on a car, the extra air drag will put more of a load on the engine then the belt driven alternator does.

I've pondered this idea as well. I agree with pawilkes in that it would have to be a set up that only runs when the car is parked. You would loose the potential gain if it was exposed while driving. Don't know what kind of power you could get out of it.

Depending on how you designed it you could set it up for regenerative breaking as well.

A windmill of sorts
 

From the great site called Green Car Congress:
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005..._exhaust_.html
:thumbup:

With a windmill like that you wouldn't get more than 100% efficiency if it was always running, if you could find a way to make it not drag when you are cruising or accelerating and only spin while slowing down or while the car is off (pretty much anytime you aren't using the battery) it could work. I saw a video of a new type of windmill that looks promising and you might be able to put it on the bottom of your car and actually get more energy while driving than you are spending if the conditions are right.

I can't find the link to the video but it was basically just a sting that had magnets on the end that would vibrate up and down when wind was blown on it (like if you take a piece of string and blow on it the string will go up and down). As it blows up and down the magnets produce a charge with copper coils.

I think the harnessing the turbo idea has some merit, but someone with some engine engineering experience could say for sure. I would also assume an average turbo would produce far too much energy for a normal cars electrical needs, if you have batteries for propulsion though...
I always think steam would be a good add on, a couple water filled tubes inside the exhaust after the cat to capture some of the waste heat, how to harness the steam is another problem again.
How about true wind power? Folks in the plains with a north south commute and a steady wind from the west could use land sailing rigs, they may not work so well in traffic though:eek: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_sailing
Ian

trikkonceptz -

I would think that as long as it doesn't increase your frontal area, then there may be a benefit. Normally we like to do grill blocks, but how about a row of "tiny windmills" contributing some extra juice to the electrical system? They would need to be resilient up to 100 MPH (overengineered) I think. They would also "stagnate" to some degree because of their location. But, maybe you don't know until you try. My grill is a good candidate for this, but I would need to figure the electrical setup to add juice and protect the windmills.

CarloSW2

Is it Newtons Laws? that tells me that there is no free energy. So turning any kind of wind turbine costs you at least as much as you are getting out of it and often more. Now if you disconnect your alternator and can get by with a wind turbine and a solar panel you might be ahead but even that would have to be measured.
Ian

You will not be getting any free energy. If you are slowing down and not using any power besides momentum you will be gaining energy, some of it at least, that you lost while accelerating. It's like the regenerative breaking on hybrids, except with wind power instead.

I didn't read all of the postings here, so I may be repeating someone .... but .... I saw in Popular Science circa 1999 - 2000 that a company was experimenting with this idea.
A 'windmill' was placed on the roof of a van sideways. As the vehicle drove along, the wind would spin the blade and produce electricity.
What made their idea so clever was that the blades flattened out as they spun around creating far less drag than if they remained intact.

It was the issue that had "Detroits' 80MPG supercars". ( The Precept, Dodge intrepid ESX, Ford Prodigy.)

Like so many things in that magazine, it's promises never amount to anything.

I saw the exact same video and immediately thought of using it on a car. There are areas that are not exposed to the wind but still get a lot of movement, like the recesses under the car. Instead of covering the bottom of the car you might try to harness that turbulence, since it already is present and the addition of the, let's call them "power ribbons", wouldn't affect your drag in any way. It would be all gain.

Yeah I've seen that video too, problem is that the magnet on a string trick produces very minimal power (less than an amp/hour), even in a strong wind. I doubt it'd be consistent enough to do anything. Not to mention the drag of vibrating strings or the sound it'd cause when encased or near a hollow shell (think one note guitar).

Id did find the concept interesting, but I don't think it'll amount to much. Too many variables. And if it was even remotely practical I'm sure the inventor would at least be working with NATO or some international charity to field test it. After all it's only a magnet on a string with a couple copper washers secured next to it.


<edit> As to the whole concept you also gotta remember that windmills generate a lot of turbulence, and the big ones are suspects in even causing noticeable effects on the local weather.

I doubt it'd even work while coasting in that it'll probably slow you down considerably faster than you'd normally coast which would thus lessen the effects of regenerative braking. At best you'd maybe break even.