Sinderely
Ray

The Betz law is surpassed in a Dutch windmill-design called Powerball [see Aeroliftpatent windmill. Sellingpoint Home Energy Schoondijke (?) ] by using a construction in which the blades make use of the Venturi principle.

The efficiency reached is 85 %. Starts rotating at a very low windspeed. With the same principle a 10 MW Satelite Windmill can be constructed with

an efficiency of 85% or more.

(I do not understand why they are not operational yet)

Whether the Flodesign in the end is better, I do not know.

GOOD THING THAT SOMEBODY USES ITS BRAIN INSTEAD OF STEEL, PLASTICS, AND ITHER ENERGY GUZZLERS.

AS MI EARLY MENTOR SAID: “WHY MAKE THINGS EASY IF WE CAN MAKE THEM DOFFICULT?”

WE MUST LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE, JUST REMEMBER THE HYDRAULIC GENERATORS WITH WATER TURBINES THAT WERE RECENTLY INSTALLED IN THE EAST RIVER IN NYC AND FAILED.

THE DESIGNERS DISREGARDED THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SHIPBUILDERS AND TRIED TO RE-INVENT THE WHEEL!

CONGRATULATIONS

GOOD THING THAT SOMEBODY USES ITS BRAIN INSTEAD OF STEEL, PLASTICS, AND ITHER ENERGY GUZZLERS.

AS MI EARLY MENTOR SAID: “WHY MAKE THINGS EASY IF WE CAN MAKE THEM DOFFICULT?”

WE MUST LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE, JUST REMEMBER THE HYDRAULIC GENERATORS WITH WATER TURBINES THAT WERE RECENTLY INSTALLED IN THE EAST RIVER IN NYC AND FAILED.

THE DESIGNERS DISREGARDED THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SHIPBUILDERS AND TRIED TO RE-INVENT THE WHEEL!

CONGRATULATIONS

I suspect the 3-4x increase is really saying its has a virtual swept area 3-4 larger than its physical swept area.

The virtual swept area is what makes it interesting.

The kinetic energy in wind given by 0.5pav³ applies to all wind turbine designs and the Betz limit says the max extractable energy is 59%.

Conventional VAWTs already claim to be about 35-40% eff IIRC.

The claim that pitching can be increased seems dubious as turbines mustn’t shadow each other.

The video briefly shows FloDesigns being packed in a squashed rectangular grid but that would require the wind to be extremely directional perhaps thru a long valley. But then any turbine design could take that advantage. Plus FloDesign creates a more turbulent wake which would mean down wind turbines need further pitching.

The only pitching improvement that I can think of for any turbine type is to use hexagonal rather than square a grid to slightly increase turbines per farm area. In a honeycomb hex grid, each neighbor is equi-distant versus a square grid with 50/50 pitching / diagonal pitching.

Danish Wind Power Industry Association has a great in depth guided tour of how wind turbines work.

Easily found searching “danish wind tour”

I suspect the 3-4x increase is really saying its has a virtual swept area 3-4 larger than its physical swept area.

The virtual swept area is what makes it interesting.

The kinetic energy in wind given by 0.5pav³ applies to all wind turbine designs and the Betz limit says the max extractable energy is 59%.

Conventional VAWTs already claim to be about 35-40% eff IIRC.

The claim that pitching can be increased seems dubious as turbines mustn’t shadow each other.

The video briefly shows FloDesigns being packed in a squashed rectangular grid but that would require the wind to be extremely directional perhaps thru a long valley. But then any turbine design could take that advantage. Plus FloDesign creates a more turbulent wake which would mean down wind turbines need further pitching.

The only pitching improvement that I can think of for any turbine type is to use hexagonal rather than square a grid to slightly increase turbines per farm area. In a honeycomb hex grid, each neighbor is equi-distant versus a square grid with 50/50 pitching / diagonal pitching.

Danish Wind Power Industry Association has a great in depth guided tour of how wind turbines work.

Easily found searching “danish wind tour”