The design of this retired engineer is based on taking advantage of the winds that circulate at high altitude
If there is a renewable energy technology that is constantly improving, it is wind turbines, immersed in a revolution for efficiency when it comes to producing electricity. Large companies, with many engineers, are working on it every day, and now a competitor has emerged: Horst Bendix from Leipzig. And it is that Horst Bendix, who this year will be 93 years old, has developed an improved model that is up to three times more efficient than current wind turbines.
Horst Bendix worked as head of research and development at the Leipzig-based heavy machinery manufacturer Kirow until his retirement in 1995. He was the heavy machinery man there, designing brown coal excavators and cranes.
The installation of turbines that achieve higher performance than current ones and, therefore, require less space, could be a great advance for the problems that wind energy currently presents in many cases.
A high altitude turbine
His design It has the particularity that it acts at heights of more than 200 meters. The benefit is higher energy yield. Higher-altitude winds are stronger and more constant, which can make “wind harvesting” more productive.
The new prototype of the so-called high-altitude wind turbine differs from the design of conventional wind turbines: The usual one-piece tower of today’s turbines is replaced in the Bendix wind turbine by a three-legged construction consisting of a vertical column and two support columns. In addition, there is no longer a single generator at the top of the nacelle, but several running at the bottom of the turbine.
As collected by the Ecoinventos portal, It is a system that completely reverses the classic structure: The conventional wind turbine currently consists of a tower in which there is a rotating nacelle with the rotor hub on which the rotor blades sit. The power generator is installed in the gondola and the entire system sits on a solid foundation. However, These systems have to deal with a serious problem: bending forces.
The wind acts on the rotor with a considerable force, many tons. As a result, the tower bends and has to withstand this bending and requires a large moment of resistance on the ground.
The taller the tower, the stronger the bending forces. This increases the risk of instability and damage to the material structure.
overcome bending forces
Therefore, Horst Bendix replaces the tower in his system with a tripod construction consisting of an upright column and two support columns.
And there is another innovation: the generator is no longer located in the gondola, but several are placed below, at the bottom of the system. Wind power is directed from top to bottom to these generators via a belt system.
The advantage of the construction is obvious: the problem of bending forces has been solved. Because the generators are located at the bottom, the weight of the tower head is eliminated. This means that you can easily reach higher regions where there is much more wind. And that in turn means much higher performance. In addition, the entire tower rotates automatically with the direction of the wind.
You can triple the energy obtained
Experts also believe that the new wind turbine has a high chance of success. Wind energy expert Frank Zeulner, who has already planned and built several wind farms around the world, states: “With such a large system with such a large hub height, you can harvest upwards of 20 to 30 gigawatt hours per year. With a conventional one, for example, 10. The performance could be double to triple”.
“By reducing the load on the tower head by the absence of a heavy generator, the turbine is also much more stable, since the high bending forces of conventional turbines are eliminated. Of course, this ensures that I can easily reach the higher regions, where there is much more wind. And that, in turn, means a lot more performance,” adds Zeulner.
Horst Bendix’s high-altitude wind turbine is already patented. However, There is no working prototype yet. although the first conversations have been held with companies interested in building a test turbine.
Reference articles: https://www.mdr.de/wissen/energie-windrad-zukunft-100.htmlhttps://ecoinventos.com/aerogenerador-eolico-horst-bendix/
More system information: https://www.sprind.org/en/projects/beventum
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