Tuesday, May 20, 2008

MAGLEV WIND TURBINES




Maglev wind turbines are the next big thing when it comes to mass production of wind energy. Although Maglev wind turbines work on a well known basic principal of magnetic levitation which is being used in turbines all over the world for quite long now. Maglev wind turbines though are based on the principal of magnetic levitation but with an edge, unlike regular turbines that use electromagnet for creating levitation, Maglev wind turbines would use permanent magnets instead of electromagnets which should result in eliminating the friction as the blades would float above the magnetic base. While Maglev wind turbines were in there research phase, critics world wide pointed that the cost of creating electromagnets powerful enough to keep the wind turbine from falling out or bumping, would be so high that the idea is an outlay faller. The chine’s research department [Guangzhou Energy Research Institute and Guangzhou Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Science & Technology Co] working on the Maglev wind turbines solved this problem by introducing permanent magnet which took place of the ball bearings in the structure thus, making these turbines virtually friction free for rotation, this also means that Maglev wind turbines possess the quality of electricity production on winds as low as 3mph. there is more that these wind turbines got to offer then just magnetic levitation, with the ability of production in low winds, Maglev wind turbines are a perfect solution to mass production of renewable electricity. It is expected that with 1000 amplified production hrs the Maglev wind turbines should be able to come with a capacity of 400 – 5000 watts. Maglev wind turbines also have the benefit of low maintenance cost, with the massive production capacity theses turbines are expected to replace 1000 traditional wind turbines, or it can be safely said one Maglev wind turbine will be a wind turbine farm on its own, supplying electricity to 750 thousand average homes. The maintenance cost on Maglev wind turbines will drop to 50 % compared to the traditional wind turbines. Chinese power company Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Technology
is currently building a $5M factory to produce the turbines in capacities from 400 to 5,000 watts.
Critics of Maglev wind turbines argue that this vertical axis wind turbine has serious design flaws.
The conflicting experts suppose that Maglev wind turbines has too many blades leaving the turbine to look "solid" to the wind as it speeds up in strong winds. Stators are also missing in the design to direct the flow more efficiently onto the blades. There are many other flaws that leave industry experts to wonder about this innovative concept and its true capacity but that is open to debate for the time being. As always, critics are playing there positive role, by simply rejecting the idea of Maglev wind turbines which is making it more and more popular, every new invention comes with faults which are refined with the passage of time, so we might see these Maglev wind turbines operational and powering our homes.

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