Mysterious Maglev wind turbine

Maglev wind turbine has been a big splash on Worldwatch's blog, Treehugger and inhabitat. The original article about Maglev wind turbine
was in Chinese Xinhua News paper, and as per this article about Maglev wind turbine some of the claims from the English and web media are misleading.

First of all Maglev wind turbine won't be levitating off the ground, and won't be frictionless as well, but these may be significantly more efficient than existing windmills. The magnetic levitation that Maglev wind turbine would use is between the rotating shaft and the fixed base of the machine, basically taking the place of ball bearings. Such magnetic bearings have been used for decades in smaller turbines and pumps by Ebara, Leybold, Seiko-Seiki, and others. However, they generally can't handle being bumped around much because the magnetic force isn't that strong enough. Making magnetic bearings strong enough to handle the loads put on them by Maglev wind turbine would be hard, and would use prohibitive amounts of power just keeping the electromagnets running strongly enough. However, the Worldwatch article says the new Chinese device uses "full-permanent" magnets, meaning there are no electromagnets, only cleverly placed permanent ones, so it should use no power. It sounds like they will be used on small turbines (perfect for home use), which would be similar in scale to the pumps and industrial turbines currently using magnetic bearings. But who knows, in a few years it might be possible to scale them up for Maglev wind turbine.
Unfortunately there's not a shred of additional technical information in the article about Maglev wind turbine’s structure. so we can only speculate what their solution was for the mysterious Maglev wind turbine. Some are speculating that they're probably using Halbach arrays in a system like the Inductrack invented at Lawrence Livermore Labs several years ago. Any permanent magnet system would doubtless need lots of Neodymium ("rare earth") magnets, which may have questionable sustainability when mined in large amounts, but as it happens China is rich in that element--in fact, energy.buzz points out that China owns 90% of the world's market of rare earth magnets. Since July 2006 Maglev wind turbine remains a mystery with very little details and even lesser news.

Maglev wind turbine.

A Maglev wind turbine or Maglev windmill would use magnetic levitation to replace conventional bearings in the design of a wind turbine. A recent design of Maglev wind turbine was developed in China by Guangzhou Energy Research Institute. This design of Maglev wind turbine claims to utilize winds with starting speeds as low as 1.5 meters per second (m/s), and cut-in speeds of 3 m/s. Such Maglev wind turbine should be able to add 1,000 hours of operation annually to wind power plants in areas with an average wind speed of 3 m/s.[1] However, since the energy available in wind varies so the power produced by Maglev wind turbine at such velocities would be lower than conventional wind turbines under higher speed winds.
The rotating turbine shaft in Maglev wind turbine is supported by magnetic levitation instead of ball bearings. Magnetic bearings have been used for smaller turbines and pumps, but they generally can't handle impacts disturbing the shaft, and generally require actively controlled electromagnets. Making magnetic bearings strong enough to handle the loads of a Maglev wind turbine would use prohibitive amounts of power just keeping the electromagnets running. The Chinese design of Maglev wind turbine is said to use permanent magnets to support the rotor shaft.
Little detailed technical information supporting these claims about Maglev wind turbine is available in English.
Chinese company Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Technology invested CN¥400 million in building the base for the maglev wind turbine generators, in which construction began in November 2007. Maglev Wind Turbine Technologies Inc. announced the launch of a wind turbine power generating device based on magnetic levitation called the Maglev Wind Turbine on July 26, 2007.

TINY WIND TURBINES

Talking about wind energy what comes first in our minds is the larger then life colossal wind turbines and wind energy farms. Think again! Why not tiny wind turbines, charging our electric gadgets, watches, torches and at times our lights and cell phones. We have developed tiny solar powered chargers, MP4 players, and street lights.
As the world focuses more and more on wind energy and wind turbines for power generation, but wind turbines are never considered tiny as long as they are not made out of paper. All this is changing now in the past 2 years we have seen quite a few applications being powered by tiny wind turbines, although most of these are either decorative or in research phase but some of these tiny wind turbines are made for real life power production and are quite astonishingly proving handy.

Take a look at this tiniest, tiny wind turbine, this 2.4 inch rotator blade blow on toy lights its one green and two blue LED lights when blown at. This tiny wind turbine toy can be a great gadget to introduce enthusiasm among the young ones about renewable energy. No charging or batteries are requires as this tiny wind turbine is absolutely self sufficient. Instead of lighting up a lighter in a concert just use these tiny wind turbines during the ballad and pass an eco friendly massage in a silent manner.
£9.99! @ Nigel’s Eco Store.

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This little rotating devil is my favorite by HYmini, this tiny wind turbine is installed in a device that make it a personal wind energy portable cell phone charge. Walk, jog just attach this with your arm or fix it with your handle while riding your bicycle. It’s ideal for camping and outdoor activities, as well as those days when you are nomadic: in and out of trains, cabs, or airports. Better yet, it can be combine with solar panels or even when there is just no wind around.
HYmini is offering these along with straps and charging pins for $ 49.99 + another $10 for accessories.

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There is a tiny wind turbine in this watch by High-end watchmaker Urwerk , who is bringing new meaning to the term “tiny wind turbines” by replacing the traditional self-winding mechanism in their UR-202 watch with miniature wind turbines. While this small scale turbine installation isn’t solving any energy crisis, it is a step towards better design, and a wind-driven move that extends the life of this distinctive timepiece. While we’ve seen wind turbine technology in many forms, from large, powerful designs that can power neighborhoods, to small hand-held devices that can charge your mobile gadgets, we can’t recall any innovation that used wind power in such a small (yet significant) detail.
The UR-202 uses compressed air generated by the tiny wind turbines to regulate the winding mechanism. With traditional self-winding watches use a slipping mainspring to prevent over winding. The main rotor, which is constantly moving back and forth (as the user moves his arm), tends to wear as time goes on, due to the friction generated as it winds. What the tiny wind turbines do is to regulate the velocity of the winding rotor to ensure that it doesn’t spin too fast, or too slow. In principle, this will extend the life of the winding mechanism, not exactly revolutionary in the big picture, but cool nonetheless. The watch is certainly distinctive enough, and has a number of features which make it quite interesting, and a little intimidating.

All these tiny wind turbine are another stem towards, Next generation wind energy.

Floating Wind Turbines

Wind turbines floating in the sky may sound like an absurd idea, but absurdness of this bizarre new concept in the field of wind energy is the beauty of the concept itself. Like most developments in the felid of renewable energy, floating wind turbines came with simply a concept backed by the fact that energy is all around us we just need suitable and sustainable means to harness it. We all know that there is a steady wind for consistent production of energy some where above 600 to 1000 feet above ground level, but to put a wind turbine at 1000 Feet on a pole is not only expensive but also quite hard to maintain.
Magenn Power of Ottawa has developed a prototype of these floating wind turbines, and they are calling it MARS (The Magenn Air Rotator System). MARS is a blimp that floats with the aid of helium gas and is connected to grid stations with a series of cables. Centrifugal turbines mounted on both ends of the MARS and these floating wind turbines start producing, clean renewable energy. Floating wind turbines produce double the average production of conventional wind turbines as the winds at 1000 feet are steady and more productive.
Floating wind turbines not only thumps conventional wind turbines with there low impact ability but also are much easier to maintain. Mobility of floating wind turbines is another remarkable feature which makes this technology tremendously practical in times of emergency. These amazing floating wind turbines can be easily installed for instant power availability at disaster struck sites.
Floating wind turbines research and development is promising 40 to 50 % efficiency compared to the conventional wind turbines as the double production capacity of a single unit is possible. Farms of floating wind turbines can be placed near the demanded area and this can save on cable cost and line loss.
Conventional wind turbines only produce energy in wind speeds between 3 meters/sec and 28 meters/sec. Magenn’s floating wind turbines (MARS) should start production between 1 meter/sec and in excess of 28 meters/sec.
These floating wind turbines can be easily raised to different heights between 400ft-1000ft, thus capitalizing of stable and speedy winds will be very much possible.
Critics talk of hazardous these floating wind turbines might bring for air traffic, but air traffic is not some play station game any more every new development is update with aviations world wide. Some say that these floating wind turbines might break down and fall, disasters strike but can be controlled as well, as with such huge investments backups are always designed.
Another type of floating wind turbines is under research by Sky Wind power Corporation. These floating wind turbines will use helicopter technology to reach desired heights and stay afloat, now these heights can be 30,000 feet up in the jet stream where the wind is strong and steady, Sky Wind power Corporation, envisage clusters of these floating wind turbines, as many as 600 units, generating as much as 12,000 megawatts, far more than your typical nuclear plant.
Floating wind turbines might prove to be the next generation of wind energy, making it a flexible source of renewable clean energy ready to install in remote areas, according to Magenn Air Rotator System, first batch of these floating wind turbines should be launched soon for sale fit for domestic use.

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.