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hex4def6 10 hours ago

Many questions.

A couple:

* 1m² = 1x2m? 4m² = 2x4m? etc. I'm confused by this.

* Why 25 m² (5x10 m) = 20.8kW, but 100 m² (10x20 m) = 62.4kW? 4x the size in m², but only ~3x the power? Shouldn't it be 83.2kW, not 62.4kW? It doesn't make sense efficiency would drop....

* You're speccing this as having a 25 year life (with $50/yr maintenance). I'm feeling a bit doubtful that zip-tied tarps under UV and dynamic load are going to last that long, to be honest. The tracking system also seems extremely susceptible to dirt etc.

* This thing looks pretty janky. I'm also not convinced a good 20-year storm wouldn't completely wreck it. Proper wind turbines have the ability to weather-vane into the wind, lock the rotor, etc etc. Again, in it's current incarnation, I'm doubtful it would survive.

* Your "guaranteed Cp of .32" seems... optimistic. Given it looks like you've built actual units, what are your real-world results vs the CFD numbers?

fecal_henge 10 hours ago | parent [-]

I would guess 1x2 is that the wheel is 1m wide, 2m diameter. This would mean that there is a 1m^2 sized flap* that the wind pushes against.

*technical term

hex4def6 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Ah, I think you're correct. Although the watts per square meter still don't make sense.