Wind towers innovative design technology

Kurzfassung

An academic group of Italian researchers developed an extensible wind tower with significant nominal power able to appear only in a limited period of the year. The tower should have an external telescopic structure, for the balance of the horizontal wind forces, plus an internal mechanism able to produce the required vertical force for an inexpensive tower raising up and down. Big industries in field of wind energy for joint development of the prototype are sought.

Details

A serious drawback of the wind plants is the landscape impact, given by skyline modification, the noise and the interference with the birds life, as well as the destination of the non reusable parts of the installation at the end of its productive life time. A partial solution to this problem is the design of an extensible wind tower with significant nominal power, that will appear only in a limited period of the year. The proposed tower should have an external telescopic structure, for the balance of the horizontal wind forces, plus an internal mechanism able to produce the required vertical force for an inexpensive tower raising up and down.
If an air generator with orizontal axis is used, a side shaft is planned to guest one or all the machine blades. In the first case, a long distance control can be adopted for the tower raising; in the second case, two blades have to be disconnected by the rotor after lowering the machine at the ground level.
Further benefits of the proposed structures are the reduction of the maintenance costs and of the tower components transportation costs.

Innovative Aspects:
Reduced environmental impact;
reduced maintenance cost;
reduced transportation cost.