Author Topic: Wind Power  (Read 15193 times)

Offline Freeza-CII

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Wind Power
« on: November 11, 2006, 07:57:18 PM »
With the planet like it is the wind and turbulents would be insane.  This is where wind power could excell.

Offline Skydock Command

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« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2006, 05:27:54 AM »
It would, but you might need alot of them to get much power.
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Offline Freeza-CII

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« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2006, 11:54:50 AM »
Yes they would be a bit on a low voltage side like a 150 or 200 but there isnt alot to them so there cheap so 3 of them would work nicely.

Offline White Claw

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« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2006, 01:17:09 PM »
And if you have 100+ MPH winds, you can get some healthy power from that.

Offline Freeza-CII

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« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2006, 01:19:09 PM »
exactly  It would have the Foot print of a Tokamak.  Cost 500 produce 200 power.  Cheap and effective.  You could have its animation be constant of the turbine slowy turning.  Because you dont need to see it go fast it would be a distraction.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2006, 01:22:45 PM by Freeza-CII »

Offline Skydock Command

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« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2006, 05:34:54 PM »
Sounds good. It has my vote.
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Offline White Claw

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« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2006, 06:56:02 PM »
This idea blows...  :ph34r:  

Offline BlackBox

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« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2006, 07:04:12 PM »
dunno if it needs to give that much power.. maybe 50 or 80 per unit.

Btw, in real life the blades don't spin fast anyway.. only like 3 RPM...

Offline Freeza-CII

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« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2006, 09:25:59 PM »
I have seen them spin alot faster then 3.  But the point is for game play have them slow.  But if there on a planet that would have high velocity winds.  so there would be some major power production.

Offline White Claw

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« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2006, 09:34:29 PM »
Yes, they might spin slow in real life. But I don't know how often they're subject to 100-200MPH winds. I would imagine they would spin a lot faster.

Though I agree with in-game, they shouldn't spin so fast that they're distracting. (The key is "ambient" animations.)
« Last Edit: November 13, 2006, 09:34:51 PM by White Claw »

Offline lordly_dragon

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« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2006, 11:22:46 PM »
Indeed for the ambient animation and also indeed there is wind on Cythera. In fact, venus got some major wind on surface planet, so it is logical that Cythera have too. Plus, those won't explode in your face when they blow up so you can put them in the middle of your base.

I like this idea sound promissing

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Offline gpgarrettboast

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« Reply #11 on: November 14, 2006, 02:42:16 AM »
rawr.. my post went *poof* in a FireFox crash..

Okay, well, I threw together some models that I thought seemed appropiate for a type of wind turbine.  I picked up the design off of a Ducted Rotor, but mounted it into the ground to make it a little more disaster resistant.  Some issues have been brought up about them being too low to the ground to catch enough wind, but even if they had the footprint of even a light tower, these things would be massive.. (maybe if we completely rip the DAWT idea and mount them really high, it could be efficient enough and stable enough to provide an efficient enough windturbine design) I just have some fears that a typical windturbine design (such that you see on Earth today wouldn't be able to hold up well enough under the conditions on New Terra. (or Cytheria, depending on the game))  Well, here are the links to the concept designs for the wind turbines:
(Don't mind the sucky textures or the clipping errors.. they're just test models)

Windturbine AVI [DivX Rq'd] 1mb

Windturbine PNG 1.5mb

And per request of Freeza-CII: (Non textured :P)
Typical Earth Windturbine AVI [DivX Rq'd] 565kb

Let me know what you think and if you think anything should be changed. Also, look into the DAWT page to see if you think that would provide a better solution. Thank you ^^'

Offline Freeza-CII

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« Reply #12 on: November 14, 2006, 03:57:23 AM »
well i have to post my competing wind mill hehe.

http://freeza.outpostuniverse.net/images/.../Wind-Power.jpg

More "BEEFY" to with stand the evironment and it has a transmittion to prevent to the shaft from over heating or frying a bearing but mostly to keep power levels at a constant.  There is a Foil at the Top and it has a free turning turret.  So incase of a shifting winds it will turn into them.  But for the game I would say it wouldnt move doesnt seem that needed but i added it any way.

then there is always this Alternate design.

http://freeza.outpostuniverse.net/images/...-Power-REV2.jpg
« Last Edit: November 14, 2006, 04:22:17 AM by Freeza-CII »

Offline gpgarrettboast

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« Reply #13 on: November 14, 2006, 10:58:27 AM »
lol, the 1st windturbine design actually doesn't look too bad. (I just threw that one together to make you happy :P)

Also, you may want to consider looking into a design like this:

Darrieus Wind Turbine

Although it's slightly inefficient, it definately doesn't have the self-damaging properties of a Tokamak, and I think it sounds like a really good idea.

Offline Sirbomber

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« Reply #14 on: November 14, 2006, 03:12:12 PM »
Maybe it can withstand the environment, but I think I could Scout Rush that thing and the Scout would come out alive.
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Offline BlackBox

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« Reply #15 on: November 14, 2006, 03:26:59 PM »
Keep in mind something simple. That Darrieus one looks like it might be more unstable in 100-200 MPH winds than the standard one they use on earth. The thing has all kinds of guy wires hanging off and those are things that deteriorate continually over time. (Plus being exposed to an acidic atmosphere, they will deteriorate even faster).

Unless you wanted it to be self damaging (really, if you wanted to be fair / realistic for this planet you would make everything slowly damaged because of the acidity but that's another topic) where it falls apart / produces less power over time.

As far as a ducted model goes, it seems like it could be overkill / a waste of metal, and not that big of a gain. Just mount 'normal' ones on crests of hills and they should work well.

Offline Freeza-CII

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« Reply #16 on: November 14, 2006, 04:03:46 PM »
The Classic models that me and Garrett made Is what i envisioned.  Some thing that looks like a Jet Intake i dont think would work just no surface area for the wind to push against.  Now garretts classic models was just tossed together to please me lol but i decided i could improve on it by Adding a better spire and braces and the free turning turret.  To better with stand the winds.  As for the acidity of the environment.  All Buildings would be effected.

Offline White Claw

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« Reply #17 on: November 14, 2006, 07:52:54 PM »
Ducted models add a surprising amount of efficiency to turbines. It could be an upgrade?

Anyhow, if we're talking about potential damage (like a tok blowing), you could consider the possibility of the thing spinning out of control and ripping apart during a wind storm (sending blades flying!). :blink:  

Offline Freeza-CII

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« Reply #18 on: November 14, 2006, 08:41:56 PM »
They have a Lab that can take out almost every thing around it.  A giant flying prop wouldnt matter to much.

Offline Hooman

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« Reply #19 on: November 15, 2006, 02:47:32 AM »
I just can't resist the urge to bring up the windtrap power plants they have in Dune. Plus, for a place like the planet Dune, they had the added benefit of harvesting moisture from the air.
 

Offline White Claw

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« Reply #20 on: November 15, 2006, 07:14:05 PM »
Well if it was in Dune, we can't have it then. For that matter, we can't have sand or moisture either. And you can completely forget about air...







Seriously, I think this is a really good idea! It make perfect sense for a windy planet. If the wind is (supposedly) constantly shifting (as Lordly has brought up in other posts), then the windmill anemometer that Freeza posted would probably be the most likely candidate. It wouldn't care as much about directionality.

Offline Sirbomber

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« Reply #21 on: November 15, 2006, 07:32:28 PM »
Quote
I just can't resist the urge to bring up the windtrap power plants they have in Dune. Plus, for a place like the planet Dune, they had the added benefit of harvesting moisture from the air.
Wind trap? You mean somebody else already thought of that?
Crap... I thought I had thought of something new...
Stupid sci-fi. This is why I don't read/watch sci-fi stuff. Then I can claim the credit for myself.
(Scraps the model that was previously in development)
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Offline Freeza-CII

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« Reply #22 on: November 15, 2006, 10:03:18 PM »
I dont think you would want to extract the moisture from the air on this planet mostly because its Acid.

Offline lordly_dragon

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« Reply #23 on: November 16, 2006, 07:22:54 AM »
Quote
Seriously, I think this is a really good idea! It make perfect sense for a windy planet. If the wind is (supposedly) constantly shifting (as Lordly has brought up in other posts), then the windmill anemometer that Freeza posted would probably be the most likely candidate. It wouldn't care as much about directionality.

Indeed they are. Even on Earth there is minor flux...but the wind is less strong so they are less hazardous (is this word spelling like that?). But, faster wind mean more dangerous wind blast.

The Freeza Mark I model would work especially with the wing on the top to change orientation of the ''turret''

great idea so far tho =)

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Offline Skydock Command

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Wind Power
« Reply #24 on: November 16, 2006, 02:40:57 PM »
I like the idea still. I dont realy want another power thing to repair though.... I hate it when they degrade. Sirbomber id like to see that model you said you scrapped.
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