The Jellyfish (wind generator) - Interesting take.

[Jags]

Has anybody heard of the Jellyfish wind generator? It is a small generator at 40 KWh per month. Thats not big by any means, but that was not the interesting part.

I found that it was a COMPLETELY self contained unit. By that I mean that you buy it in a box. Put it up in the air. Plug it into an outlet and it generates power. It BACKFEEDS into your own lines, and back to the power grid if the juice isn't used locally (by the home). A very interesting concept. This is what I have always said it is going to take, before the masses will bite.

Supposedly it has built in circuits to shut down the generation of power if it "feels" a lack of power. No back feeding into the grid if the grid is down.

The inventor from Washington state says he wants to bring the finished sale price in at $400 AND mass market them.

I have found very little info on this yet. Just a couple of articles.
http://www.clariantechnologies.com/main/page_plugin_wind_power.html
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009415.html

I have no connection to this product at all, just thought I would bring up a neat project that is on the drawing board.

 

[peakbagger]

Check out this article by Mike Sagrillo, a well recognized small wind expert. See how many of his points apply to the Jellyfish.

(broken link removed to http://www.awea.org/smallwind/sagrillo/wind_technology_breakthroughs.html)

Its too bad, that items like this keep getting people's hopes up. Even if the piece of equipment is perfect from the start and suffers zero failures right out of the box, the physics of capturing wind are going to make it an attractive whirligig at best.

 

[Jags]

Yep, I have seen and read that before. All very true.

That is actually why I was interested in the Jellyfish. It DOES tell ya how much electricity it will (can) produce in a given time frame (per mo.) and it is a very reserved amount (40 KWh per month will barely light an average house with efficient bulbs on a typical day)..in other words, it seams feasible that its claims are accurate. I have seen many others that I could not believe the junk they were trying to get people to believe.

But alas, I don't have much data to go on to even do my own calcs. Using the laws of fluid dynamics it is possible to calculate the potential output.

But more than that....I was interested in the total plug in approach. There are many vertical axis machines out there, but this is the first time I have seen this being claimed. It is innovations such as this (even if this one is a scam), that will bring personal wind power to the masses.

Its gotta be easy, or us lazy, fat bastages ain't gonna do it.

A small bit from the above article I found very promising AND needed in the industry for measurement accuracy:

AWEA is working with the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) to develop the Small Wind Certification Council (SWCC). The SWCC will certify the performance of small wind turbines, holding them to very high standards. Certification means that you have a real product that actually does what you claim it will do.

 

[Jags]

He,he,he...even at peak output (of the 40KWh claimed), I would need more than 40 of these things to power my homestead. So about $16000 worth. Seems about on par with the bigger generators.

 

[fossil]

If I put enough of those in to really make a difference, I wouldn't have any available outlets left to plug anything else into...hey, that just might be the answer. Don't plug anything in. %-P Rick

 

[Jags]

I can see it now: a wall of outlets. What a beautiful sight. :lol:

I kind of liked their approach of "hey, just plug it in" instead of the typical "get a controller, then a battery bank, then an inverter, blah, blah, blah". Most homeowners simply will not even consider such an undertaking.

I can see no reason that this type of approach couldn't be adapted to bigger machines, assuming that they stay under the load limit for the circuit they are being plugged into. And very few home wind generators are going to create 15 amps @ 110v. At least the ones that are on the market today.

 

[fossil]

Don't get me wrong...you know I'm a Mechanical Engineer. I think it's really cool that smart folks are working on this stuff. I was studying wind & solar 35 years ago, and I'm a big believer in them...as well as in the potential of the other alternatives. I used to be a big believer in fission, but we've managed for 3 decades to squash the effective exploitation of that power source out of general ignorance and fear in this country. I used to have hopes that I might see in my lifetime the development of controlled fusion...but we (America) just don't support that research in anything more than a token way. Oil is running out. Coal isn't gonna last forever. What're we gonna do? Dunno. Gotta stop wasting money and lives on contrived causes and start focusing on the future welfare of mankind. Let's start by banning all religion worldwide, shall we? Uh oh, I might have to move this to the Ash Can if I keep talking like that. :red: Rick

 

[seige101]

I can see no reason that this type of approach couldn't be adapted to bigger machines, assuming that they stay under the load limit for the circuit they are being plugged into. And very few home wind generators are going to create 15 amps @ 110v. At least the ones that are on the market today.

As an electrician this was an immediate red light in my head that went off. Say you have a 15 amp circuit just about maxed out, and you are feeding the same circuit with your wind generator. All of a sudden you plug your toaster or hair dryer or vacume cleaner in. At one point in the circuit you are exceeding the current rating of the wire and the breaker is not tripping. This is bad. Also there needs to be an interlock when hooking up an outside power source to a house.

Great concept, needs a little tweaking first.

 

[Hakusan]

I don't think the generator will blow the house electrical system. It is simply acts as positive load and what is pulled off the grid is simply reduced accordingly. The Southwestpower Skystream is a similar setup. The power from the generator is not used in the house, it is sent backward through the meter to the grid.

 

[Jags]

It is simply acts as positive load and what is pulled off the grid is simply reduced accordingly.

Yes, correct. A 15 amp circuit has the ability to "supply" 15 amps. But I think what the above poster stated has merit. If you have 2 supplies of 15 amps to a circuit, you have the ability to "over supply" a 15 amp circuit. It would basically be like wiring two 15 amp breakers in parallel. That would be something to pay attention to if a larger unit was introduced into this kind of plug in approach.

As the Jellyfish stands, it is a small power source, so unless you were at the breaking point of the circuit, I don't believe it would introduce enough power to have any major affect.

 

[velvetfoot]

How much are wind towers?
This guy probably figures it'll go on the roof, I imagine.

 

[Jags]

How much are wind towers?
This guy probably figures it'll go on the roof, I imagine.

Wind tower costs can start at a couple hundred and go into thousands depending on the requirements (height, strength, footing,etc).

Even roof mounted needs some consideration. This one being small, may not be a big deal, but the wind resistance WILL put stress on the roof. Sometimes lots of it.