27 Responses

1. Nice composition,and food for thought !

2. We do already have quite a lot of wind powered ships, and they usually have a backup motor that could easily be replaced with an electric one. What does your design do differently?

3. The tech behind my concept is not new, but to the best of my knowledge this system dos not exist in this configuration. Wind blows on the vertical turbines, generates electricity, electricity is stored in batteries, electrolysis separates hydrogen and oxygen from water, that is stored in compressed form, that gas can be burned at a time of need in a internal combustion engine or a turbine to make raw power for the vessel, such as, no wind, high speed, maneuverability in tight quarters. The hydrogen can also be used in fuel cells to generate more electricity. The inspiration for this concept has its roots in my misconception as to how The Alcyone ship, used by the Cousteau society operates. I thought it was using a wind turbine not a "Turbo-sail" that works much like a airplane wing. Thanks to the Internet I now know this is not the case but my interpretation lives on.

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4. The unfortunate thing about using turbines in this way is; you’ll never get as much out as you loose by air drag when moving into the wind, or in calm conditions. Which I believe would render this technique only more useful than sails when the boat is anchored for a lot of the time and storing energy to be used up quickly for fast maneuvers. This may give it practical applications as a mobile listening post, for scientific or military purposes, but I don’t think it could make a good means of transport.

5. I see your point ,, as a cargo vessel such as 12,000 metric tons or more would be impractical. And if your looking for a speed boat, same thing, impractical. But world wide the number of small vessels far exceeds the capability of the environment to clean it self. If we factor in the cost of building this vessel, compared to say a diesel powered equivalent, I think we would find my concept to be not much more to manufacture. Then if we factor the operating costs of the two vessels, fuel and maintenance, then we would see the real savings behind my concept. On the subject of the practicality of transportation. I can easily see my concept being a transatlantic yacht , science vessel or perhaps a short hop ferry for say, 50 passengers.

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6. The problem is, I can’t see how this could be more efficient than a sail. You always loose energy when you convert from one form to another, so keeping it as kinetic energy avoids losses.

7. What you say sounds logical to me, but the only way to know if a sail is more or less efficient than a wind turbine, would be for me to finish the engineering, to the last detail then complete a mathematical model with an equivalent sail boat. But the purpose of my concept is not to compete with sailing vessels but rather to propose an alternative to fossil fuel burning and provide similar handling characteristics as to a conventional watercraft.

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8. I think the best bet for what you want then is nuclear for big ships and hydrogen fuels cells for small ships. Though both technologies are expensive.

9. I do think this is a very interesting idea, but whenever I consider wind power on vehicles (as I have from time to time) I am foiled by one word; drag.
   Unless you can fold it away while moving, I don’t think it can be viable (except when you’re moving with the wind, in which case a kite sail, or conventional sail will always be more efficient.).

   I rather like nuclear power. Done correctly it’s safe, clean and environmentally friendly. Done badly it is quite possibly one of the greatest immediate threat to our species, and possibly the entire planet.

10. ☼ excellent work, Kevin – yes, I think we need this ☼

11. Glad to see you’re thinking green and applying it. We need more of this.

12. Hi, I’m an admin for a group called SF Real Tech, and we’d love to have this added to the group!

    Very interesting idea. It would take a lot of engineering to make this work, but it could easily be done. All you need is the right investment.
    I like the way you’ve used vertical axis rotors, to keep the average force from the wind on them as low as possible, which reduces the need for a large and deep counterweight.
    Have you considered that this could be done underwater using the oceanic flows as well, then you’d be able to get even more energy for the same effect on the surface.
    Oh, and then there’s the wave energy to be harvested…
    You’ve got me thinking now, thank you.

13. Oh yes the thought of using the power of say "The Gulf-stream" but you would have to deal with the high maintenance of organisms growing on your turbines. I know of a project on the Hudson river in New York City that is generating power today. Just as the the power of wind in our atmosphere, the power of tilde forces and ocean currants are mostly untapped and is a source for unlimited potential energy!

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14. Thank you ka2rina , interpolactic , and kiml42

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15. I like this – its innovative – and very very clever! – I admire that!

    Its brilliant – and a bloody good idea.

    Which means the government will never adpot it!

    Bright sparks eh?

16. Lol @ the government will never adopt it ,,, Nor do I think the coal or oil companies will embrace it either

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17. Absolutly – because they are narrow minded W***kers!

    Still think its a brilliant idea

18. does indeed seem feasible. It seems we are wasting so many of our resources. Shore wave action, large flat pistons, spinning fans have all been proposed, same as underwater fins. Anything that moves as perpetually as the wind and tide can be utilized, somehow.

19. Thank you Colourbrand!

    Troy,,, it is so true,, the sun and the moons influence are expected to be there for 4 billion years or more unlike the fossil fuels we all have managed to use up in less than 200 years. A big technical challenge with using tidal energy is the expense and how not to mess with the marine environment. We know more about the moon and the surface of mars than we know about life in our own oceans

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20. "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
    George Bernard Shaw, 1856 to 1950

    A great way of expressing your idea. Well done.

21. Wise words ,,, thank you for the compliment Bush Philosopher

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22. way cool!

23. Thank you Katie

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24. Go for 3ds Max, takes so much less time to render. Mental ray already has premae materials like burshed metal or chrome that would really come in handy.Cheers

25. @ Alexandra ,, I like Max and have used the demo, but sadly it is way out of my budget. I have seen some awesome photo-realistic Max work but but Blender is not to be scoffed at, and you can’t beat the price tag, LOL

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26. very interesting…and nice rendering

27. Thank you very much!