Technology That Will Change the World: The WindWheel™
The WindWheel™
Jerry Barber, Barber Wind
If you've ever ridden a free-fall ride at an amusement park, you've experienced first-hand the innovation of Jerry Barber. Growing up with a father who owned a traveling carnival and a stock car race track, Barber combined this experience with a degree in Physics to create a name for himself in the amusements industry, owning one of the world's largest amusement ride manufacturers for more than 18 years. But Barber's career is more than fun and games. His love of invention has continually blossomed, and he holds 38 US patents, 22 of which were commercially produced. One of his latest innovations is poised to initiate a paradigm shift in the wind energy sector. "I took technology developed over the decades in the amusements industry and applied it to the wind turbine industry. With eight patents issued and pending on the design, the first community wind turbines (under one-megawatt) are preparing for production in Wichita, KS," says Barber. The project focuses on three types of turbines: the community wind turbine used to generate power on an individual basis, such as a ranch or business; the larger, greater than one-megawatt turbine, usually installed in wind farms that feed the grid; and offshore turbines that feed the grid and have been employed only in Europe and China at present. The WindWheel™ design, reminiscent of a Ferris Wheel, provides significant advantages over its predecessors, including the elimination of a gearbox, the source of nearly 80 percent of all problems in other turbine models, and the need for costly set-up cranes. A structural ring supports the blades and drives the external generators. The blades are constructed in sections that can be broken down for easy highway transport, and there is no blade cantilevering as steel cables run alongside each blade for superior support, which, in turn, allows for a five-blade design that runs more efficiently with a slower rotation, greatly reducing noise pollution. "The state-of-the-art design yields superior efficiency and reliability at a fraction of the installed cost of traditional turbines." Off-shore, barge-mounted turbines offer ultimate flexibility as they can be laid down, disconnected and moved by tugboat out of the path of a hurricane or into port for maintenance.
For more information on the WindWheel™ licensed to Chance Wind for construction, go online to www.chancewind.com.