A broad specification of a typical rotating ring wind power transfer electricity generating station concept with a one gigawatt production target.

This specification is subject to continuous change as the project is developed. If you wish to see the earlier discussion papers that have brought the design this far please use the links to consultation papers.

A typical site will be at the seaward end of a disused coastal airfield or a similar place in a known high wind situation. It is important not to choose a hilly site or one that the local population value as a recreation area. Ideally there should be roads present already with no need for changes to any road or rail infrastructure.

The station consists of the following main parts.

• Twin rail tracks forming a closed circle of about 700 metres diameter.


• A system of undercarriages each typically about 20 metres long and twenty metres wide with an inner set of bogies running on the inner rail and a minimum of two by two wheeled bogies on out riggers running on the outer ring rails.


• A collection of wing sail decks and a formation of 28 wings on to each which in turn will be mounted on an under carriage. Each multi deck unit deck will be a stand alone structure that may be exchanged for another similar one at any time.


• A standard method of connection between the above decks one to the other for the purposes of making a train and for transferring pulling power around the ring with further hinge like connections between the sail units by way of fixings between the ends of adjacent struts. Further to these fixings and within the edges of the struts there may well be extra reinforcement to help transfer forces around the inner face of the ring at all levels from the lower deck to the top deck.


• A standard form for this station of wingsails possibly in four rows of typically seven blades mounted vertically on each deck. At a spacing of five metres the wingsails if, but not only, they are formed from glass reinforced plastics may have horizontal struts joining the wings into a complete matrix. There would be four such combinations onto each under carriage. It may help to think of this assembly like one side of a seven wing aircraft with struts across the wing span which has been turned through 90 degrees around the fuselage in the direction of movement of the ring. At this time the suggested span/height of the wingsails from the lower deck is thirty metres. The suggested initial form of wing surface is rectangular with an aspect ration of 1:7 . The attack angle and all matters concerning the wingsails at which the wind meets the wings will be determined by aerodynamicists but for this specification only is set at 45 degrees. The wingsails to be built as stressed beams fully supported at both ends so that each group of twenty eight wingsails is a complete structure with the top deck across the group four sets of wingsails connecting them and forming the energy transfer line at the top of the engine. The materials of construction for the vehicles and the wingsails must be to best engineering practice commiserate with keeping the machine weight down to keep the inertia of the machine as low as possible E.G.the framework of the under carriage might well be of aluminium tube. The wind will be directed through the matrix to pass over each wing at the same velocity so far as is possible. The wind will see no spaces between the wingsails so that the total wind is met by a wingsail surface in the first row and then the total wind less some of its energy is met by the second row then the third row and finally by the forth row..


• To guide the wind as one purpose and to support a working road above and in front of the wingsails there will be a ring of streamlined columns spaced more than twenty metres apart to allow for a wingsail unit to be moved between any pair.


• Mounted on top of these columns and integral with them will be a road sufficiently strong in its form to span from column to column and to support the structure of a rotating valve. The whole of this part of the project may be in reinforced concrete to normal motorway road making standards.But the streamlined columns might also be a steel structure with a fibreglass streamline shape over it.


• On the same radials as the above columns but this time to the rear of the wingsails and safely clear of them will be another ring of streamline columns with at least two functions (a) to carry a thrust rail for thrust wheels at the top of the wingsail sets to bear against so as to resist the total over turning moments of the action of the wind on the wingsails and (b) to support the inner face of the exhaust tunnel .It follows that the thrust ring takes the place of a sailing boats keel.


• To form the machine hall there will be a roof in two parts, an outer fixed part and an inner rotating part which is the shutter or wind flow control valve. The outer part for example only, maybe a polygon in plan with twelve sections with the sections being divided off by vertical walls. The overall width of the roof at ground level will be the overall width of the entire hall, say 800 metres and the upper a measure larger as a function of leaning the supporting pylons at each corner outwards to present the load on each pylon to pass down its centre. A suggested height for the roof is 160 metres at the supports. In plan the fixed roof will terminate centrally around a vertical cylinder shape within which the shutter will move.


• The shutter will have as its purpose to open all the roof apertures to the wind while closing those to leeward. The shutter will be motorized and on wheels so that it may rotate to chose one set of inlets while closing off all that remain. The entire process being a function of a signal actuated by the incoming wind. A typical setting would be to have five out of twelve segments open at any one time. In the event of a gale force wind the shutter would move to allow almost all the wind to pass straight through the machine and only select enough from it to run the station safely. To clarify how this shutter may look and perform consider it as a very large virtual tube. Then add a base ring on wheels to carry it. Above the ring add vertical shutters that when closed totally shut and form an apparently solid wall to the cylinder. But when opened lie along radial paths to guide the wind in. Inside this cylinder will be a convex dish curved upwards. The top edge will be at the top of the cylinder facing the incoming wind. This dish may usefully be centrally supported and intermittently supported because it is very large. To get a good impression of the form of the dish, take a saucer, hold it vertically with one edge on the table. Lean the saucer slightly to present the convex face upwards and then spin it and let go in one movement. Watch how the disk sinks and gradually rotates. When the disk has nearly stopped but is say 10 degrees off horizontal it is very like the disk for the turbine. In practice the edge of the disk will be raised and lowered by motorised systems. The lift will be close to 100 metres.


• The ratio of the incoming wind aperture to the wingsails area as seen by the radial wind is 2:1 in order to achieve compression the incoming mass and increase its speed evenly. The inner shape of the roof must therefore form a reduction funnel to the point where the wind begins to turn outwards and become radial. This will be just ahead of the streamlining columns.


• From experiments already done it has been ascertained that the leeward face of the structure can develop useful negative pressures so it is vital that this zone is connected as smoothly as possible to the exhaust tunnel. Therefore in the bottom of all the inlet bases will be motorized shutters connecting openings through to the tunnel below. Only the leeward openings will be open while all the windward ones remain closed. The pressure in the tunnel at all times shall be negative therefore the shuttered opening must be sufficient in number and of sufficient area to ease the exhaust wind through.


• The combined effect of the doubling, less friction losses, of the wind velocity plus the effect of the negative forces on the wind should increase the flow of the wind mass across the airfoils so that the machine will operate over a much wider range of winds speeds and at higher velocities at all times than the wind itself. In this example it works out that the number of wingsails would be 3024 at a diameter of approximately 680 metres with the sail decks adjusted for size to give a complete set of carriages with all of them having room to move but with no spaces other than for movement between buffers and to take up standard engineering tolerances for rail vehicles.


• Specialist electrical engineers will have solutions for how to convert the movement of the rotating ring machine into electricity. However for the consideration of engineers and scientists at large. It would be possible to fit DC dynamos to the wheel assemblies. This DC current could be used to power electro-magnets on each carriage. These magnets could be faced with static coils around armatures mounted under, above or on either side of the moving ring so that if the train moves electricity results.


• To gain access to the inner area of the machine house there will need to be a tunneled entrance. To gain access to the carriages from outside the ring there shall be removable sections or special doors to the exhaust tunnel. At some point within the building and taking in a section of the machine that includes one vehicle comfortably there will need to be a servicing works space where an entire sail unit can be lifted out of the train and another put in its place.


• So far in this specification the space at the floor of the building has not been brought into discussion. A wind will be approaching from above and the floor will redirect it. However if a bell shaped structure was placed centrally around a central pylon the wind would be shaped with less loss but such a shape would be very large and might well be built of earth over some administration buildings. The face of the bell shape to be surfaced with smooth concrete in a big machine but in the case of a small machine might be fabric as used in tents.


• Initially, to provide working light and energy in the building there will be a need for a small power generating station fuelled by purchased hydrogen. This station will be switched off once the main station powers up but will be kept serviced and on standby at all times.


• The station needs to be self sufficient. There are several ways to do this. Either by mounting engines to rotate the machine and in any case some at least of the dynamos might run as motors for shunting purposes but for consideration must be the mounting of very powerful gas turbines upwind of the station to provide a false wind. In which case the safety of the staff must be a vital factor in determining ventilation for them. It maybe that in practice the exhaust gases from the jet engines is not harmful if they are far enough off for dilution to have rendered any loss of oxygen to be negligible and for harmful gases to be sufficiently diluted. A further development arising out of using Gas turbines to blow a wind into the machine will be the fact that this wind will be a hot wind going into the machine and coming out into static air because that is why the engines are running. However the hot wind should be aided out of the machine by having all the exhaust ports open. There is then the possibility that a large convection current will arise around the machine and this may improve the performance of the artificial wind.


• The surface of this building presents two further opportunities, that of rainfall and run off and the mounting of Solar panels. The rainfall both outside and inside the building should be stored and best use made of it both on and off site. The solar panel aspect will be conditioned by the nature of the roof. If it is like the Millennium dome the panels may have to be plastic too and that is likely. If the roof is of sheet metal the solar collection might take more than one form. Its usefulness will take many forms both on and off site. If taken as a DC current the solar panels could contribute to the DC electromagnet system.


• The production of hydrogen almost goes without saying in the year 2006 but it should be continuous from start up because this station will never be either idle or running when there is no need of power. Should there be a surplus of power at any time then use it to pump water for use in a hydro electric station somewhere else, not necessary close by. That is why we have a power grid.


• The power from this station to be useful needs to be carried away by cables above ground or underground while some energy may be taken away as hot coolant for use nearby or possibly as a flow of piped oil to small power transfer stations off site. By which ever means funds should be built into any project to carry the energy to some agreed venue say within 25 miles.


• The station will need several buildings to house workshops and administration staff besides its own power station. These might usefully be placed in each outer corner of the project. Space should also aside for power transfer arrangements.


• Among the many matters to be considered are hydrogen manufacture and storage for everyday use,for reserves and for marketing, spare wingsail exchange units complete and ready for use. Service machinery and a park for it, for example: cranes, forklifts trucks, staff buses, car parking, a helicopter pad and possibly a rail link to fetch and carry the under carriages if there is a normal railway reasonably close or perhaps a rail link to a nearby port.. Consideration should be given to the use of the lower parts of standard rail vehicles if they can be fitted with decks for this engine so cutting design and delivery times. Certainly they should be considered as part of a research project to enable wing testing ahead of under carriage building.