Portable Wind Turbine as a power supplement?
First post here, so I apologize if this is the wrong area. I'm doing research and planning out a custom RV (cargo van/step van/box truck conversion...undecided), and looking to be as green and self...
Forum Discussion
If you add the drag of a wind turbine to your RV then the engine needs to work harder to overcome the drag. You will be wasting energy with the "mobile while driving" set up. That's just a physics problem.
As for stationary use, small wind turbines are typically rated for maximum output at 28 mph wind speed. I don't know about you but camping with a steady 28 mph wind does not sound like fun at all to me.
The energy available in the wind is based on the cube of the wind speed so if you cut the wind speed in half you cut the potential energy by a factor of eight. So, let's reduce that wind speed to a more reasonable 14 mph. A typical small wind turbine like the Air-X is rated at 400 watts at 28 mph. With a 14 mph wind speed it is now only making 50 watts. No, you can't use a gear box to speed it up, again, physics is against you. There just isn't enough energy in slow wind to make it worth trying to recover it.
As for stationary use, small wind turbines are typically rated for maximum output at 28 mph wind speed. I don't know about you but camping with a steady 28 mph wind does not sound like fun at all to me.
The energy available in the wind is based on the cube of the wind speed so if you cut the wind speed in half you cut the potential energy by a factor of eight. So, let's reduce that wind speed to a more reasonable 14 mph. A typical small wind turbine like the Air-X is rated at 400 watts at 28 mph. With a 14 mph wind speed it is now only making 50 watts. No, you can't use a gear box to speed it up, again, physics is against you. There just isn't enough energy in slow wind to make it worth trying to recover it.
