Device Uses Helicopter Technology To Utilize High Altitude Winds

What do a World War II code-cracker and an Australian engineering professor have in common? A mutual desire to decrease dependence on fossil fuels and a love of turbines, for starters.

The two are developing a machine that is, essentially, a helicopter that functions as a wind turbine -- an FEG (Flying Electric Generator).

Conceived by Australian engineering specialist Professor Bryan Roberts in 1979, the device is being developed by San Diego-based SkyWindPower, headed up by David Shepard, who started his career cracking Japanese military codes during WWII, according to CNN.

Shepard had been studying the power-producing potential of high altitude winds for some 20 years when he heard about Roberts' "gyromill" prototype. They combined their efforts in 2002 and the FEG was born.

The theory is a turbine at a high altitude has the ability to generate more power than one on the ground. They work on the principle that wind speed and constancy are much better around the Sub-Tropical Jet stream and the Polar Front Jet stream than at ground level.

It is estimated the electricity needs of Earth could be met if we could harness just one percent of that energy.

"The winds a few miles above the mid latitudes of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are far stronger and more persistent than the winds just above us," Shepard said.

"This results in potentially being able to generate electricity for over eighty percent of the time, as opposed to thirty percent of the time at ground-based wind turbine sites.

"The largest ground-based wind turbines currently produce about five megawatts each. We expect typical FEGs to produce about 20 megawatts each.

"We expect to make a demonstration in the US less than three years from now at high altitude in normal high altitude winds. In four years I would expect this sort of technology to be in active use."

Shepard said he imagines "sky-farms" of FEGs much like current wind farms on the ground. They would operate in restricted airspace, of course.

Just 43 of these "farms" with 600 FEGs each would generate sufficient electricity to sustain the entire US. "Our calculations show that by reserving less than one four-hundredth of U.S. air space, located at relatively remote locations not on airway routes, all of America's electrical energy needs could be met," Shepard said.

"That is considerably less airspace than is already restricted for other purposes, primarily military."

The device itself works on helicopter technology. Each one is formed like a giant 'H' and has four 37-foot blades at the four points of the 'H' that function as rotors to provide lift. The blades have dual functions. Not only do they provide lift, they also function as turbines that turn the dynamos that generate the electricity.

The electricity is then transported to the ground through a tethering cable made of aluminum.

The unit will keep its horizontal and vertical position constant by way of Global Positioning System technology.

Each unit would cost around $2,260,000 to build, but that also includes maintenance and support, according to CNN. They would generate electricity at about two cents per kilowatt hour while conventional methods cost three to five cents per kilowatt hour.

Like anything airborne, there are inherent risks involved. Collisions could occur should aircraft enter FEG airspace unknowingly or illegally; perhaps even more worrisome, one could malfunction and drop.

"Inevitably crashes will occur," admits SkyWindPower on its web site. "Just as airplane crashes occur. Statistically, however, FEGs should be just as reliable as commercial airliners, whose safety records are incredibly good.

"And FEGs don't take off or land at airports teeming with people in and around them," the company adds.

FMI: www.skywindpower.com