h a l f b a k e r yBirth of a Notion.
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The kitemill starts with a large anchor kite: big, with a stout string. Using the string as a basis, a Hullaballooneque conveyor belt of kites travels up the string. The kites are open as they catch the wind and travel up. When they reach the anchor kite and turn the corner, they fold up along the
string to produce minimal air resistance on the way down.
The conveyor belt powers a generator, which in turn powers a mechanical German oompah band.
The "laddermolen"
http://www.e21.nl/n...01%2Fitems%2F000329
Same idea. Tested, not yet built. [zeno, Aug 17 2005]
Welcome on the Laddermill website!
http://www.ockels.nl/
The laddermolen site above links to this in English: The LadderMill is the response to the challenge for exploiting the gigantic energy source contained in the airspace up to high altitudes of 10 km. [baconbrain, Aug 17 2005]
Guardian, UK on the Laddermill (2008)
http://www.guardian...feed=technologyfull
10 sq metre producing 10 kW (in what time?) [jutta, Aug 08 2008]
[link]
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Baked I'm afraid: By Wubbo Ockels, the first dutch astronaut. See link. |
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zeno, how the heck did you find that? |
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Croissant just for the German oompah band. |
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That looks the same. I too wonder how you knew about that, [Zeno}. I note there is no anchor kite in his version. Maybe not essential? |
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No, an anchor kite wouldn't be essential, although the English-language site for the Laddermolen/Laddermill starts dicussing one. See link. |
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On the other hand, you COULD build a very large kite with a wind-powered roller on it, and then use a looped line without the little kites on it to transfer energy to the ground. A windlass, if you like the pun. |
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I've been kicking the laddermill concept around for so long that I have turned it around to sketch a powered flying machine. I can't make it work even in sketches, though. |
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I've been imagining the laddermill with the tension and the ascending kites on the front side of the loop, but I can see where Ockel's way of instead doing the descending on the front side might be better. (That shows how much thought I've really put into it.) |
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You can post some weird sh@t at the halfbakery but there's always someone who heard about it. |
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"One thing I've found out, over the years, is that, anytime you think that you were the originator of some new idea, ' I was the first to do that, ' you'll find some old fellow who did it around 1895. Every darn time. " Edward Hamilton, 1904 - 1977, in "The Space Opera Renaissance", TOR Books, 2006 |
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