A lot of my ideas are on other parts of this website, but I wanted an area where I could toss out ideas and have others comment. And to have others submit ideas for comment. Eagle-Research is all about free exchange of information, which makes an effective and impromptu global think tank.
Here’s an idea to start with. My mind came up with this one after a conversation with one of my customers. I call it ‘The Flapper’; it is a wind or water driven prime mover.
The flaps are allowed to pivot on the outside ring and they come to rest on the center cylinder. The center cylinder rotates with the whole apparatus. The whole wheel is mounted on a post (within the center cylinder) with bearings and power is taken from the Flapper in any number of conventional ways.
As the Flapper turns, the wind or water pushes on the one flat side. It can be any side because this machine is multidirectional. As the machine turns more, the ‘power’ flap swings out to become little resistance to the wind or water as it comes forward again.
In water, fish can swim right through this device.
The flaps and wheel can be made out of recycled materials. The bearings and swivel points need not be expensive. So we have an innovative device. It will make some noise and it is not as efficient as engineered propeller designs for wind and water, but it will work and can be built simply.