The Sky Serpent: Twenty-Five Turbines in One

5 years ago Art & Design

sky serpentPhoto:
Image via popular science

Attempting to continue our wind power theme, we were doing some digging and what we found was something truly spectacular. A California man has constructed a design that features twenty-five small turbines in lieu of the massive blades on a modern wind power plan. One day this may approach the production capacity of the behemoths.

Doug Selsam's Sky Serpent is the right invention at the right time: traditional turbines are perpetually on back order, and he has 3kw of generation capacity that's far more affordable and requires fewer materials to build.Selsam, who attended college at UC-Irvine but didn't graduate, has very little formal training in the ways of physics or wind power, which is probably what left him prepared to break the mold. "This is a 1,000 year-old design" he says of the single-bladed turbine, "I knew if I could get more rotors, I could get more power."

While on the surface that is in fact true, it flies against the dogma of the engineers and physicists that dominate the wind power community. The complicated physics of ensuring each rotor doesn't simply encounter the prop wash of the ones in front of it, may have been enough to drive them away. However, Selsam figured out a method: he's found the proper angle to align his string of rotors at in order to ensure they all have flow, and the optimum spacing for the rotors themselves.

With comparatively very little formal education, Doug Seslam is running circles around some of the best engineers in the world. One day you may see strings of wind rotors stretching across the sky because of his incredible work.

Below are some concept images of how they could look in the future. All images below via Speaker Factory

concept image of the sky serpentPhoto:

concept imagePhoto:

Sources: 1, 2, 3

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Comments

Old Comments

Randy says

Jul 6th, 2009 at 12am
Only problem is wind doesn't work... Wind wont work because the power it generates fluctuates. So you need backup for when? the wind does not blow. So wind farms just put power plants on standby (they still burn there fuel, but do not generate power) until the wind blows again. It doesn't offset any emissions, in reality, it just adds more in the manufacturing and transporting stages.

Derek Andrews says

Feb 1st, 2009 at 12am
It seems that for every technological advance there are always those who want to go backwards.. small turbines do NOT kill birds, bats etc... I have installed over 150 turbines from various manufacturers in the last few years and jave never seen any "air-kill"... if mankind does not react fast, the animal life on this planet will not be there for our grandchildren because global warming will have wiped them out faster than any wind turbine will. The question today is how to reduce or do away with excessive amounts of CO² that is sent into the atmosphere, how to slow down the melting of the ice caps and how to get the Americans to do as much as they can and QUICKLY. (some of our cars here in Europe emit less than 100grams of CO² per Km driven.... an American car pollutes more than eight times one Eurocar does, over here a Prius pays a CO² rate of 4 for taxation purposes, and a Chevy SUV pays a CO² rate of 34... due to the amount of CO² and how much gas it guzzles) I sell wind turbines, I design and build wind and water turbines, I INNOVATE to help our sick and slowly overheating world and have been crying in the dark for over 30 years with not even Al Gore listening in the 1970s... come on lads, be positive, progress is good, the world needs progress to survive

Wind Fan says

Nov 9th, 2008 at 12am
Ok, I'm a huge fan of small wind, but this design seems flawed. Clearly there's benifit to having a long chain of small rotors strung along a flexible line. I like the idea of being able to fly the assembly like a kite. HOWEVER, the idea of suspending the assembly via a ballon? What happens every 3 or 4 days (or 2 weeks) when the ballon comes down? This string of spinning metal blades slams into trees, homes, fences (look out fido!)... smashing all (and it's self), and then the homeowner reinflates the ballon, fixes dozens of blades, appologizes to the neighbors and re-floats the thing only to repeat the exprience in a few weeks... I don't think so. The advantage that the towers have is that they run by themselves, with only routine (think scheduled!) maintenance. 'pratical' sustainability is required - if we can't afford to run the machine, it's not worth running...

CPphysics says

Jul 6th, 2008 at 12am
From what I can tell, the above criticism has nothing to do with the inventor lacking an advanced degree from MIT. One of the most important things taught to us suckers with science degrees is to not blindly accept claims that something is a revolutionary solution to a long standing problem. Peer review is crucial for pointing out potential design flaws so they may be properly addressed. While this process might seem harsh to those not familiar with it, in the end it will lead to the best overall results.
I think this is a very smart way to do business. By the sound of blogs it proves that humans dont like change (let alone by someone with out a degree). This is something that will save a lot of money and reduce the impact on the environment. Something doesn’t have to be enormous to capture wind, because that argument doesn’t hold true for the windmills in west Texas. Anyone with a slight education (elementary school) knows it is windy as hell in the midwest, and yet the the same windmill technology is used as in California!!!

Michael says

Jun 15th, 2008 at 12am
Here's a tip, why don't you actually 'read' the articles before responding? The lower images, as described, are concept art.
Short on detail. I’m not sure what that first picture is supposed to be - is it real or a “concept art” photoshop?

Damon says

Jun 13th, 2008 at 12am
I think this is a very smart way to do business. By the sound of blogs it proves that humans dont like change (let alone by someone with out a degree). This is something that will save a lot of money and reduce the impact on the environment. Something doesn't have to be enormous to capture wind, because that argument doesn't hold true for the windmills in west Texas. Anyone with a slight education (elementary school) knows it is windy as hell in the midwest, and yet the the same windmill technology is used as in California!!!

Andrew says

Jun 3rd, 2008 at 12am
Some were wondering what would stop the whole thing from falling to the ground when the wind dies down....There's an article on this device in Popular Science (it may be on their website, i haven't checked yet) where it is mentioned that there is a balloon at the end of the drive shaft. I'd guess that would also cause the blades to be facing the right way, ie into the wind, right? For more info, try the Popular Science website....i'm just an interested newbie...Andrew

confused says

May 28th, 2008 at 12am
What kind of bird flies into a stationary fan? My guess is one that won't be around long anyway.

Earthority.com says

May 22nd, 2008 at 12am
Very unique prototype indeed. But also check out our new micro wind turbine called the Motorwind at: Earthority.com. Each is only 20" in diameter. Thanks.

Leon says

May 19th, 2008 at 12am
What happens when the wind isn't constant? Will the rotors hit the ground (still spinning) every time the wind drops?