Friction Based Technology using Gearbox Conversion

A Canadian startup has developed a small prototype wind turbine that uses friction instead of a gearbox to convert wind energy into electricity. CWind,based in Owen Sound, Ontario, recently began work on a larger two-megawatt prototype. The company claims that its "friction drive"system is more efficient and reliable--and less costly to maintain--than conventional wind turbines, which are prone to expensive gearbox failures.



Wheels turning: The blades of CWind's wind turbine move an internal flywheel and several shafts that attach to small generators within the nacelle. In the lower image, a rubber wheel rolls on the inside wall of a flywheel inside a 65-kilowatt prototype turbine.

The blades on most turbines use the wind to turn a drive shaft connected to a gearbox. The gearbox manages the rotation of a second shaft that connects to a large electrical generator. The gearbox is the  heaviest piece of equipment in a wind turbine's "nacelle" (the section at the top of the turbine tower). It's also a piece that's among the most vulnerable to failure. Sudden wind gusts put the gearbox under tremendous mechanical stress. Over time this can wear down or break theteeth off its metal gears.

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