Coquille, Oregon
Rogue River Wind, Ltd, (RRW) an Oregon renewable energy company has acquired the rights to a revolutionary new relativistic generator (REM) design. RRW is the developer of a ducted fan wind turbine, the V-LIM, capable of operating in low, high and turbulent winds up to Class 2 hurricanes. The V-LIM requires an equally robust, high bandwidth, direct drive generator capable of capitalizing on these powerful kinetic forces. The higher the RPM the more power the REM produces.
Until now modern generator technology began with Barlow and Faraday in England, and rather quickly matured through the dynamo into the recognizably modern generator by about 1900. The REM design represents the first radical design departure in generators since that time.
The REM has no inductive wound coils. Plasma or laser cutters cut continuous and precise shapes simplifying manufacture. There is no inductive steel significantly reducing total weight. The design incorporates a magnet topology that requires only 1/5 the neodymium used in traditional generators. As a low resistance device there are no heating or cooling concerns.
The generator uses no flux targets so there is no magnetic hysteresis. The generator has low internal loss and no thermal loss. The generator operates at a high bandwidth, requires low starting torque and has zero cogging. The direct drive generator can be scaled and stacked to replace existing generators in traditional wind turbines and eliminate the need for gearboxes and reduce the weight at the top of a tower by over 2/3. These combined features result in a 15% efficiency gain over contemporary generator designs.
The general topology can be elementally reconfigured into all different generator design aspects and parameters, from axial to radial. It can function as stacked element generator in a traditional BIG WIND megawatt power mode, or as the power-generating element in a wind turbine based micro grid configuration.
The REM can be used in a radial mode as wheel based motor in an electric vehicle design, or in water driven electrical generation modes. It can replace any traditional field coil or rare earth permanent magnet generator design in most applications, as an efficient coupling element between a mechanical power input, and an electrical power output. It can even be a stepper motor in a disk drive mechanism.
The generator is available for license in any application where generators are required.
For information please contact Mary Geddry, CEO Rogue River Wind, Ltd, at 800-490-8060 x210

We are closing in on our pre-production prototype and I am lucky to have a great staff in operations. As part of the company goal to provide jobs for veterans three of the four members of our operations department have served their country. My VP of Operations was a Lt Commander with the Navy and managed a 7MW floating power plant and has a masters degree in systems engineering. He is well suited to implementing smart/microgrids with distributed energy sources like small wind and solar and has been instrumental in getting us from earlier prototypes to the production model.

We also have a former helicopter mechanic from the Army (you can imagine how he comes in handy with a turbine like the LIM) and a grunt from the Marine Corp (yes, my grunt). Last, but not least we just added a fourth member to operations who has had a dream of working in wind energy since he was 15. Am very proud of my staff and wanted to give them all a shout out.

All this time I thought research and development and prototype design was the hardest part (and believe me it isn’t easy), but the procedural side of launching a new product is pretty damned intense. The brain power required from conceptualization to production is not only extensive but the diversity required puts the old ‘thinking ten moves ahead’ process in a chess game to shame.

There are so many facets to consider and I am so grateful to have backers, partners, friends, lawyers, accountants and employees capable of contributing so much to this effort. This is both an exhilarating time and a critically demanding time but I love what I am doing and look forward to each 16 hour day.

These stills will be animated into some educational videos describing how the LIM works and placed on the Rogue River Wind website that is also being professionally designed.

The above is fun but there is also the nuts and bolts paperwork side, shareholder agreements, manufacturing contracts, procedural manuals and regulatory issues. Tracking regulatory changes and legislative issues like investor owned utility PG&E trying to make competition illegal.

The state wants to encourage power-company competition, green energy and lower rates with the Community Choice law.

So, how does Pacific Gas & Electric Co. respond to these threats to its monopoly?

The utility giant bankrolls a deceptive June ballot initiative that seeks to rewrite California’s constitution, kill upstarts in their tracks and block the expansion of municipal utility companies such as the one saving money for residents of Sacramento.

Considering that Congress hasn’t been able to accomplish much requiring a 60 vote filibuster proof majority rather than the old 51 votes, PG&E’s request to require two-thirds of voters to approve an alternative energy option, dooms renewable energy in California to painful and costly death. Grrrr!

Okay, back to business and the website will carry all our technical information soon and will provide an energy blog with updates just like the one above.

Rogue River Wind is very proud to announce the successful development of a high bandwidth wind powered generator capable of working in turbulent, gusty wind at all speeds utilizing the increased aerodynamic efficiencies of ducted fan technology. To be specific what we mean by high bandwidth is that unlike typical power curves where the turbine only produces power between 22 and 29mph for example, the LIM turns on at 8mph but more importantly continues to produce power at 80 or 90mph. Since the power output of a turbine is proportional to the cube of the velocity, every time you double the wind speed you get 8 times the power.

We did it. We will be build one more pre production prototype before beginning the full production V-LIM here in Oregon but what is most exciting is the scalability of the generator.

With a few adjustments generators now being purchased with American tax dollars from China could be built right here in the US with much higher efficiencies and providing American jobs. Something to think about with respect to the new $1.4B Oregon Shepherd’s Flat wind farm slated for 2012. While the LIM generator coupled to the standard open bladed wind turbines will not operate at a high bandwidth because open bladed fans simply cannot, the generator can be stacked and perform much better than the Chinese generators based upon 1930′s technology…. AND MADE IN AMERICA!

We will be making some noise about these jobs going offshore when we can build them right here, providing long term family wage jobs in Oregon, in the coming days and weeks. Please watch the news and contact your representatives to keep American tax dollars in the US.

It has been painful, it has been hard, but boy am I a happy camper!

Takes a lot of time to set up the load in order to test this generator. We are winding inductors, ordering resistors, locking the axle down tight to avoid torquing the whole thing across the building and borrowing meters, oscilloscopes and all matter of digital displays…

As noted here before, the Chinese have a near monopoly on the production of high-gauss neodymium magnets crucial to the production of electricity. Now, a once abandoned mine in Mountain Pass, California is being reopened to try and minimize the dangers of geopolitical concerns and the supply of rare earths.

These minerals, such as samarium and neodymium, are prized for chemical properties that make them indispensable in a variety of industrial and military uses, including polishing glass, oil refining and manufacturing missile guidance systems.

They also play a crucial role in the development of “green” technologies such as hybrid cars, wind turbines and compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Heat-resistant magnets made with rare-earth alloys are key components of the electric motor in the Toyota Prius, for example.

Mining operations ceased at Mountain Pass in 2002 amid environmental concerns and cut-rate competition from China, although processing of previously dug ore continues. [Emphasis mine]

Given my company, Rogue River Wind, Ltd, hopes to manufacture our products in the US we are hopeful that environmentally safe mining practices can be maintained in Mountain Pass to provide the neodymium magnets we presently buy from China.

Pretty astonishing really when you think about it that despite having to replace every single part the V-LIM generator will finally get to spin up and turn on some light bulbs. All this has been accomplished in less than four months whereas the previous fabricator was moving up on a year and hadn’t even assembled the stator.

Reasons behind replacing the various parts, including the axle explain why the LIM was not being completed as promised… it simply couldn’t fit together. Actually, the stator has not been replaced but that was engineered and laser cut in Clackamas but every thing else, every single thing machined or signed off on by the former ‘fabricator’ including the damn trailer he insisted I buy (axles and wheel bearings shot), were worthless.

Rather than be angry, although I clearly am, I am endeavoring to be happy about the spin up and finally, finally getting some power curves and selling some turbines. Honestly, I can’t wait to write a memoir about the LIM and amazingly cool capacitive storage technology. From the first encounter with Coos County’s own Larry, Curly and Moe to the darkly comedic episode of the denial expert and shanty singer cum wind turbine fabricator and his wedding disrupting partner.

Yes, I have just had a glass (maybe two) of champagne