Wind Turbines

[Tortuga]

California has several areas that have hundreds of wind turbines ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine ) that supposedly generate electricity but I recently noticed something peculiar about them. I was driving through a desert area and noticed it was very hazy, a thick layer of smog had settled in the desert. It seems unusual for a desert area to have smog but as I got closer I noticed there were wind turbines between the desert and a large city. Well, it makes sense that the wind turbines would be in a windy area and that wind would move some of the smog out of the city into the desert until I realized the turbines were running and it wasn't a windy day...

 

Hmmm....

 

I'm beginning to think that the "wind turbines" are actually smog movers. Instead of creating electricity from the wind, they are actually fans that use electricity and suck the smog out of the city and blow it into the desert. 

 

It's a conspiracy!

Where is Don Quixote when you need him???? 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2017 by Tortuga

[New World Explorer]

Actually that's very interesting.

Thanks for sharing.

[Old]

People often misconceive the purpose of those huge fans. It is simlar to the propeller on an airplane. Most think it is to keep the airplane flying, but IMHO, the real pupose is to keep the pilot cool.

When the propeller stops, the pilot immediatly breaks out in sweat.  

All very logical.

Edited April 23, 2017 by Old

[Vinnie]

 

PEI has all these things. I call them fans and I wish they would turn them down. It makes the place too windy.

[Tortuga]

17 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

 

PEI has all these things. I call them fans and I wish they would turn them down. It makes the place too windy.

Exactly. ..

[tekmantwo]

3 hours ago, Vinnie said:

 

PEI has all these things. I call them fans and I wish they would turn them down. It makes the place too windy.

When I lived in the southern California desert a bunch of us called them fans.

I knew a guy that was a tech for one type, made in Holland,  I went up into one with him. We went out on the roof too. 165feet to the ground.

 

Nice picture,  looks inviting. ..

[Tortuga]

49 minutes ago, tekmantwo said:

When I lived in the southern California desert a bunch of us called them fans.

I knew a guy that was a tech for one type, made in Holland,  I went up into one with him. We went out on the roof too. 165feet to the ground.

 

Nice picture,  looks inviting. ..

Was there a zip line from the work platform to the truck so they could escape in an emergency? 

[tekmantwo]

20 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Was there a zip line from the work platform to the truck so they could escape in an emergency? 

No. Good idea tho--we were wearing fall arrest gear so I would have clipped in and jumped in a heartbeat. ..what a ride that would be. 

 

He unlocked the main shaft and used grid power to get it up to speed and then switched over to making power.

 It wasn't a very windy day, there on the farm just outside of Palm Springs,  the available wind wasn't able to spin the blades fast enough and the control house entered a bit of cyclic occilation.  Fancy words for it was shaking like crazy,  tough to stay on your feet. The operators seats had seatbelts, now I knew why.

He used grid power to slow and stop the prop, then we dogged them down good. I got to crawl inside the prop blades, they need inspection and I got to do that. 

It was a neat experience and I would do it again no problem. .well, a little bit of a problem,  I don't know if I could climb up there like that,  not a youngster anymore. ..

[Tortuga]

Wow, that sounds like fun. I knew a brother that worked on the turbines in Livermore and he once told me they would run a cable from the deck to the truck so they had an emergency zip line, one time a guy tried to take the truck to get lunch and forgot to disconnect the cable...

[tekmantwo]

29 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Wow, that sounds like fun. I knew a brother that worked on the turbines in Livermore and he once told me they would run a cable from the deck to the truck so they had an emergency zip line, one time a guy tried to take the truck to get lunch and forgot to disconnect the cable...

Well,  I can see that being a bit of a problem. ..

 

How far away would that truck have to be, to ensure a safe angle on the zip line? 

[Tortuga]

7 hours ago, tekmantwo said:

Well,  I can see that being a bit of a problem. ..

 

How far away would that truck have to be, to ensure a safe angle on the zip line? 

Yeah, I was just thinking of that too. I don't know. It was probably 20-30 years ago and I don't remember asking about the angle.

I remember him telling me about the cable and how the guy tried to drive away while but I might have  assumed the cable was a zip line, I'll ask him if I ever see him again.

[pnutts]

On 2017-04-29 at 1:28 AM, Tortuga said:

one time a guy tried to take the truck to get lunch and forgot to disconnect the cable...

Sounds like the story of an idiot who tied a rope to bumper of his car so he could work safely on his house roof. His wife hops in car and drives down the street.

Needless to say, he got hurt. Supposed to be a true story - it was in newspaper years ago.

Spoiler

 

 

[Tortuga]

On 4/28/2017 at 11:00 PM, tekmantwo said:

How far away would that truck have to be, to ensure a safe angle on the zip line? 

I did a little on-line research and it appears the current method of emergency evacuation is to rappel down. Now that I have pondered on it, the idea of attaching a cable to a truck for emergency evacuation doesn't make much sense even if it was 25-30 years ago, so it's possible I misunderstood what he said at the time, the cable may have been used to transport tools or equipment. Anyhow, his story was about a cable attached to a work truck and one of the workers  tried to drive away without detaching the cable... 

[tekmantwo]

4 hours ago, Tortuga said:

I did a little on-line research and it appears the current method of emergency evacuation is to rappel down. Now that I have pondered on it, the idea of attaching a cable to a truck for emergency evacuation doesn't make much sense even if it was 25-30 years ago, so it's possible I misunderstood what he said at the time, the cable may have been used to transport tools or equipment. Anyhow, his story was about a cable attached to a work truck and one of the workers  tried to drive away without detaching the cable... 

I have used cable climbers in the past,  they clip on the safety cable and only go one way. If you fell while climbing a ladder they would lock in place and you could get back on the ladder and continue,  up.

 

I don't know if you could use them for a rappel type thing or not.  It might be fun to try tho..

 

I would rather have that (proposed) balloon suit, it inflates as you fall and you just bounce a couple of times. ...sounds like fun!