General Electric Gives Gearless Wind Turbines a Big Boost

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - 12:14 in Physics & Chemistry

Magnet-based wind turbine tech moves forward with GE investment Conventional wind turbines have an Achilles heel in the form of their clunky and expensive gearboxes. But that could change with GE's recent purchase of a company that has developed gearless turbine technology based on magnets. Gearboxes act as the middleman to convert the slow rotations of wind turbine blades into the faster rotations needed for generators to create electricity. The downside of such gears comes from their high-maintenance requirements due to constant stress from wind turbulence. Related Articles Deep-Water Wind: World's First Floating Wind Turbine Launched Server Cluster to Be Powered by Giant Wind Farms Floating Turbines Could Break Impasse Over Cape Cod Wind Farm Tags SciTech, Jeremy Hsu, GE, gear, magnet, Scanwind, turbine,

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