KitemanSA wrote:I'll have to double check that, I was under the impression they used carbon fiber. If I find something definitive, I'll post it.
PS: That alternating permanent magnet I was talking about is called a Halbach array. I knew it would come to me eventually. :D
If you had asked I could have told you.
Beacon uses carbon fiber. (see link in my previous comment) However the bearings are in part active which is going to make them lossy. Argonne (I think) was going to work on a very low loss mag bearing for storage but no one ever funded the research.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
I fear that in the mind of the average shmoe, a single one or two of them there big windmills would cover it. After all, they *tower* over any rinky-dink power station.