Why did we not think about this

I commented on the video on youtube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=fTQAz43J8U4) about the sillyness of the 2000w claim. It seems that the kids have calculated the wing area (not sweep) of tradtional 3 blade turbine and as their model has same surface due to many blades it must produce the same energy... With that logic going from 3 blades to 6 would double the output of traditional hawt.

 

My company did a lot of solar business 30 years ago. One of the problems we encountered with solar panels mounted on buoys was the seagull **** reducing the capacity of the panels by more than 50 %. The most effective countermeasure was a 1/4" stainless steel tube around a thin rod at the top of the panels. A taut wire also worked, but the tube was better.

Another thing we learned was not to use bolts and nuts to attach the panels but rivet them to the frames to prevent theft.

 

Got me there. I didn't think that bird droppings would be as much of a
problem as dust, oil, sooty particles and salt.

If it's really worth it, they will just saw the top off like Paul Newman did with
parking meters in Cool Hand Luke