

Dean Kamen’s Inflatable Wind Turbine Doubles As Digital Billboard - sunsu
http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/15/dean-kamens-inflatable-wind-turbine-doubles-as-digital-billboard/

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po
One of the biggest impediments to wind power is the not-in-my-backyard
criticisms that wind farms are ugly. This can only make wind power adoption
worse. Luckily it is only a patent application so it's all just speculation.

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sunsu
At least it doesn't seem to be as permanent though. Having a party over? Just
deflate it and stuff it in the shed!

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chopsueyar
How about the balancing electric wheelchair that is no longer being produced
because Johnson & Johnson cannot find a way to profit of off it, yet many
people with MS want one?

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hugh3
If there's enough people who want it and are willing to pay for it, why can't
they make a profit off it?

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chopsueyar
<http://www.ibotnow.com/>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBOT>

_As of 2006 the iBOT retailed for approximately US$26,100 and required a
prescription in the U.S. As of 2009, it is no longer available for sale from
Independence Technology, but support for existing units will be available
until the end of 2013._

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jayfuerstenberg
It's difficult to judge this without seeing the final product but it is
revolutionary in design.

Many wind projects never get off the ground because of the barrier to entry
(high initial costs and risk of wind pattern changes etc...)

This design looks to get around those. If one gets developed it'll be
interesting to see just how efficient it is.

Maybe birds won't die when they hit one either. Maybe they'll just bounce off?

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zach
So, let's say we have a turbine system that can be repeatedly deflated, moved,
inflated and re-anchored.

The next question is, can that process be done semi-autonomously? The big
question would seem to be battery or power transmission technology.

Gotta love the futuristic image of turbinebots roaming the Wyoming hills,
looking for local maxima on the energy ranch.

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jellicle
But keep in mind the truly important part of a patent application: the device
described need not exist or even be capable of being built.

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bfe
If it's incapable of being built, the patent examiner is supposed to reject it
under section 101 for failing to be useful.

