Georges jean marie darrieus biography summary

July 20, By Paul Gipe. While he is mostly known in the English-speaking world for his patent on vertical-axis wind turbines VAWTs , he was a prolific inventor in a number of fields from ballistics to turbo-alternators. Thus, Darrieus was well grounded in what was then modern aerodynamic thought.

Contra-rotating turbine

No, he first describes an articulating, straight-blade vertical-axis rotor that we know of as a giromill or cycloturbine. The tip-speed ratio for this four-blade turbine was 6. The second turbine ran even faster. We do know, writes Rogier, that during WWII Darrieus conducted experimental wind tunnel tests on a scale model three-blade, H-configuration rotor.

Unlike many latter day VAWT inventors, academics, and engineers who have been lured by the promise of Darrieus turbines, Darrieus himself concluded that the performance of his model was too poor to justify further work. Darrieus was clearly a man ahead of his time, but not necessarily for the invention that bears his name: The vertical-axis wind turbine.

Like many other wind turbine designers in the decades since, Darrieus—in the-end—opted for a conventional, horizontal-axis wind turbine. Skip to content.