Has anybody thought about a VAWT like thess?
Pretty much think of a 2, 3, or 4 bucket blade design.
But...
The active blade(s) are solid.
The blade(s) coming upwind are not solid.
Kind of like venician blinds open or closed.
Or like that gravity sail PGS thing.
Add Ed's 'articulated darrieus' (right name?) setup to control what is open (going up wind) and what is closed (blowing down wind).
It seems to me the problem of the working side having to pull the not working side into the wind, would be reduced greatly.
Seems simple?
It would still be high torque and low speed, but better... I think...
Or, I thought about this years ago, but never got it to work on paper.
I think this one has many more problems than first appear.
It is still an idea.
Cloth blades on 2 vertical sticks.
Going down wind, the sticks are far apart. Big drag.
Going up wind, the sticks are close together. Small drag.
They would need to open and close quite quickly.
Noisy I bet, with the blades or sails going Crack, Crack, Crack as they fill with wind.
These have been in the back of my mind for a long time.
G-