Directorly Downwind Faster than the Wind

[Cloxxki]

I believe torpedo's have been made, powered in part by a wire back to the launching tube.

It needs some wind, however low the total drag of the vehicle.

The magnification factor (land speed vs. wind speed) is however infinite. It all depends on your media and refinement of rolling resisance (maglev would help) and transmission (what about supercooled ferrofluid?) , slipperiness of the vehicle through the air, and prop efficiency. Then, gear ratio greatly effects performance, and will need to be variable to ever become practical.
With this infinite gain ratio on a perfectly built wind car on a perfect road network and support/traction interface, only absolute windless day would result in being "stuck in traffic". Exploiting all wind energy from all directions and using those to power your superlight and super slippery vehicle, you'll collect a lot of speeding tickets. How many no-wind days are there anyway, in most inhabited nations? We like to live by the coast.

Any idea on how to get more thrust from a special prop (system?). I am think 2 fans in a jet style cylinder enclosure, larger fan front, smaller rear. Wind is accelerated aft by the front fan, pressure reduced. The narrowing enclosure negates that, feeds accelerates and compresses air into a smaller prop, plowing through the air faster than the front one of course. Would this be faster than the single large prop, slower, or does nothing you try really matter?
What about no enclosure, and just 2 props in line, with slightly different gearing?
Or, could a single prop of half the diameter, turning at double speed bring the same thrust?

It seems to be all about frontal surface vs. prop surface. The fun thing is that the huge prop doesn't really have much wind drag, due to it thrusting more than it drags.

Downside I see for this DDWFTTW principle, is that vehicles will need to be long in terms of cockpit, and tall in terms of prop.

If train tracks would prevent a train for tipping over (hold them in place), all kinds of airfoils and props could be placed in front, back, side and on top. If would not need to be heavy for stability, as are regular trains. This also aids quick braking.

[gmeast]

Hi all,

I read some (not all) of the comments and watched the videos.  This is a CRAZY FANTASTIC concept, but NOT OverUnity me no thinks. 

In sailing you can:
Sail directly into the wind oldies call this "In Irons" because you ain't goin' nowhere.  But put a little angle into the wind and you are "Close Reached or Close Hauled"  you are sailing into the wind but slowly.  90 degrees to the wind or "beam reach" is really fast and you take full advantage of the boat's keel, and sail geometry. 

With the clever concept shown here,  you are able to go directly into the wind.  Now if you were to pivot the propeller mast so that the propeller was pointing head-on into the wind ALWAYS you would have the most "efficient" Land Yacht ever made.

Clue:
gear drive from the prop (90deg gearbox), drop with a vertical drive shaft to a drive 'ring and pinion' on the rear axle.  Maybe even a wind vane steering the propeller head ... like a wind turbine.

My two cents,

Greg

[el-tigre]

Let the prop spin up while the cart is held in place. Adjust pitch to get maximum kinetic energy storage at high rpms.
Then adjust the prop pitch to the other side, effectively reversing thrust.
/quote]

This principal is often used to jump launch gyrocopters  which I think are a flying version of this device. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogyro 

It's interesting that a much much smaller engine can be used, compared to a powered helicopter, to sustain flight in these aircraft.  The vehicle weight is balanced by the lift generated by the free rotating blades which are moved by the air flow running through them which in turn is generated by a small engine only necessary to create forward motion.  A very neat trick.

Is not a glider the ultimate embodiment of the device, able to climb and travel faster than the wind so long as a temperature thermal exists.  Or even better, the solar powered flying wing that stores electrical energy all day and uses it to stay aloft at night. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-034-DFRC.html

This is a perpetual motion flying machine so long as the sun shines and there is no mechanical failure.

[Rapadura]

Let's clarify some things here.

The inventors claim that in this device is not the propeller that provides torque to the wheels, but the opposite: is the rotation of the wheels that provides torque for the propeller. It's what they try to show in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudBjrOF3LE

So what is alleged is that the movement of the wheels causes the movement of the propeller and the movement of the propeller creates all the necessary wind to propel the vehicle. There is no need of natural wind. The wind speed in the natural environment can be zero.

This naturally requires that, first, the wheels are put to rotate at a minimum speed, which is transmitted to the propeller. The propeller needs to achive the minimum rotating speed necessary to create the artifical wind that can push the vehicle forward.

Once this minimum speed is achieved, the vehicle becomes (allegedly) a perpetual motion machine, because the rotation of the propeller generates an artifical wind that pushes the vehicle forward. And, the movement forward make the wheels rotate, and the rotation of the wheels make the propeller rotate, etc...

So, with ZERO enviromental wind speed, the only thing that is needed is a initial acceleration, that can be given by any mean, in order to make the wheels (and the propeller) rotate at the minimum speed necessary to generate the artificial wind. After that, the machine becomes a perpetuum mobile, and never will need to receive any more energy from external sources.

So, this thing can be adapted to become a perpetual electricity generator, and this infinite electricity can be used to charge the batteries of our Nissan Leaf or Tesla Roadster.

[Cloxxki]

Let's clarify some things here.

The inventors claim that in this device is not the propeller that provides torque to the wheels, but the opposite: is the rotation of the wheels that provides torque for the propeller. It's what they try to show in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudBjrOF3LE

So what is alleged is that the movement of the wheels causes the movement of the propeller and the movement of the propeller creates all the necessary wind to propel the vehicle. There is no need of natural wind. The wind speed in the natural environment can be zero.

This naturally requires that, first, the wheels are put to rotate at a minimum speed, which is transmitted to the propeller. The propeller needs to achive the minimum rotating speed necessary to create the artifical wind that can push the vehicle forward.

Once this minimum speed is achieved, the vehicle becomes (allegedly) a perpetual motion machine, because the rotation of the propeller generates an artifical wind that pushes the vehicle forward. And, the movement forward make the wheels rotate, and the rotation of the wheels make the propeller rotate, etc...

So, with ZERO enviromental wind speed, the only thing that is needed is a initial acceleration, that can be given by any mean, in order to make the wheels (and the propeller) rotate at the minimum speed necessary to generate the artificial wind. After that, the machine becomes a perpetuum mobile, and never will need to receive any more energy from external sources.

So, this thing can be adapted to become a perpetual electricity generator, and this infinite electricity can be used to charge the batteries of our Nissan Leaf or Tesla Roadster.

What sources have you been reading to make these statements?
The wind does all the work. Bring the cart to (close) its own speed. The prop on the cart, being powered by the wheel resists this, making it a sail that flaps back at the wind.
It would be easier to hold the prop from turning (had it been disconnected from the wheels) than to hold the wheels, with that tailwind blowing against the back of the whole structure. So the prop doesn't have a whole lot to give, but what it has, is EXTRA.

Simplifying the system, I would say that the unused wind force is being extacted by the positive feedback loop. Once wind force - drag components equals prop thrust, equilibrium speed is reached.
Without a speed difference between wind and road, there is nothing to put into the feedback loop. The prop works so well because it sits on a flying carpet that matches the wind speed. The slightest input is going to druft the carpet forward compared to a standard carpet.

Hard to explain, and hard to understand, but if once chooses to not believe, it gets even harder.
Fact: behind a turbine, the wind still moves. Only the amount it was slowed down, is input. This feedback loop gets the most out of the prop. Perhaps a smart person can pull a trick on wind turbines as well, to produce more power for a given rotor surface. Dead wind gets in the way though.