The Slimtowers™ innovation is an integrated structural system that transforms today’s massive and costly free-standing tapered-tube tower into a dramatically reduced-size transportable and uniform central core while boosting the tower’s stiffness and load resisting capacity by more efficient structural means.  Our patented design is the first of its kind: simple, versatile, structurally potent, and visually pleasing.  Specifically:

 

• Slimtowers™ reduces the bending moments imposed on the tower core and modifies their distribution along the tower substantially, allowing a reduced-size core and justifying, structurally and economically, a uniform, non-tapered core from the foundation to the nacelle.

 

• Doubling the tower height generally requires doubling the diameter of the tower as well, increasing the material by a factor of four.  Slimtowers™ reduces the core diameter significantly, thereby reducing the demand for material. 

 

• Slimtowers™ improves the buckling characteristics of the tower core, allowing the core to resist appreciably larger compression forces compared to a free-standing core of the same size. 

 

• To avoid local buckling, increasing the core diameter requires a proportional increase in the core shell thickness.  In contrast, by reducing the core diameter, Slimtowers™ permits a reduction in its shell thickness. 

 

• Slimtowers™ offers increased stiffness and capacity at lower costs by simply widening the distance between the tubular arms.  This presents a tradeoff, which can be optimized, between a larger distance between the tubular arms and the length of the turbine shaft.

 

• Slimtowers™, with its smaller exposed surface area, reduces the cost of surface protection substantially. 

 

• Slimtowers™ core, extending for the full height of the tower, carries inside the core all needed utility lines and provides uninterrupted protected access to the nacelle. 

 

• Slimtowers™ reduced-size core allows for taller towers without exceeding current transportation limits, avoiding a major cost component of today’s wind towers.

 

• Slimtowers™ drum-like assembly at each level, in addition to its structural function in the tower, can serve as a stage to support a climbing tower crane to install the tower as well as the turbine and blades, avoiding the need for a larger and much costlier land-staged crane.

 

• Slimtowers™ allows for variations of towers and permits the evaluation of several variables which can be optimized in reaching the best solution for each project, unlocking previously untapped potential for greatly reducing total expenditures and lowering the unit cost of energy. 

 

The above features and benefits demonstrate how the Slimtowers™ innovation is superior to the prior art towers.  The result is a super tall wind tower capable of harnessing more powerful winds at higher altitudes that is slimmer, less costly, efficient, and easier and faster to fabricate, transport, and install.