Brian D. Rasmussen, who works with port constructions and the environment at the Port of Aalborg, has skillfully accomplished a fresh new use for a wind turbine. He recently wrapped up the recycling of a wind turbine in service to zero-footprint travelers, bicyclists. Through reinventing the purpose of the wind turbine, adapting a spent turbine, he has shown that wind turbines can continue their life-protecting purpose even beyond end of life.
“We were going to have a new bike shed, and then I sat and flipped through the net to see what was available. Then there was a really smart one in New York, where I thought it looked like a wind turbine blade, and then the idea came, says Brian D. Rasmussen,” according to the English translation of a Danish article.
Creative thinking at the port in #Aalborg. In need of a new bike shed, they decided to recycle an old wing from a wind turbine 🚲
That is pretty cool! 😍
Photo credit: Henrik Eilershttps://t.co/j5li7XG8LM#Denmark #biking #windpower pic.twitter.com/ijS8vG6DgZ
— Denmark.dk (@denmarkdotdk) February 15, 2020
If you are in Denmark, the raw materials are at hand to lend themselves, artistically, to the reformed utilitarian end. In Aalborg, perhaps one is dreaming wings, as the factory is one of the world’s largest wing factories.
Rasmussen has a degree in civil engineering, which he used to redesign the once airborne turbine — grounded in the land. The composite is a light material, even though a weighty wind turbine blade is part of this solution.
There were none of the original drawings to make use of the turbine wings, no construction plans or data provided to Rasmussen. “I made a model at home over the weekend in cardboard and wood, and then I started cutting it to find out how to get a stable structure out of it. Because as soon as you start cutting a hole in a pipe, it becomes very lively, says Brian D. Rasmussen, who has a degree in civil engineering, and thus has the prerequisites to work with statics and strength.”
A retired #windpower blade repurposed as #bike parking in Aalborg. pic.twitter.com/bQ4asz9TPy
— Mikael Colville-Andersen (@colvilleandersn) September 18, 2021
Since the turbine was designed for another purpose originally, Rasmussen gathered the expert help of Brunø Stål, a blacksmith in Aalborg. Brunø Stål made the bearings on which the unique bicycle shelter would rest and be tethered.
After concrete foundations, the Kærsholm Diamond Drilling cut away what was not needed.
As Rasmussen expresses, “Instead of chopping a wing into small pieces and using it for fuel, you might as well use it for something else. It is both strong and almost indestructible — and I actually think it is quite beautiful, he states.”
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