GeoWind at the Las Vegas Sphere — a low-cost wind “sculpture” build approach

[Jeon Young June GeoWind]

Hi everyone,
I wanted to share a quick field moment from Las Vegas that may interest the geodesic / lightweight-structure community.

During CES, we exhibited GeoWind blades n the Las Vegas Sphere (a landmark example of large-scale geometry in architecture). What stood out wasn’t just the location—it was the reaction from the public: people were surprised that a wind “turbine-like” kinetic sculpture can be built using very accessible, low-cost materials and simple fabrication methods, while still looking clean and architectural.

My key takeaway: geometry + lightweight framing + smart surface design can make wind-driven structures far more approachable—both as an educational build and as an urban installation.

If the group is interested, I can share:

• our simplest bill-of-materials approach (budget-oriented),

• lessons learned on stability/assembly in outdoor wind,

• and what made the design “read” well to non-technical visitors.

Thanks, and I’d love to hear if anyone here has tried similar low-cost kinetic or wind-reactive builds.

Best,
YoungJune Jeon
GeoWind

[Paul Kranz]

https://geowind.kr

Very high regards,

 

Paul C. Kranz, LMFT

Kranz & Associates, LLC

ReviveTheFlame.com

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[Dx G]

YoungJune,

  I'd be interested in reviewing anything you have learned or done with the turbine.   In fact, I'm curious to see if it also has any applications for a wind driven vehicle that I have studied somewhat. In addition, whether a structure of this nature would benefit from the Universal Strut Connector (USconn) I'm working on to simplify the use of struts and structural elements joining at compound angles. 

Dx G

[Young June Jeon]

Hi Dx G,

Thanks for reaching out — I appreciate your interest.

I’d be glad to share what I’ve been working on with the GeoWind rotor. I recently finished a new blade/rotor build and I’m now moving into field testing (mounting the generator, choosing a good site, and collecting more repeatable RPM/torque and output data). I attached a short video so you can see the current motion and setup.

Your wind-driven vehicle thought is interesting. My main work is stationary generation, but once I have cleaner data, I can share it and we can talk about what characteristics might translate to propulsion or assistance concepts.

And yes — a multi-angle connector like your USconn sounds relevant. My frame uses repeated compound-angle nodes, so anything that simplifies alignment and assembly is valuable. If you can share a quick overview (photos/sketch + how it clamps/locks, strut profiles, angle range), I can tell you where it would fit best in this kind of geometry.

Best regards,
YoungJune

2026년 2월 12일 (목) PM 11:04, Dx G <yipp...@gmail.com>님이 작성:

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Young June Jeon
Mobile 82-10-2662-1327

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[Bryan L]

Can't view the video without jumping through too many hoops...

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geodesichelp/CAMRvOPgHQ4hihpoX7%2BJtfs456Y_SLA9%3Do-tFxi%3Dg47AE3B4G8A%40mail.gmail.com.

[Dx G]

YoungJune,

  The video does not run for me either.  I will enjoy reviewing the pdf though, so thanks for posting it.

  With respect to the connector, it will be a while before I will be posting details pending load testing and related work.  However, it would be useful to know the shape and size of what the connector would be connecting for your turbine.  Hollow tubing, solid round rod, some rectangular profile, etc. as struts?  Perhaps I will see what I need in your pdf file.

  Also, another related application came to mind.  The wind driven vehicle typically makes use of a propeller, which is turned by the wind, then provides drive to the wheels via a transmission.   However, there is a reciprocal possibility, if it is a suitable application.  A team of students at MIT won the Dupont prize for the fastest human powered watercraft.  It was a pontoon with not one, but 2 hydrofoil stages, a recumbent pedal system for a single pilot, and a main propeller.  There is a youtube video of it running.  

  For a wind powered vehicle, your turbine has an advantage over a prop, which must rotate in the horizontal plane to remain faced at the wind for maximum performance and efficiency.  Your turbine, however, can catch a wind from any direction.   However, in the reciprocal application, the pilot is turning the prop to provide propulsion.  I'm not sure how one could actively rotate your turbine and provide directional force like a prop does.  However, there might be a way to do that.  

    So as I said, using your turbine to act as the propulsion system for a human powered land or water craft (or even air flying)) may not be a suitable application, but as we say in R&D, the reach should exceed the grasp.  Some people are too quick to declare something impossible if they can't figure out how to do it themselves.  As I remind them, and myself, it pays to keep your words sweet since one day, you might have to eat them.  :-)

Dx G

[Young June Jeon]

Apologies that the video I posted wasn’t available to review—its file size may have exceeded the limit. I’ll repost it soon.

If you prefer, you can also view any of my public videos on Instagram: instagram.com/geowind.kr

Best regards,

Young June Jeon

2026년 2월 20일 (금) 오후 1:46, Dx G <yipp...@gmail.com>님이 작성:

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[Young June Jeon]

Hi everyone,
I’d like to share a simple connector concept I designed while building the GeoWind turbine frame.

• The connector is a pentagonal (5-sided) fitting with an outer diameter of 10 mm.

• Inside the connector, there is a stop-shoulder (internal lip) so that an inserted pipe seats at a consistent depth and cannot slide further in.

• The connector’s built-in geometry follows the regular icosahedron: it reproduces the characteristic 108° angles that appear between edges (specifically the angle relationship formed when you reference edges that are two steps apart in the icosahedral edge pattern).

With this connector, the frame becomes extremely straightforward to build:
If you cut 30 pipes to exactly the same length and assemble them using these angle-defined connectors, you can form a regular icosahedron easily and accurately, with minimal measurement and alignment work.

Best regards,
YoungJune (GeoWind)

2026년 2월 20일 (금) PM 3:53, Young June Jeon <youn...@gmail.com>님이 작성:

[Levente Likhanecz]

please try this, re-encoded with other codec

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[Levente Likhanecz]

YoungJune, i don't get the concept of the extra flaps, that forms a pocket on each sail against rotation:

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[Young June Jeon]

Hi Levente,

Thank you for the question — that is a very important point.

You are correct that the base face made by connecting the icosahedron vertices is a golden-ratio isosceles triangle (the standard icosahedral triangular face geometry).

However, that triangle by itself does not create enough drag difference between the two rotational directions when the whole rotor turns in the wind. In other words, if the sail is only a simple triangular surface, the drag asymmetry is limited.

So the extra flap was added intentionally to create directional drag asymmetry:

• When the sail moves in the drag-receiving direction, the flap forms a pocket / cup-like shape, which catches more wind and increases drag.

• When the sail moves in the opposite direction (against the useful torque direction), the shape behaves more like a cone, which reduces resistance compared with the pocket side.

This increases the drag difference around the rotation axis and helps generate stronger rotational torque.

Also, when the blade orientation becomes more horizontal to the wind direction, the shape can produce a lifting effect as well (in a simplified way), so the sail is intended as a very simple hybrid of drag-based + lift-assisted behavior.

In addition, the way these triangular sails are connected follows points that do not significantly deviate from the key structural/mechanical points of the regular icosahedron frame. This was important to me because I wanted the aerodynamic shaping to remain aligned with the main load path and geometric logic of the icosahedral structure.

Also, the angles of the faceted streamlined form were designed to maintain approximately 31 degrees, which I considered a useful angle for this type of streamlined/faceted aerodynamic shaping.

The geometric inspiration for this simplified faceted shaping came partly from the structure of the F-117 (faceted stealth aircraft surfaces), where planar faces are used to create directional aerodynamic effects.

So, the flap is not just an added piece — it is the key feature that gives the sail different aerodynamic behavior depending on rotational direction.

If helpful, I can make a simple sketch showing:

1. pocket mode (high drag),

2. cone mode (lower drag), and

3. the resulting torque direction.

Best regards,
YoungJune

2026년 2월 20일 (금) PM 8:20, Levente Likhanecz <likh...@gmail.com>님이 작성:

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[Young June Jeon]

_talkv_wzim4ih6Kn_mNat9blFp7L3JyDVOOtqAK_talkv_high.mp4

Hi everyone,

As a follow-up to my previous message, I would like to share an additional video showing the blade curvature design of the GeoWind sail.

In my earlier reply, I explained the idea of creating directional drag asymmetry (pocket-like behavior in one rotational direction and cone-like behavior in the opposite direction). This video is intended to help visualize how the sail curvature and faceted shaping support that concept.

The video focuses on:

• the curvature concept of the sail surface,

• how the added flap contributes to directional aerodynamic behavior,

• and how the overall shape is intended to increase torque generation during rotation.

I hope this makes the design intention clearer.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments and discussion.

Best regards,
YoungJune Jeon
GeoWind

2026년 2월 21일 (토) AM 10:32, Young June Jeon <youn...@gmail.com>님이 작성:

[Paul Kranz]

Young: What is a "golden-ratio isosceles triangle?" Paul sends...

Very high regards,

 

Paul C. Kranz, LMFT

Kranz & Associates, LLC

ReviveTheFlame.com

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geodesichelp/CAMRvOPgjqAVJBJzL1O_LWtvLgauBKy4h9CXwAos%3DgZjE0UK%2B-g%40mail.gmail.com.

[Young June Jeon]

Dear Paul,

Thank you for your question.

The triangular wing-face used in the GeoWind blade is what I refer to as a golden-ratio isosceles triangle, derived from the geometric relationships of the icosahedral vertices.

Rather than giving only a short explanation in email, I think it would be better to share the attached paper, where the geometric basis and design logic are explained in more detail.

Please kindly refer to the attached paper for the full explanation.

Best regards,
Young June Jeon

2026년 2월 21일 (토) AM 10:55, Paul Kranz <pa...@revivetheflame.com>님이 작성:

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[Dx G]

Young June,

  I gave some additional thought to your work, and was reminded of an air flow project I was heavily involved in some time ago.  The device was designed by others and prototype fabricated.  My part of it was to make measurements and collect data for performance measurements.  I made some 3D graphic illustrations of the data, after which it was turned over to a specialist in Computational Fluid Dynamics, who modeled the system.  The data and model were further used to consider improvements to the prototype, and the cycle was repeated.  

   I see a surprising number of papers in the research literature, and even on youtube, where computational fluid dynamics was used for work with vertical axis wind turbines.  Seems to me there may be some useful ideas and methods there, unless you are already well aware of this work.  

Dx G

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[Young June Jeon]

Hi Dx G,

Thank you very much for your thoughtful message and for sharing your past experience. I really appreciate the time you took to write this.

The workflow you described — prototype fabrication, performance measurement, 3D data visualization, CFD modeling, and iterative redesign — is extremely helpful and relevant to what I am trying to build with GeoWind.

I’m working on a vertical-axis wind turbine design and currently improving the blade geometry and performance testing process. Your note is a strong reminder that I should deepen the CFD side in parallel with physical prototyping.

If you are open to it, I would also be very interested to hear:

• what kinds of measurements were most useful in your project, and

• what made the CFD collaboration most effective in improving the prototype.

Thank you again for your encouragement and insight.

Best regards,

Young June Jeon

2026년 2월 21일 (토) 오후 1:51, Dx G <yipp...@gmail.com>님이 작성:

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[Robert Clark]

Young-Jun,

Nice work. What material is the connector? Are images 2 and 3 two different versions of the connector? Image 2 has the stop- shoulders and a smaller bolt hole. Image 3 does not have the stop-shoulders and the central hole is much larger. I am assuming the flat surface at the vertex is the surface that sits on a print bed during 3D printing (no supports needed). The screenshots look like SolidWorks, which I am very familiar with.

Is there any retaining mechanism to keep the connector plug from pulling out of the tube, or is it permanently glued in place?  I noticed in image 1 and 5 that the fillet passes through the stop-shoulder. Is that intentional? What is the material of the tube and inside diameter? My first guess is galvanized steel 3/4" EMT conduit (0.824" ID). Again, very nice.

Rob

[Young June Jeon]

Hi Rob,

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback and the detailed questions. I really appreciate your careful observations.

You are correct — the screenshots are from SolidWorks.

Please see my answers below:

1. Tube material and size
   I used an aluminum tube with 10 mm inner diameter and 1 mm wall thickness.

2. Image 2 vs. Image 3 (different connector versions)
   Yes, Image 3 is an older version of the connector.

In the older version, the pipe insertion depth was not always consistent during assembly.
So in the newer version, I added an edge / stop-shoulder so the pipe stops at a fixed position. This helps achieve more precise and repeatable assembly.

3. Connector material
   Because I am using an aluminum pipe, I made the connector in the same material (aluminum) by casting.

4. Retention method (anti pull-out / fixing)
   For temporary installation, after connecting the pipe and connector, I fixed it using rivets.

For future permanent installation, I plan to use a combination of:

• rivet fastening, and

• glue bonding

5. Blade material and frame-blade assembly
   The blade uses a PP-based plastic material.

For fixing the blade to the frame, I am planning to use:

• fixing rivets, and

• 3M tape or silicone adhesive

This structure behaves somewhat like an aircraft wing in the sense that it continuously experiences vibration as well as expansion and contraction (temperature and load effects).
Because of that, the blade-to-frame connection needs to be:

• secure enough for reliable fixation, but also

• flexible enough to accommodate movement from thermal expansion/contraction and vibration.

So I am working toward a design that provides both firm attachment and controlled compliance rather than an overly rigid joint.

Thanks again for your excellent questions and observations. They are very helpful during this prototype development stage.

Best regards,
Young-June

2026년 2월 22일 (일) AM 12:54, Robert Clark <clark.rob...@gmail.com>님이 작성:

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[까치]

바람과 물리를 제외하고 구조적 문제를 논의할 의향은?

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보낸사람: Young June Jeon <youn...@gmail.com>
받는사람: geodes...@googlegroups.com
날짜: 26.02.23 11:49 GMT +0900
제목: Re: GeoWind at the Las Vegas Sphere — a low-cost wind “sculpture” build approach

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[Robert Clark]

Young June,

Thank you for your very detailed reply. This sounds like an exciting project. Aspects of it remind me of research I've done in the past with regards to materials and bonding. You probably already know about the products I am going to mention, but I will list them anyway for the benefit of other members.

Surebond SB-190 Everseal industrial adhesive in caulking tube from Amazon. It is usually used for bonding polycarbonate roof snow guards to metal roofing (that's how I know about it). Commonly used in prisons because of its "pick-proof" and tamper-resistant properties. It is a high-strength, one-part modified epoxy with a 2,000 PSI tensile strength, designed to secure fixtures—such as furniture, door frames, light fixtures, and vents—to walls or floors, preventing inmates from prying them loose or using them to conceal contraband.

For attaching PP-based plastic to metal, yes, 3M foam tape is a great option. Based on what I've read, the 3M VHB Foam Tape LSE-110WF is a good choice. Also, you should use an activator such as 3M Tape Primer 94 or 3M Adhesion Promoter 4298 / 06396.

I'm curious if you cast the aluminum connectors yourself. If so, did you use the lost PLA method? I saw a video that suggests using PVB Polymaker PolyCast Filament filament instead of PLA works better. It is supposed to burn out very cleanly and leave no ash behind. It is however about twice as expensive as PLA.

Also, there is something called Zamak that could be used as an alternative to the aluminum in casting. Zamak is a family of zinc-based alloys containing aluminum, magnesium, and copper. It's considered a better casting material than aluminum because it has a lower melting point (around 385°C vs. 660°C for aluminum). It also is more fluid and pours easier, so it will fill in smaller details and thinner walls. Zamak is heavier and stronger than aluminum and costs less. Zamak is used in a lot of sink faucets and drawer pulls. You can buy it online from RotoMetals in California.

Another possible alternative to aluminum connectors is to 3D print from TPU 64D filament. It is semi-rigid and extremely tough. It can handle outdoor UV and temperature extremes (be sure to use the black). The 64D shore hardness of 64D balances structural rigidity with controlled flexibility.  If used for your connectors in the aluminum frame, it might dampen frame vibration.

Anyway, that's all.

Best regards,

Rob

[Young June Jeon]

Hi Rob,

Thank you for sharing so many detailed ideas and references. There were several points I didn’t know before, and they were genuinely helpful—especially the bonding/adhesion options and the material alternatives you listed.

I’ll review your recommendations carefully and make sure the most useful ones are reflected in my actual build and testing process. Information like this really helps at the prototype stage, and I appreciate you taking the time to write it up not only for me but also for the benefit of other members.

Most of all, thank you for your encouragement and for wishing that we can turn this into a better product together. I truly appreciate your support, and I’m excited to keep improving the design step by step.

Best regards,
Young June Jeon

2026년 2월 24일 (화) 오전 1:04, Robert Clark <clark.rob...@gmail.com>님이 작성:

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[Young June Jeon]

안녕하세요,

한국에 걔신 회원분을 만나뵈어서 정말 반갑습니다.

네 구조적인 문제에 대한 의논을 위해 전문가의 의견이 절실히 필요하던 시점이었는데 연락을 주셔서 감사합니다. 지금은 새벽시간이니 서울 시간으로 일과가 시작되면 전화드리도록 하겠습니다. 

감사합니다.

전영준 드림.

+82 10 2662 1327

2026년 2월 23일 (월) 오후 11:34, 까치 <cari...@hanmail.net>님이 작성:

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[Dx G]

Young June,
I will respond to your earlier questions a bit later, but I had a few things for you pertaining to the more recent discussion.  I am grateful to Robert for posting some good leads on adhesives.  Those look like excellent choices, but I am aware of a few others you may want to consider, or evaluate.

1) This one is an adhesive caulk you can get in small 1 or 3 oz squeeze tubes or larger 10oz cartridge for a caulking gun.  There is a quick-set version available, several colors, and a separate product to use as a remover, as this material is very permanent. It can be used for underwater applications and may be overkill for what you need.

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/2366044O/3M-Marine-Adhesive-Sealant-5200.pdf?pif=000889?locale=en-US

2) There are other adhesives made for the RV (Recreational Vehicle) market, like this one, although may not be as likely to withstand assaults from eager escapees.   See product description;  has excellent expansion and contraction properties to withstand the joint movement and temperature changes associated with recreational vehicles.
https://www.brightbuyspot.com/rv-trailer-camper-sealants-proflex-rv-flexible-sealant-clear-10-oz-geocel-quantity-6-p-515468.htm

3) These are also useful for allowing tubing and related material to snap in place, or adjust position, and still be easily removed without tools.
https://www.superiorcomponents.com/fasteners/snap-buttons

Let us know if you try any of these and what you think of them.

Dx G