Academic institutions: The right partners for know how and technology transfer projects?

At the University of Berlin in the Federal Republic of Germany research is done on windmills coupled to centrifugal pumps. This combination might fill a gap in the high flow, low lift applications. The wind turbine that has been developed is a five-bladed sail wing windmill with a diameter of 5 meters. To achieve a high efficiency at a wide speed range, a special low speed, large impeller centrifugal pump has been developed. Tests have been done near the university (average wind speed = 3.5 m/s) and in the northern part of the country (average wind speed of 6.5 m/s). Also work has been done on calculations of towers and a wind electric system. The pitch control, developed for this windmill, has been applied in the sail wing wind pump as well. At the moment the University seeks contact with partners in developing countries to apply the technology. Next to the state-of-the-art of wind pump systems with centrifugal pumps at the Technical University of Berlin, attention is paid to 'non-scientific' development activities and their financing at a university, and a concept for an integrated know how and technology transfer between academic partners. 8 figs., 1 ill., 11 refs