GC: n

CT: A “PANEMONE” is defined as a device which derives its energy from the wind in such a way that the wind-catching vanes move IN THE SAME DIRECTION as the thrusting force of the wind (this is called “DRAG”). This is in contrast to the motion of a propellor, whose blades move AT 90 DEGREES to the thrust of the wind (this is called “LIFT”).
The only problem is that most panemones, when they are turning, have some component of DRAG, as well as some component of LIFT. So, a rather better definition of a panemone is: The axis of rotation is at 90 degrees to the direction of the wind. (The rotating shaft lies ACROSS the wind, whereas with a propellor, for instance, the shaft points directly INTO the wind.)

S: http://carpool.actrix.co.nz/projects/panemone.htm (last access: 28 February 2015)

N: 1. From pan- (word-forming element meaning “all, every, whole, all-inclusive,” from Greek pan-, combining form of pas (neuter pan, masculine and neuter genitive pantos) “all,” from PIE pant- “all” (with derivatives found only in Greek and Tocharian)) and anemone (flowering plant genus, 1550s, from Middle French anemone (16c.) and directly from Latin anemone, from Greek anemone “wind flower,” literally “daughter of the wind,” from anemos “wind” + -one feminine patronymic suffix; according to Asa Gray, so called because it was thought to open only when the wind blows; Klein suggests the flower name perhaps originally is from Hebrew (compare na’aman, in nit’e na’amanim, literally “plants of pleasantness,” in Is. xvii:10, from na’em “was pleasant”; applied to a type of sea creature (sea anemone) from 1773).
2. A vertical axis wind collector capable of reacting to horizontal winds from any direction.
3. The ancient panemone (…) is the oldest type of vertical-axis windmill. Its power shaft is perpendicular to the windstream and it extracts energy as a result of differences in wind velocity between the upstream and downstream current.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=pan&searchmode=none; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=anemone&searchmode=none (last access: 28 February 2015). 2 & 3. GDT.

SYN:
S:

CR: [multibladed windmill], rotor , wind energy, windmill, windmill park, wind turbine (1).