There are two things holding wind turbines back right now: they make too much noise, and they’re not that efficient, with most of today’s models averaging about 25 to 50 percent conversion efficacy.
Dutch company, The Archimedes, claims to have solved these issues with their new wind tiny windmill, the Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine.
Modeled after a Nautilus shell and drawing on formulas and principles by the Greek mathematician for which the company is named, the inventors claim that several tests performed have so far proven their wind turbine can achieve “80 percent of the maximum that is theoretically feasible.”
The difference with their 165-pound, five-feet-wide turbine and what’s presently on the market is the fact that the latter require a difference in pressure between the front and rear side of the rotor blades in order for it to work properly. This creates drag which, in turn, lessens the turbine’s efficiency. The F1 urban Wind Turbine eliminates this problem, which also allows it to change direction as necessary, in order to harvest the most amount of energy as possible.
Explaining the design, according to the company, “Most today's wind turbines require that a difference in pressure between the front and the rear side of the rotor blades be maintained in order to be effective. However, this difference in pressure also has a negative effect called 'drag'. Our turbine rotor captures the kinetic energy of the wind due to its speed, and, by reversing the wind and reducing it to almost zero Beaufort converts it into mechanical energy. By doing this the wind speed's effect (in kinetic energy) on the rotor is maximized and 'lift' is obtained by the wind's acceleration over the rotor plane.”
According to the Archimedes team, the Liam F1 generates an average of 1,500 kilowatt-hours of energy per year at a wind-speed of roughly 16.4 feet per second. They add that this amount of power resembles half of the power consumption of a common household during the same time period.
Some things worth noting: the wind turbine has not been independently tested yet. The folks at Archimedes counter this point with the fact that it’s gone through 50 or so tests already, and that there are more to come.
Also, the F1 Urban Wind Turbine isn’t officially available until July 1st. According to the company though, Archimedes has already sold 7,000 turbines in 14 companies.
One concrete fact: when it becomes available to the public, it will sell for $5,450.
Learn more about the F1 Urban Wind Turbine, and see it in action via the video below:
Story via phys.org
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