Constant supply of electricity is something that most of us can enjoy. Some parts of the world still have limited to no access to this, and nonstop use of electricity will leave major carbon footprint. But maybe this problem will be over soon.
Two master of science students from Lancaster University, Nicolas Orellana (36) and Yaseen Noorani (24), have developed a simple, spinning wind turbine that captures wind from any direction. The device, called O-Wind Turbine, will get both horizontal and vertical wind and it doesn’t need to be operated or steered.
Usually, wind turbines will only work when there’s a wind from one direction only. That proves to be an inefficient solution to areas with a lot of buildings because the wind will travel in every sorts of direction and will become unstable. The device would be impractical and unproductive to support the area.
An example of this is London’s 20 Fenchurch building or famously known as the Walkie Talkie skyscraper. Aside from its light reflection that’s hot enough to fry an egg and melt a car, many have said that the building has created a wind tunnel. It’s strong enough to have collapsed shop signs as well as pedestrians.
O-Wind Turbine has a simple design that allows it to generate energy on the windiest of days. It’s a spherical device with 25cm diameter and geometric vents that spins when the wind hits it. When this happens, its gears drive a generator and converts wind power into electricity. You can use it as a direct source of power or give it to the electricity grid.
Even though there’s a working prototype, O-Wind Turbine takes at least five years to be produced commercially. The students recommends this device to be put in high places such as balcony or the side of a building because that’s where wind travels very fast.
The idea of multidirectional wind turbines come after Orellana studied NASA’s unsuccessful Mars Tumbleweed rover. This rover was designed to be inflatable and to mimic a tumbleweed to roll across Mars’ surface and measure the planet’s atmospheric conditions as well as geographical location.
However, the rover has the technology of conventional wind turbines that work with one wind direction. As a result, the rover had mobility difficulty when it faced obstacles. It frequently got thrown off course and the project was not successful.
Learning from Tumbleweed’s mistakes, Orellana and Noorani developed three-dimensional wind turbine technology. Both students then had ideas of how this device can produce electricity which can be used in cities.
“We hope that O-Wind Turbine will improve the usability and affordability of turbines for people across the world. Cities are windy places but we are currently not harnessing this resource. Our belief is that by making it easier to generate green energy, people will be encouraged to play a bigger own role in conserving our planet,” said Orellana.
The director of energy at Lancaster University, Professor Harry Hoster, stated, “When the two students first approached us about test facilities for a new wind turbine design, we thought it would just be the 23rd variation of some plain vanilla system. When they humbly showed their video and their prototype, however, we were, excuse the pun, blown away,”
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“Only holding it in your hands and playing with it gives you a chance to understand what their new device actually does and how, if things go right, its ability to capture any random breezes will take urban energy harvesting to another level.”
Noorani said that the current wind power only produces 4% of the world’s electricity. But when it’s done right, wind could generate up to 40 times the amount of consumed electricity. The students’ innovativeness has won them (and the device) a prestigious James Dyson award.
James Dyson is an award dedicated to university level students and recent graduates who study product design, industrial design, and engineering. Operating in 27 countries, this award will recognize and reward designs that will give environmental global problems a solution. The winner would be chosen by Sir James Dyson himself and awarded £30,000. Winners in each region would get £2,000.
“Winning the James Dyson award has validated our concept and given us the confidence to approach investors to secure the capital we need to continue to turn our idea into a reality,” said Orellana.
Let’s hope that this kind of invention would never stop so that the world would become a better place after all what humankind has done to it. Tell us your thoughts about this in the comments below. Make sure to click this article for related reading about green energy.
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