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Project 1. Smart VAWT – A Simple Yet Effective Wind Turbine Design
Wind turbines face several challenges:
- Modern turbines are large and bulky, making them difficult to transport, install, and maintain.
- Due to safety requirements, these large and bulky turbines can only be installed far from residential areas, leaving significant wind energy resources untapped.
- Conventional large horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) have a major drawback—they cannot capture wind from all directions. There is another type of turbine, vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT), which are omnidirectional but generally less efficient.
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To address these issues, we invented blades that automatically rotate to the optimal angle to the wind direction.
The resulting Smart VAWT is omnidirectional and can generate more electricity.
In addition, its compact design makes it an ideal solution for urban and other populated areas.
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Project 2. Smart VAWT Upgrade: Adding Airfoil Blades
Adding airfoil blades increases the torque effect.
The combination of airfoil blades and smart blades solves the starting problem that is typical for Darrieus turbines.
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Project 3. Smart VAWT Upgrade: Protective Casing
It is critical to ensure stability in strong winds. This has become even more relevant with the worsening climate balance due to global warming.
To address stability issues in extreme winds, we have developed a smart protective casing that automatically regulates the wind energy entering the turbine rotor, preventing damage.
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Project 4. Typhoon-Resistant Wind Turbine
During hurricane-force winds, turbines must be shut down to prevent damage. This raises a natural question: what kind of design can not only withstand hurricanes but also harness their energy? Japanese scientists estimate that the energy of one large typhoon is equivalent to about 50 years of Japan's total power generation.
To harness this enormous potential of free energy, new types of designs are needed.
Wind turbines from Japanese startup Challenergy and GE Renewable Energy, based on the Magnus effect, can generate electricity while withstanding hurricane-force winds. The Magnus effect does not provide high efficiency, but this is not necessary given the enormous energy of a typhoon. In fact, the problem may not lie in low efficiency but in the high density of electricity generated in a relatively short time. This electricity must be effectively stored for gradual distribution to consumers later.
Our company has also conducted research in this area and developed a wind turbine capable of operating efficiently under even more extreme conditions, maintaining functionality even during super typhoons like Hagibis. Our design utilizes the
Bernoulli's principle.
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Project 5. A More Eco-Friendly Wind Turbine
Wind is not constant. Sometimes it's there, and sometimes it isn't. Batteries are used to smooth out this inconsistency. However, we must remember that conventional batteries pollute the environment.
Currently, alternative storage methods are being developed that use gravity rather than chemicals. For example, heavy concrete blocks can be lifted and lowered for this purpose.
Pumped hydro storage is also effective but cannot be used in arid and flat regions.
To improve the environmental friendliness of the entire electricity production chain, we developed a design where the energy storage system is non-chemical and fully integrated into the Smart VAWT structure.
The new design is well-suited for integration with solar panels, which, by the way, will be cleaned by the smart blades. This solution is aimed at use in residential areas.
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Project 6. Bladeless Wind Turbine
Wind energy is free, but converting it into electricity incurs financial costs. To make the generated electricity cheap, the wind turbine must have a simple design and low maintenance costs.
Our design meets these requirements by using a large stationary air intake that captures wind from any direction. The turbine is located at ground level at the base of the air intake.
The simplicity of the design and the absence of moving parts at great heights provide high reliability and low costs. Almost all maintenance work can be performed at ground level.
In our search for similar designs, we found the
Wind Tower
from the Japanese company ZENA Systems. ZENA Systems’ solution is quite complex and expensive, making it difficult to deploy quickly anywhere. Our air intake design is simpler and cheaper, with a different approach to implementing a similar idea. Additionally, the design features allow the air intake to be combined with a large number of solar panels.
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Project 7. Optimization of the Angle of Attack
The efficiency of airfoil blades depends on their angle of attack.
In the new design developed by our company, airfoil blades are optimally oriented to the wind direction in most positions. Optimizing the angles of attack will significantly increase the turbine's efficiency.
The new design will be especially effective for water flows. In this implementation, it is advisable to direct the excess energy toward electrolysis to produce hydrogen, contributing to greener energy storage.
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