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posted by n1 on Wednesday June 03 2015, @11:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the gillette-not-impressed dept.

The Guardian reports that Vortex Bladeless has developed a new bladeless wind turbine that promises to be more efficient, less visually intrusive, and safer for birdlife than conventional turbines. Using the principle of natural frequency and vorticity, the turbine oscillates in swirling air caused by the wind bypassing the mast, and then builds exponentially as it reaches the structure's natural resonance. It's a powerful effect that famously caused the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940, footage of which inspired David Yáñez to try to build a structure to harness this energy rather than prevent it. The turbine "floats" on magnets, which as well as significantly amplifying the oscillation, also eliminates any friction and the need for expensive lubricating oils or mechanical parts. "Wind turbines now are too noisy for people's backyard," says David Suriol. "We want to bring wind power generation to people's houses like solar power."

On the minus side the oscillating turbine design will sweep a smaller area and have a lower conversion efficiency. "The best wind turbine will collect around 50% of energy from the wind," says Suriol. "We are close to 40% with bladeless turbines in our wind tunnel laboratory." To offset this disadvantage, "you can put four, five or six 4kW turbines in the space of one conventional turbine, which need 5 meter diameter space around them," he says. In fact, wind tunnel tests have shown they perform even better placed closer together as they benefit from the vortices each of them creates.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday June 03 2015, @06:24PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 03 2015, @06:24PM (#191708)

    Hmm yes interesting climate based issue.

    Where I live the natural flow of things means not much wind at night. Its actually kinda creepy at night when the wind stops when you're camping in the dark.

    Another good noise example is air conditioning, although it isn't that loud.

    It also helps living in a bad climate where you need to keep your windows closed maybe 10 months out of the year so you don't freeze / roast.

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