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Jet tech used to design wind turbine

03 December 2008

Aerospace technology has been used to design a wind turbine that could have triple the power of existing models.

FloDesign Wind Turbine, a spinoff of aerospace company FloDesign, has built a prototype that looks like a jet engine air intake, reports MIT's Technology Review.

The device's rotors are encased in a so-called shroud, which directs wind over the blades to turn the shaft inside the generator and create electricity.

But the shroud does more than simply direct wind at the blades. As wind passes through the blades it slows down as the rotor takes its energy.

Faster wind outside the device is channelled to the back of the turbine, where the difference between the fast and slow moving wind creates a low pressure area that sucks wind through the turbine.

Current models suffer from the fact that as wind approaches the turbines most of it is forced around the blades rather than passing through them.

The new design could have two or three times the generating capacity as a turbine of the same size, according to MIT professor of mechanical engineering Paul Sclavounos.

Wind energy currently has the capacity to create 3.173 gigawatts of electricity for the UK.

In some places construction of large turbines faces obstacles from local people but the new design, which is smaller and could make better use of space, could reduce local opposition.