Not only through blades: wind energy can also be obtained from the vibrations induced by the wind. And with power that can exceed that of conventional technology by 60%. Vortex Tacoma, the innovative turbine patented by the Spanish start-up Vortex Bladeless, has passed the first tests in a real environment and aims to be commercialized next year
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Not only through blades: wind energy can also be obtained from the vibrations induced by the wind. And with power that can exceed that of conventional technology by 60%. Vortex Tacoma, the innovative turbine patented by the Spanish start-up Vortex Bladeless, has passed the first tests in a real environment and aims to be commercialized next year.
Bladeless, literally "without blades": the Spanish start-up is so called precisely because the patented turbine, Vortex Tacoma, transforms wind energy into electricity without the use of common wind turbines which, although efficient in many cases, can create various environmental issues, such as the much discussed ones to the detriment of seabirds.
The technology, in particular, exploits the phenomenon of resonance, which in this case “amplifies” the natural phenomenon called 'Vortex Shedding'. The innovative turbine consists in fact of a cylinder fixed vertically with an elastic rod that oscillates in a determined range of frequencies, calculated in such a way that the vortices that naturally form around the cylinder are "amplified" by its motion.
To put it in a poetic but actually quite scientific way, the cylinder resonates with the wind, and therefore the energy that the system collects is that of an "amplified wind" (in physics the phenomenon is called 'Vortex Induced Vibration').
An idea that, according to the latest estimates, it can increase by 60% the power generated by common wind turbines (and more efficient even than current solar panels), with the further advantage of having less impact on the surrounding environment as it is smaller in size.
"Current wind turbine technology has to withstand very different load levels at varying wind speeds - we read on the Vortex Bladeless website - which places important mechanical requirements on components such as gears, bearings and others. The multiple moving parts are constantly subject to wear, which leads to high levels maintenance costs. The wind turbines without blades completely eliminate the mechanical elements that can suffer wear due to friction ".
Lower costs (up to 80%), less impact on the environment, more efficiency (a 2.5 m turbine produces an estimated power of 100w once installed): is it the wind revolution? Perhaps it is too early to say, also because the technology has not yet completely completed the development phase (currently estimated at 95% complete), so it is correct to be cautious.
But it is not long before the verification in the field, because the technology, whose work began in 2014 and which gave the first encouraging results in 2017, should be commercialized by the end of next year.
The work was funded by the European Commission under the program Horizon 2020.
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Roberta de carolis
Photo: Vortex Bladeless via Facebook
