Strange New Japanese Wind Turbine

New Japanese Wind Turbine

A new type of wind turbine has been invented. It is a normal wind turbine with a special exterior ring-shape that increases the amount of wind power that is channeled into the device.

Japanese scientists developed the wind turbine after the latest nuclear disaster in their country.

The shape of the ring uses what appears to a derivative of the Bernoulli Principle in order to decrease the wind pressure on one side and in turn increase wind speed for the turbine.

In the video below, the chief scientist discusses how the new wind turbine can generate twice the normal amount of normal wind turbine.

Another thing that should be mentioned is that after checking YouTube comments, one person said this design is actually not new. He said the design is what is called a Duct Rotor Wind Turbine. But after checking on Wikipedia I found that the designs for Duct Rotor Wind Turbines were made of metal. His main complaint was about the weight of the ring and how it affects the overall unit price.

This design uses plastic for the rings. Also, this design is still in prototype stages. A few days ago, we discussed Bulk Metallic Glass. This amorphous metal could possibly be used in conjunction with carbon fiber in order to decrease the weight of later prototypes of the new wind turbine.

The scientist isn’t increasing the speed of the wind coming from the wind tunnel either.

The basic concept for the Bernoulli Principle is that air pressure is affected by the shape of objects. That’s why airplane wings have a slight bulge at the top. Wind is forced to move more slowly as it goes around the shape of the top of the airplane wing. Yet the bottom of the wing has air that moves quickly underneath it. This in turn creates lift.

It is clear that the shape of the ring around the new Japanese wind turbine is using a similar technique to create a sort of wind vortex that feeds air through the turbine at a rapid rate.

-Vital

SOURCES: MotherNatureNetwork.com – Japanese breakthrough will make wind power cheaper than nuclear – http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/japanese-breakthrough-will-make-wind-power-cheaper-than-nuclea – Accessed: October 24th, 2011

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