Until now, in order to make more powerful wind turbines, you had to make longer blades, so they could capture more incoming air and transform it into mechanical work. Leviathan Energy, led by dr. Daniel Farb, has refreshed this approach towards increased efficiency not by increasing the blades, but by making the wind hit them differently.
Leviathan Energy has completed tests for a “Wind Energizer” device – an addition that could upgrade any wind turbine, without much higher costs and without even compromising other neighbor turbines. The device increases the wind turbine’s efficiency with about 30% on normal winds and with up to 150% at low-speed winds (up to 6 m/s).
The Wind Energizer works by changing the way the air circulates around the turbine, and makes the wind hit the blades with its maximum speed, also making the wind turbine more storm proof. Wind Energizer balances the air pressure around the blades and makes them less susceptible to breaking.
“The Wind Energizer is a donut-shaped structure made from steel and plastic, but the exact dimensions of it depend on site-specific data, like the tower height, length of the blades, prevailing wind direction and intensity, etc. As determined in the customized modeling process, Farb said that the structure may not even make an entire circle” – Cleantechnica
“We’re shaping the flow so that the highest velocities hit the blades. By increasing velocity at exactly the right point we’ve been able to make serious advances in the cost-effectiveness of renewable energy,” Dr. Farb explains to Cleantechnica.com. He also says that the investment will cover itself in four to five years.