ABOUT WHIRRLENERGY
WhirrlEnergy LLC presents a novel vertical-axis wind turbine. Our innovative design aims to revolutionize the wind energy industry by producing clean energy for vast areas of the US and the world, where horizontal axis wind turbines are not tolerated or electricity is unavailable.
Our wind turbine has been highly optimized using emerging machine learning methods supported by nearly 1000 fully dynamic supercomputer simulations. From these simulations, we learned that slight changes in the geometry of the blades have a big effect on the power output.
Prototypes
Fresh Breeze
The rotors rotate so fast, which matches the camera's frame rate! (imagine a fast-moving car with wheels that look stationary or backward.)
Gentle Breeze
The rotors rotate smoothly and fast with a gentle breeze!
Light air
The VAWT can work with almost no wind!
High performance
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
for suburban, exurban, and rural areas
Our VAWT
Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)
Design
Detailed descriptions of VAWT
Our VAWT contains two meshed rotors, one smooth-faced triangular deflector, and one support at the base of the structure. The deflector is mounted in front of the rotors to divert wind flow to the two rotors, and the rotors and deflector are fitted with bearings into the support (white pole) at their base. Together with the overall eccentricity of the structure (not shown), this implies that the assembly including the rotors and the deflector will align automatically with the wind direction indicated by the red arrows in the figure. On each rotor there are four curved blades joined to a central axis. This axis turns a system of gears at the base, which transmits power to the generator. The blades of the two rotors have reversed chirality and counter-rotate in the wind. The white pole is embedded in poured concrete.
Features
01.
High power efficiency
Efficiency is expected to be significantly improved by avoiding parasitic side that generates negative torque, in particular, due to optimization proposed later.
02.
Easy to install
Installation is simpler and less costly. Heavy equipment may not be needed for installation or transportation. Some designs with screw pile foundations reduce the road transport of concrete and the carbon cost of installation.
03.
Easy to maintain
Maintenance of a VAWT is much simpler because the generator is near ground level and easily accessible. Wiring is simpler and less costly.
04.
Easy to fabricate
Compared to HAWTs and existing VAWTs, The proposed VAWTs simplify the manufacturing process since the rotor/blade assemblies are axially uniform, so extrusion is possible.
05.
Efficient in low wind situation
Savonius-type designs operate effectively in slow wind situations. (Some Darrieus designs and HAWTs require a starting motor, nullifying some advantages above.)
06.
Environmentally friendly
The proposed VAWT is less dangerous to birds and bats than HAWTs. Also, it does not contain toxic or critical materials.
07.
Lighter weight, low profile
The blades are made of thin sheets, which make the overall weight lighter. The low profile of VAWT make less intrusive in populated areas. Smaller shadow in farming areas.
08.
Low cost in material
By adjusting the thickness of these blades, our VAWT can be potentially made of a variety of locally available materials to achieve the same function.
09.
Easy to transport
Since the blades have the same profile and are easily disassamblable, transportation is simplified with potentially less carbon cost.
10.
Off-grid application
Unlike HAWTs, the proposed VAWT may not need powerlines and supports off-grid wind power systems. Vast areas of our planet could support population with a source of power.
11.
Simpler design
The design of a VAWT is much simpler than a HWAT due to the fact that it does not have to track the wind and therefore does not have a motor and gearbox. A VAWT has about half as many moving parts as a HAWT.
12.
Recyclable VAWT
The rotors can be made of a variety of recyclable materials. And the screw piles can be fully recycled at the end of life. The importance of all these features is enhanced by distributed deployment.