New approach to wind power (without rotating blades) will exceed efficiency of wind turbines [View all]

[Bill USA]

... interesting article....


http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/tunisia-wind-power-saphon.php



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Saphon Energy was founded in 2009 by a Tunisian banker, Hassine Labaied, and his inventor friend of two decades, Anis Aouin. The duo teamed up to create an entirely novel and yet instantly recognizable new type of wind energy harvester that relies on no blades, or moving parts, whatsoever.

Instead, Saphon’s “Zero Blade” technology uses a stationary circular sail, approximately 4 feet in diameter, attached to the top of a pole. As the wind moves the sail back and forth, a hydraulic system captures the kinetic energy and converts it into mechanical energy. The system can also store the mechanical energy as hydraulic pressure, to be deployed later, when there is no wind.

“The sail boat is still the best system for capturing and creating energy from the wind, and it does so without blades,” Labaied told TPM in a telephone interview.

The system is designed to exceed the currently theoretical and physical maximum of wind turbine efficiency, the Betz law, which finds that the top efficiency attainable by a wind turbine is 59.3 percent.

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