Invelox Wind Techology

Lester Brown from the Earth Policy Institute sees wind technology as the foundation for the world's emerging clean energy future.  What comes to mind when most folks think about wind turbines are tall towers with gigantic three bladed, vertically mounted sweep turbines. 

There are so many more ways to capture wind energy.

A new innovation I just became aware of was developed by a company called Sheerwind. They call their new design Invelox.  The diagram below comes from the Sheerwind webpage.  The Invelox design takes advantage of a physical principle called the Venturi Effect. 

Simply stated, if the wind is moving at 10 mph entering an ivelox machine; by the time it passes through the rotating internal turbines that wind is moving at 40 mph. Those spinning turbines are attached to a generator that turns the wind into mechanical energy.

Invelox Wind Turbine Prototype

Here's a comparison between a traditional sweep turbine and a Invelox.

 

 

 

The Invelox technology is scale able over a broad range from 5 Kw up to 7 Mw. Sheerwind expects to began deliveries in 2013.  The company claims their turbines will be able to deliver energy at 4 cents/KWh,  comparable to the most efficient fossil fuel power plants.

 

There is a huge market for clean, cost effective renewable energy technologies. If Sheerwind delivers as promised, the future should be very bright for their Invelox turbines.

 

Here is a link to Sheerwind's webpage...   http://sheerwind.com/