omnidirectional, bladeless wind turbine produces electricity as it spins on its own

O-Wind Turbine renews energy

UK-based company O-Innovations hangs its omnidirectional and bladeless wind turbine using an industrial pole to test its prototype. The strong gust makes the flimsy globe spin so fast, but still not enough to carry it away and detach it from its position. From here, the team introduces O-Wind, a type of wind turbine suitable for apartment buildings facing chaotic winds.

Urban environments can benefit from this wind turbine as the sphere-shaped mini-generator can produce electricity for household use. It doesn’t matter from whatever direction the wind comes. O-Wind Turbine absorbs them all with its open-gill design and converts the air into a current that powers up appliances and home equipment.

images courtesy of O-Innovations

The sphere shape of O-Wind Turbine is catered to generate small-scale energy, making it fitting for individuals who live in apartments. The O-Innovations team writes that O-Wind should be fixed outside balconies by hanging it, so it might be an issue for those who don’t have their outside area.

An alternative might be to create one’s makeshift hanger that can anchor the wind turbine. It seems that it’s also imperative to position the wind turbine where there are strong winds. When not in use, O-Wind Turbine ornate one’s home as its shape and design resemble a Japanese lantern.

close-up of the wind turbine

Based on Bernoulli’s principle

O-Wind Turbine from O-Innovations relies on Bernoulli’s principle to make its mechanism work. Vents have large entrances, but smaller exits, which create a different pressure inside when the wind enters, causing the turbine to move. The vents cloak the sphere’s structure to make the turbine receptive to all directions.

‘The turbine will rotate in the same sense about a fixed axis regardless of wind direction. This turbine rotation is used to power a generator that can produce electricity, which can be fed into the national grid, hence providing financial incentive to users and improving the region’s sustainable energy production,’ the team writes.

visualization of the wind turbine

Looking into 3d printing

The design team also studied alveolar kites for the visual elements of the wind turbine. Single square fabric kites piqued their interest, and they picked them up to reshape them into a geometric globe. Various configurations took place to ensure that the winds could enter left and right and to provoke the rotational movement of the propeller, pushing the body of the globe forward along the process of.

The successful test shows the capacity of O-Wind Turbine to keep rotating in the same direction regardless of the wind’s strength. The team is currently looking into 3D printing for the materials of the O-Wind Turbine and to test them, whether or not they can weather the strong gust at rapid changes.

O-Wind Turbine