Wind Energy Corp Introduces WindSail Turbine that “Likes Turbulence”

December 6th, 2011 by Nicholas Brown

Wind Energy Corp has introduced an innovative new wind turbine called the WindSail. The wind turbine is meant for on-site electricity generation. On-site usually refers to people or businesses generating their own electricity instead of power plants doing so and then selling the electricity to its consumers.

The WindSail is designed for commercial buildings and is claimed to react fast and efficiently to the turbulence created by buildings. It is meant for urban areas and is intended to generate supplemental power for buildings.

Where aesthetics are concerned, Wind Energy Corp says that you can customize the turbines to suit your aesthetic taste in graphics, logos, or any colour that you like.

It is said to be a low-speed and high-torque design that does not spin faster than 80 rpm (revolutions per minute). Torque is actually a force that turns an object around an axis, rpm is just a measure of the speed at which it rotates.

The low rpm of 80 is normally compensated for by using either an overdrive gear arrangement, which utilizes a large 80-rpm gear that turns a small gear at a much higher speed (but with less torque) or a gearless generator that is designed for low-rpm and high-torque operation.

The WindSail, according to Wind Energy Corp, starts generating electricity at wind speeds of 7 mph. It is shut down at 40 mph to prevent damage to the unit, and it is said to survive wind speeds of up to 120 mph.

Its various models generate 5.5 kW (5,500 watts) to 12 kW (12,000 watts) and it says the turbines are customizable to the available wind resource. Note that the amount of electricity a wind turbine generates is not what the manufacturer advertises, but is largely determined by the average wind speed in the project area.

You can learn more about the turbine at Wind Energy Corporation.

h/t Businesswire | Photo Credit: Sarah Grice

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Tags: on site wind turbine, rooftop wind turbine, VAWT, vertical axis wind turbines, vertical-axis wind turbine

About the Author

Nicholas Brown writes on CleanTechnica, Gas2, Kleef&Co, and Green Building Elements. He has a keen interest in physics-intensive topics such as electricity generation, refrigeration and air conditioning technology, energy storage, and geography. His website is: Kompulsa.com.

Jer Faludi

This isn’t new–the geometry is twenty or thirty years old, and the company Helix Wind has been making (quite beautiful) versions of this geometry for many years. However, the cost performance of Helix’s units could be better, so maybe these folks will do it better / cheaper. There’s always room for improvement!
- Anonymous
  
  Thanks for the info. Wasn’t aware — or it slipped out of my mind
Anonymous

Wonder when we’ll see some $/kWh numbers?

If they’ve got a winner then they’ll make the numbers public. If not, we’ll likely get smoke.
- Dcard88
  
  Amount of wind directly affects price. 30 mph x 15 hours a day? cheaper than coal.
  10 mph x 3 hours a day? not so good