The Windbelt – a Cheap Wind-Power Generator

dominique_cimafranca writes "Shawn Frayne, a 28-year old inventor, has developed a small wind-powered generator that can be used to power small appliances in developing countries. Unlike the typical propeller design one expects of wind generators, the windbelt uses the oscillation of a membrane that follows the vibration of bridge. The oscillation drives small magnets which generate the electricity. From the article: 'Frayne's device, which he calls a Windbelt, is a taut membrane fitted with a pair of magnets that oscillate between metal coils. Prototypes have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best microturbines. Frayne envisions the Windbelt costing a few dollars and replacing kerosene lamps in Haitian homes.'"

Comments

The simple things in life.

[BitterOldGUy]

The thing looks like a Physic 102 experiment and to think, it'll do so much for people.

It's simple - cheap to manufacture and I bet it's as reliable as hell.

This guy is genius.

Re:The simple things in life.

[GameMaster]

Hrm, please provide references for your "Saving the Third World requires gigawatts" estimate.

One of the primary goals of most people who look to develop tech for improving quality of life in the third world is to find ways to increase efficiency so that the "gigawatts" you reference aren't needed. The first world has been spoiled by it's wealth and access to cheap energy (both mostly due to work done in the last few centuries to subjugate the rest of the world, thus creating the third world). People who don't have access to something at all are much more willing to put up with, what people in the first world would consider, inconveniences in order to get it. The idea is that a family in Haiti would be willing to put up with the inconvenience of only having a single, bare, LED bulb for their shack as opposed to the risk of burning to death using an oil lamp, candle, or open fire for light.

I realize that for most people in the first world its hard to imaging having to make that trade-off. For me, it would be unthinkable that I'd have to use anything less than a raft of high lumen light fixtures with diffusers/shades to completely light my living space. I'll gladly replace my incandescent with high efficiency compact fluorescents, but I would never think of downgrading the brightness. Likewise, I would consider it barbaric to have to install oil lamps/torches in my home for light. Of course, I'm not the target market for this product.

Re:The simple things in life.

[mikael]

The idea is to power simple devices like radios for public health and education and replace kerosene lamps with milliwatt LED's, not to power an entire household with PS3's, plasma displays and game rigs.

Re:The simple things in life.

[famebait]

Yeah, that used to be the big stumbling block for all those micro-generator ideas, right up until genetically enhanced rocket scientists with brains the size of your house figured out that hair dryers are really energy intensive, and not really all that important.

Re:The simple things in life.

[moosesocks]

The big "gotcha" is the 10mph wind.

Go pull up your local weather station on the Weather Underground, and take a look at what percentage of the time the wind was blowing at above 10mph.

It's not terribly *rare*, but also not terribly *common*. The reason why wind turbines and sailboats both tend to be extremely tall is that the winds become both stronger and more reliable at higher altitudes.

Think about it: Air currents are going to be substantially lower at low altitudes, especially when surrounded by houses, trees, and other obstructions that block the wind.

It's a really cool energy source, particularly for devices that don't need to be constantly (or reliably) powered. However, I have some serious doubts as to whether or not this can be used as a primary power source.

On the other hand, if we can make wind power cheap (cheap turbines, which might not be quite as efficient, but still work, and towers constructed out of locally-available materials), a huge impact will be made.

Like it or not, abundant cheap energy will be the quickest route for the 3rd-world nations to eradicate extreme poverty. If we solve this problem, many other problems will be solved very quickly along with it. If we can't provide a solution, there are alternatives, though none are quite as attractive.......

Re:Math for scaleup...

[david.given]

Ah, yes. But if you were actually a member of his target audience (dirt poor people in countries like Haiti making $2-$4 per day) then you couldn't afford that fancy $3000 turbine in your wildest dreams.

I remember reading about this last year; it's very, very neat. Not only is there a very low up-front cost to get started with a single unit, but they also have low maintenance costs.

A wind turbine, even a small cheap one, is a fearsomely complicated device that requires all sort of exotic tooling to build and maintain. Think of all those bearings, the gearbox, the generator coils, etc. The windbelt is an inert frame containing an inert ribbon, a couple of magnets, and a voice coil. The only bit of that you can't build by hand, using low technology, are the magnets, and they don't wear out. Possibly you might have trouble finding the right wire for the voice coil; but rewinding the failed one is a tricky but perfectly manageable job to do by hand.

So what these will do is not just provide accessible power, but rapidly bootstrap a complete power economy based around the technology. Which is the point...

You've got that wrong!

[EmbeddedJanitor]

Scaling power is hardly ever linear. Does a car engine cost 100x as much as a chainsaw engine? I think not.