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.

flashback to last year

[Joe Snipe]

dupe: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/14/1240206

Re:flashback to last year

[Joe Snipe]

Heh, not only is it a dupe, it's a dupe to the exact same article!

Re:I don't think this is new

[Wampus Aurelius]

Yup.

Math for scaleup...

[nweaver]

40mW in 10 MPH wind for $5: Scale to 1W would take an array of 25 at a cost of $125.

This would be, looking at his prototype, about 50cm x 100cm...

The cost/watt however, is just astronomically bad. A 1 kW wind turbine is $3000 (which would produce ~400W at that windspeed)...

Its really a clever idea, but just not efficient enough to be economical, even to just glow an LED lamp.

Re:Math for scaleup...

[peacefinder]

It would appear that the design goal is to scale down, not to scale up.

Re:Math for scaleup...

[GameMaster]

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. Smaller, more affordable turbines grow dramatically less efficient due to friction forces at small sizes. In order to actually make your point valid, you'd have to find a wind turbine of the same wattage range that is cheaper.

The whole point here is very specific. Poor people, like the ones in Haiti don't have many things that need electricity. The problem is, the only source of light they have is fire based causing an increases risk of burning to death in a hovel fire. The problem is compounded by the fact that third world shanty towns usually don't have much in the way of municipal fire codes. Assuming LED bulbs come down in price far enough (which the look to do eventually) they have the energy efficiency needed to run off this thing, the ruggedness to last in that kind of environment, and the long life to make themselves truly economical. They could, completely, replace oil lamps, candles, and other fire based light sources. It has the added bonus of eliminating one of the motivating factors in the deforestation of Haiti, which, in turn, is one of the reasons they've had such horrible flooding in this last hurricane.

This thing still has a lot of things to prove before it can be said to be useful (durability is one of them) but cost/watt isn't an issue for the application being envisioned. As for first-world applications he can use to fund his third-world goal, he just has to look long enough for similar places where a microturbine might have, otherwise, been the only option.