“Less noise, less maintenance, no danger for fauna”: these blades without blades could soon feed our houses
3D representation of a field of wind turbines without blades: these vertical structures convert the wind oscillations into electricity, without propeller, noiseless, and with a reduced impact on fauna. © Tsyklon
Wind power has always had its detractors: noise pollution, dangers for fauna, visual size … What if we were simply mistaken? Scottish researchers today offer an alternative without blades, capable of producing clean electricity while bypassing the defects of traditional wind turbines. An innovation at the crossroads of mechanical engineering and physical poetry.
A new generation of blades without blades: safer, more compact, soon more powerful?
The idea does not date from yesterday, but it gains in maturity. In Glasgow, engineers simulated thousands of variants of blades without blades – called BWT for Bladeless Wind Turbines – Until finding an ideal balance: an 80 cm high mast for 65 cm wide, capable of producing 460 watts of power in complete safety.
This design could provide safely up to 460 watts of power, have concluded the researchers, which goes far beyond the performance of the best prototypes currently carried out, whose maximum production reaches 100 watts.
Unlike conventional turbines, these vertical cylinders do not turn. They vibrate. More specifically, they exploit a baptized phenomenon vortex-induced vibration : When the wind passes around the mast, it creates whirlwinds that oscillate the structure at its natural frequency. This oscillation is then converted into electricity. Without gear, without blade, safe for birds.
The gain is double: the BWTs are quieter, take up less space, and require little maintenance. They can also be integrated into environments where traditional wind turbines would be inconceivable – in roofing, on urban structures or even near protected areas.
But above all, the study breaks an old myth: producing more power does not necessarily mean being more effective. As Dr. Wrik Mallik reminds us-Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, specialized in structural dynamics, where his work relates in particular to vibratory systems and fluid-structure interactions-,, “The most effective structure is not the one that produces the most raw energy, but the one that optimizes conversion by keeping maximum stability.”
These results could allow the renewable energies industry to pass the wind turbines without blades, still at the research stage, from local experiments to real generators for national networks.
This discovery could speed up the scaling. The team already evokes models capable of reaching 1,000 watts. And the industrial world is interested in it: BMW is currently testing a bladder system on its mini site in Oxford, in partnership with Aeromine Technologies.
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