A low cost wind turbine for the developing world.
Posted by F. S. KAMAL on August 23rd, 2008
A wind turbine, from 100% recycled material, has been created by a product design student at the University of Portsmouth. Aimed at the developing countries, the turbine can be built by unskilled workers in less than a day.
credit: University of Portsmouth
Max Robson, 22, who has never been to a Third World country would like to visit some of the poorest nations in the world to help implement his invention.
He said: “My dad wanted to do something like this but I beat him to it. He had the idea of designing a scrap wind turbine but it was my idea to use it in the developing world. I wanted to design and build something worthwhile and I am also interested in design being environmentally friendly.”
He further said: “This isn’t going to change lives in the developing world dramatically but a device like this could make their lives a lot easier. It cost me £20 to build the prototype and in the developing world it would be a lot less. The nearest alternative wind turbine on the market costs £2,000.”
The design converts kinetic energy in wind into electrical energy stored in a battery. The prototype is 1.8 metres wide and generates 11.3 watts to charge a battery which could run lighting for 63 hours or a radio for about 30 hours.