Engineers create durable new wind turbines that can harvest energy from typhoons and withstand gusts of up to 156mph because they use spinning cylinders instead of blades
- Engineers in Japan are preparing a radical new wind turbine for release
- It’s built with rotating cylinders, which are more durable than traditional blades
- In 2017, a prototype survived a typhoon in Okinawa that had 74mph winds
Engineers in Japan have developed a new kind of wind turbine meant to withstand typhoon winds and rain without breaking down.
Instead of using conventional blades, the turbine looks more like an egg beater, with three tall cylinders that rotate as wind passes around them.
The kinetic energy produced as they rotate is captured and then converted to electricity for the country’s electric grid.
Challenergy Inc., an energy startup in Tokyo, developed the Magnus, a wind durable new wind turbine that uses rotating cylinders instead of blades, which allow it to withstand typhoon winds
The turbine was designed by Challenergy Inc., a Tokyo-based energy startup founded by Atsushi Shimizu after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, with the goal of creating less environmentally dangerous forms of energy production.
‘Wind farms have not taken off in Japan due to the difficulty of adjusting the direction of the turbine blades when the wind rapidly changes direction,’ Shimizu told the Asahi Shimbun.
‘The propeller structure is also the weak point in power generation because the blades can break in strong winds.’
Challenergy’s turbine is called Magnus, after the Magnus Effect, a phenomenon in physics that causes rotating objects moving through a liquid or gas to create areas of high and low pressure that keeps the object rotating.
Shimizu spent two years working on the design and analyzed more than 5,000 different patented technologies before settling on his own design.
Challenergy CEO Atsushi Shimizu decided to pursue wind energy after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, which inspired him to focus his career on creating safer forms of energy creation
The turbine was named after the Magnus Effect, a phenomenon in physics through which a rotating object in motion creates areas of high and low pressure that keep it rotating
For safety reasons, most blade-based turbines have to shut down in winds above 55mph, but the Magnus can function in up to 90mph winds, with the capacity to withstand gusts of up to 156mph.
The turbines have been in development for several years, but have entered the final stages of testing on a small island in Okinawa prefecture in anticipation of a release later this year.
In 2017, another Magnus test turbine was in place on Nanjo, a different island in Okinawa, and survived a typhoon that hit the island with top speeds of 74mph.
The Magnus turbine will cost around $181,700 each, or 20 million yen.