(image credit: WINFLEX)
typically, a wind turbine would cost millions of dollars to construct and that’s not including the cost of the operations yet. an Israeli company, WINFLEX, is set to change this with this low-cost Winflex Inflatable Turbine. on the wind harvesting end, the Winflex Inflatable Turbine’s rotor is an inflatable wheel with pressure within being maintained by a central inflationary system.
the rotor has sail-like blades that spanned from the inner circumference of the inflated wheel to the center hub. constructed out of light, flexible composite material, this wind turbine is inexpensive to manufacture and install unlike the typical wind turbines we have today.
harnessing the wind energy might be a common thing in near future with this low-cost wind turbines where previously, the prohibitive cost for a modern day steel structure wind turbines has forbid us from doing so. very soon we could be seeing these wind turbines popping everywhere, and probably not a very good news to the grid, isn’t it?
as an affirmation of their innovation, Winflex was one of Innovation Award Winner in GE’s Ecomagination Challenge.
via Core77
