The world around us currently requires substitutes for non-renewable sources of energy that would be inexhaustible. AeroMINE, a company specializing in wind power, has made a unique claim. They say their rooftop wind generators can deliver the most surreal of promises. The company states that its generators are motionless and can provide around 50% more energy than a solar array would at the same price.
What makes it special is that the generator would not take up more than 10% of the entire roof space. Furthermore, it would also function silently- something that most energy sources don’t.
Goes without saying, renewable energy sources are needed around the world, and solar and wind power can play a major role. A large part of rooftop renewable energy generation comes from solar. However, in certain areas, wind could also be a major substitute for it.
Now, one can definitely understand that not every spot would be appropriate for a wind turbine that is bladed. However, currently, the creation of Aeromine Technologies could be the answer. This spinoff does boast of a very different, and far tidier form of rooftop wind energy capture that could be a showstopper. [1]
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The New Wind Power Machine From Aeromine
Just like how it is with other wind turbines that deliver wind power, size is quite a key. Although the wind energy boxes from Aeromine end up taking a relatively tiny size footprint, they are still quite heavy. The wings have a range of around 10 feet. As such, one can stake a claim that if the machine was propped up on boxes, it would add another 6 feet to the height.
But the advantages heavily outweigh the disadvantages. There is absolutely no noise from the machine. Moreover, it is pretty static so one would not get the distraction of a regular, balded turbine. While it is definitely cumbersome, the lack of being a nuisance with regard to noise and movement might give it a leg-up in most urban areas.
The wind power machine from Aeromine also functions completely differently. The symbolism one would find would remind one of a pair of race-car spoiler wings that have been made to face each other with a pole passing through them. The blades will be angled toward the source of the wind. This, due to their stationary nature, will let them create a low-pressure vacuum- right in the center of the device.
This allows the machine to suck in vast quantities of air through vivid perforations that are present in the wings themselves or through the round pole. This would also aid one in accelerating the ambient airflow over the wings.
A Flexible Turbine Placement Plan
One question that might crop up here is- where is the final turbine? Now, this depends on where the installation is taking place. The places which usually have a turbine are either at the bottom of the central pole, or it is surrounded by ducts.
The turbine could also be in more compact designs that settler perfectly on the roof rather than being up on top of a box. The fan would be down on the roof of the building itself- with a pipe that connects either to the central pole or the hollow chambers located in the perforated wings. In either scenario, the wings do go on to create a zone of low pressure, where the air is pushed out through a tube to fill in the zone, after which the machine places a cheap, small internal propeller inside the tube to run the generator.
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A Reasonable Price
This wind power machine has a simplistic design. The machine is cheap to construct and extremely safe- and one doesn’t need any fancy materials like carbon fiber. If you are someone who might be moving or relocating yourself, the machine can be easily disassembled for transport. A relatively simple construction process is required on the next site for installation.
What does seem concerning is that the company hasn’t put up a standard capacity for wind power devices in this iteration. In fact, one would have to do a lot of digging to get information to find details about the device. Fortunately, the AFWERX Reimagining Energy Challenge in January 2021 presented a solution. It was found out that the units were being rated for 5kW each- which is quite close to the output provided by a typical 21-panel, household rooftop solar system.
There are multiple units that would be put up along the leading edge of the building- spaced at around 15 ft apart. Although the AFWERX challenge is now outdated, the unit did promise to generate close to 14.3 MWh annually back then. Just to provide some perspective to the calculations here, a 6.5-kW home rooftop solar system would be making somewhere in the zone of 9 MWh a year.
Wind Power Isn’t Perfect
Unfortunately, everything has its faults. It goes without saying that the device needs to be installed in spots where one would get constant wind. As it stands, the blades don’t angle themselves to catch a breeze. The cost at which they are manufactured wouldn’t allow them to do that. The height also makes the device a civic planning nightmare in certain areas.
In other areas, it would be casting shadows- which, in turn, would be blocking the sun from ever reaching the PV panels set up on rooftops. Yet, when we delve deeper into the surface, things are far more golden. The device is quite hardy and less intrusive than other windmill-style designs. They also offer one highly-accessible way of introducing reliable wind energy into a consolidated power system.
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