Design overview

Benefits

Luethi Enterprises’ regulated silent vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) has the following features and benefits:

• The mechanical rotation speed regulator which prevents burn-out in high winds, common in traditional designs.

• Cylinder design and configuration of the turbine blades make the turbine silent running, making it suitable for urban use.

• As the blades do not cut across the airflow, there is less stress on the blades.

• Lower maintenance requirements than traditional designs as there are no electronic systems to control blade pitch or revolution speed.

• No gearbox and no brake pads means easy maintenance and no expensive parts to replace.

• Wildlife friendly compared to traditional designs as there are no flight windows between rotations, keeping birds away.

• Can be scaled up and down making it suitable for industrial or domestic embedded generation scenarios.

• The architect’s dream - can be designed to a wide range of formats and styles, able to blend in with architects’ concepts especially in an urban environment.

• Presents a new medium for outdoor advertising.

As a result of high levels of commercial demand, we’re currently working on a micro-turbine with a 1.5kW output, though in the future other sizes of turbine would also be developed. The dimensions of the turbine are within the new UK planning regulation limits.

How does the silent wind turbine work?

The silent vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) by Luethi Enterprises is a savonius type wind turbine, but with enhancements which make it more efficient and more durable than other Savonius turbines.

Construction is based on a rotating drum mounted on a vertical axis, the top and bottom discs providing stabilisation.

Rather than traditional rotors, the turbine uses blades in a cylindrical array. This has a number of advantages that contribute to the generators’ silent operation, reliability, lower maintenance needs and the ability to regulate spin in the event of high winds.

As the wind speed increases centrifugal forces act on inside of the blades and force them to swing to the outside. The weight on the central axis is holding the blades through a cable in position. With increasing wind speed the weight will be lifted and eventually close the turbine to a complete cylinder, avoiding destruction in storm force winds.

The rotation of the axis drives the generator to produce the power.

Further testing is required to calculate outputs (initial performance data can be found here).

Coupled with efficient gearing and power generation systems, and with further work on the vane configurations, this turbine has the potential to be highly energy efficient, very reliable and, as its exterior design is so flexible, aesthetically pleasing.

Read about our working prototype here.

Luethi Enterprises Limited       Email: info@silentwindturbine.com        Phone: +44 (0) 1634 711 179

Website by FX Marketing