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Windbelt
A windbelt is a device designed for harnessing wind energy using the principle of aeroelastic flutter. It uses cheap easily obtainable materials to generate small amounts of electricity, ideal for powering applications such as LED lights or radios. Larger systems are also being developed experimentally to offer an alternative to wind turbines.1
The windbelt was developed by Shawn Frayne as a method of providing cheap small scale wind energy to communities in the third world. In order to facilitate implementation in poor communities, his design uses cheap easily obtainable materials and is easy to construct and maintain. In 2007, Shawn Frayne won the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award for his invention.2 Currently, Shawn Frayne's company Humdinger Wind Energy LLC is partnering with the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) and Xelateco to develop a large version of the windbelt in Guatemala.3
Mechanics
Closeup of metal coils of a windbelt
Source: Flickr. Author: AIDG. Permission: Creative Commons Share Alike.Windbelts use aeroelastic flutter to generate power, operating in essentially the same fashion as a stringed instrument. A membrane composed of mylar-coated taffeta is stretched taut and the wind causes the membrane to vibrate. This vibration makes a pair of magnets move in and out of coils of magnetic wire, creating electric current. Windbelts currently come in three sizes: the battery sized micro-windbelt (1mW - 1 W), medium windbelts (1W-100W) ranging from 0.5-1 meter and large installations consisting of panels of 20 or so 1 meter windbelts.45 The power output of large installations varies on the size of the installation but could potentially produce power on the scale of kilowatts or megawatts, comparable to a wind turbine.6
Benefits and barriers
The windbelt has no gears or bearings, making it much more efficient than scaled down wind turbines which have to contend with friction. This makes windbelts preferable for smaller scale applications such as powering LED lights in rural communities.7 In addition, due to the nature of aeroelastic flutter, windbelts can be tuned to optimize their output at different windspeeds and therefore are not dependent on high wind speeds. Windbelts are cheap to produce, the smaller versions costing no more than a couple of dollars with an expected lifespan of 20 years, and can be easily manufactured in developing countries.8
Perhaps the most significant barrier to the current use of windbelts is the relative newness of the technology. Windbelts in any size are not yet being widely manufactured and so each one must be designed and constructed individually. While the design is relatively simple, several failed attempts at implementation have shown that seemingly small alterations in the design or materials can lead to the device being unable to produce any power. For example, graduate students at Rutgers University built a modified windbelt for use in a school in the community of Yaba, Burkina Faso. Their design used materials that would be readily available to the residents of Yaba, including using packing tape as the taut membrane, in the place of mylar-coated taffeta. Although it was 2 meters long, their prototype was unable to generate more than 0.01V.9
Footnotes
1. Frayne, Shawn. Windbelt Cheap Generator Alternative; Google Tech Talks. 2007. Retrieved: February 12, 2010
2. Ward, Logan. Windbelt, Cheap Generator Alternative, Set to Power Third World; Popular Mechanics. 2007. Retrieved: February 12, 2010
3. Haas, Peter. Small Scale Wind Development in Guatemala; AIDG. 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2010
4. Windbelt Innovation: Micro; Humdinger Wind Energy, LLC. 2009. Retrieved: February 12, 2010
5. Windbelt Innovation: Medium; Humdinger Wind Energy, LLC. 2009. Retrieved: February 12, 2010
6. Windbelt Innovation: Large; Humdinger Wind Energy, LLC. 2009. Retrieved: February 12, 2010
7. Ward, Logan. Windbelt, Cheap Generator Alternative, Set to Power Third World; Popular Mechanics. 2007. Retrieved: February 12, 2010
8. Frayne, Shawn. Windbelt Cheap Generator Alternative; Google Tech Talks. 2007. Retrieved: February 12, 2010
9. Borz, Meghan, et al. Lighting an African School with Alternative Energy; Rutgers School of Engineering. 2009. Retrieved: February 12, 2010
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