Bladeless Wind Machines Diversify Renewable Energy Generation

Photo credit: Unknown, CC BY 2.0

Wind accounts for the highest percentage of renewable energy generation in the United States. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 8.4% of all electricity produced in the U.S. is derived from wind energy. In 2020, wind accounted for 43% of renewables-based electricity generation—5% more than hydropower and more than ten times the combined electricity yields of biomass, solar, and geothermal energy.

Electricity-generating wind turbines have occupied scattered spaces in the U.S. electricity landscape since their initial conception in the late nineteenth century. When oil shortages in the 1970s forced a reevaluation of the nation’s energy environment, federally funded research and development brought wind turbines into the mainstream.

Despite more than a century of use, the design of electricity-generating wind turbines has remained relatively unchanged. Now, Spain-based tech startup Vortex Bladeless is refreshing the traditional means of wind energy generation with a wind machine that forgoes the defining characteristics of a turbine.

Vortex’s wind machine is a modular, on-site wind energy generator without blades or rotating parts. The machine is comprised of a cylindrical body surrounding a central support that is anchored to the ground. Its ability to generate energy relies on a principle of fluid dynamics called called vortex shedding.

Vortex shedding occurs when fluids (like water or air) flow past a blunt body, creating alternating vortices at the back of the body that detach to form a “vortex street.” When wind passes through the blunt body, the cylinder oscillates toward the alternating low-pressure vortices and subsequently triggers a coil-and-magnet alternator system attached to the central support. Through this process, wind energy becomes mechanical energy becomes electrical energy. In action, the vortex machine resembles one prong of a struck tuning fork rather than the pinwheel shape of a turbine.

Vortex Bladeless launched initial manufacturing with a first series of Vortex Nano devices measuring in at 85 centimeters tall. The company has plans to manufacture generators in a variety of sizes in order to meet site-specific needs. Next on the list is the Vortex Tacoma: a 2.75-meter-tall generator weighing less than 15 kilograms with the capacity to generate 100w. Product features like variable sizing, a light weight, and a low center of gravity hold promise for the wind machine’s ability to occupy a variety of settings, whether rural hilltops or skyscraper railings.  

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