Katru Eco-Energy’s New IMPLUX Wind Turbine Can Be Set Up On Your Rooftop!

A firm called Katru Eco energy that specializes in making devices and mechanisms for harnessing has successfully developed a wind turbine that can be fitted on the terrace of tall buildings. The turbine can generate electricity from the wind power that it harnesses from the wind blowing in any direction. Since it works for winds travelling in all directions, it is called an Omni-directional wind turbine. It can do so without a requirement for any special sensor assembly or machinery for controlling motion of the turbine. The main factor behind the stationary yet multi directional operation is the “fluid dynamic gate” technology.

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This strange looking wind energy generator is called the IMPLUX wind turbine. The IMPLUX was developed by Varan Sureshan, who is the founder of the company. He has been in this field for the past 25 years and has been designing innovative mechanical contraptions like the first hybrid rooftop solar powered AC system to be used in a commercial building in Queensland, Australia. Sureshan said that he noticed that the stray wind currents that were available on the roofs of big buildings had a lot of potential but all this energy usually goes wasted as there is no means for harnessing the wind. This inspired him to develop some device that could be used for converting this energy into a usable form. His research then led to the invention of IMPLUX. Sureshan first studied the conventional designs of the turbines. But all those designs had the problem that they were either direction sensitive or required complex mechanisms for achieving omni-directional operation. To overcome these barriers, he decided to make a type of entrapment or enclosure like turbine. He included the airfoil blades inside the cage. These blades were present on the walls that allowed the air to enter inside and pass out through the opposite side. But the alignment of the blades pushed and propelled the air to move in the upward direction. On the upper side, horizontal blades are present that spin and generate electricity. Varan refers to it as the “fluid dynamic gate” effect.

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The IMPLUX is able to convert more than 87% of the wind into electricity. As it has only one movable part, it is easier to manufacture and is less noisy. It is cheap and can be easily installed on rooftops. The IMPLUX was under development for a couple of years and was recently field tested in Singapore. Since the main rotor shaft is aligned vertically, it is classified as a vertical wind generator. Many others had use the same technology previously. However, the similarities stop here because the IMPLUX is the first to employ horizontal blades. It is also amongst the few of those that have been tested by Honda Formula 1’s racing team. These awesome wind turbines will be commercially launched by the middle of 2012.

Image credit: Ekologické bydlení – Ekologie, nízkoenergetické bydlení, zelená energie, solární elektrárny | ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)