EOGU

What it does

The Eolic Panel produces clean energy using wind power. Designed for urban environments and urban wind speeds, it makes possible for buildings to run with a green energy, and also producing 20% more power per useful surface m2 than competitors of similar size.

Your inspiration

It is nonsense to base a long-term system like the electrical energy production in a contaminant non-renewable source. The future energy production is being considered now, betting for clean energies is what we want but maybe we need to change our classical way of produce energy from renewable sources, find not only an eco-friendly energy production that will benefit our future but an energy generator that is consistent with the world of today. With the increasing urban population, we need to develop a clean energy production that fits in urban environments.

How it works

The panel has one hundred nozzles with vertical microturbines in their throat. The nozzle makes use of the Venturi effect to increase the wind speed, increasing as well the ammount of energy we are able to extract from it which gives us an advantage compared to the classical way of producing eolic energy. Then our turbine is designed with a small size and taking into account the nozzle wall effect to maximize its efficiency, what turbines do in simple words is transform the wind power in rotating energy. All the turbines in the same column share the same axis, then we make use of an alternator to transform the axis rotation in electrical energy. The wind speed and direction sensor allows us to orientate the control the panel orientation by means of a electric motor to increase the panel production and to protect the turbines from strong winds.

Design process

The design concept has been pretty clear from the beggining, but our key part was the vertical microturbine design which constrained many of the other parameters. We started performing 2D aerodynamic simulations to find quickly the optimal turbine blade shape and number taking into account the interaction with the nozzle walls. Then we performed 3D simulations to find the best overall turbine shape and the best method to attach it to the axis. Now we are in the prototyping stage. We have a 3D printed turbine and we are performing experimental tests in order to validate our simulations. With the key parameter in an advanced design stage we set the other parameters like the nozzle length and with and we have designed a complete panel.

How it is different

We have redesigned the way of extracting energy from the wind power because we found some weak points in the classical aerogenerators that we could improve: -Safety: being close to a wind turbine is not safe, blades can harm people obviously but with the turbine inside the nozzle it becomes harmless. -Urban look: the look and size of the classical aerogenerator doesn't fit in the urban environment and sky view. With our product, the visual impact is almost null. -Adaptability: Our modular design allows us to build different panel setups easily, making it to fit in a greater range of situations: rural houses with no electricity availability; urban buildings, at the rooftop; at the roads side, without risking the driver's life.

Future plans

In a short run, we are making a prototype and we will analyze the exact performance and production, while improving the efficiency and design of the panel. Then we hope that we find some funding sources to become a company and certify the product for sale.

Awards

Currently participating in the ClimateLaunchpad competition, in the national final stage which will take place the 20th of september (https://climatelaunchpad.org/)