A new type of VAWT that is easy to build 

I’ve had this idea for totem generators that could be like art installations around cities, scavenging air wakes from cars driving by and natural wind. I was thinking of ways to make them as safe as possible and the sail idea is absolutely brilliant. Thank you for this video!

You're a straight genius, elegant, cheap and effective, great design

Never seen or heard of this idea before, and I've taken a keen interest in both hawt and vawt technology over the past few years. Excellent to see you put your theory to the test, and impressive looking results. Thanks for taking the time to make this video and for sharing your design and theory. It's something I shall be exploring, as I'm intending to install a small turbine at home in the fairly near future.

Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate this cool design.

Brilliant Jim. Opened my eyes to new possibilities. Keep it up

Your sail idea, is brilliant. This is what I'll be using, thank you.

I love VAWT and recognise the simplicity of many drag type turbines. I'm also a fan (pardon the pun) of direct driving the generator. But drag turbines will always rotate slower than the wind at their tips while lift turbines move faster than the wind at their tips. And as such, drag turbines create an engineering challenges on a direct drive generator that needs to get enough rotational velocity so as to generate a usefull voltages. It can be done but I'm just pointing out that it is something that needs to be considered when engineering a project like this. Hopefully with less weight and higher rotations for a given wind, one can save money on the support structure and put more money into large diameter axial flux generators with powerfull magnets. Alternatly, Here is a thought. Put two counter rotating turbines on the same shaft. The bottom turbine has coils attached and slip rings with carbon brushes on the shaft to collect current from the coils on the turbine, while the top turbine has magnets attached. This will have the magnets pass the coils at roughly double the rate than if the coils were on a stator. This increase in the rate of change of the magnetic field increasing the voltage generated from a given coil with its chariceristic internal resistance. Doubling the voltage alows one to half the current and get the same power. But it's actually better than that. The efficency improves because half the current × the resistance in the coils halfs the voltage drop due to Internal resistance and half the voltage drop × half the current = 1/4 of the original power lost due to internal resistance. For example. A coil having 0.5 ohms and 10amps of current flowing through it has a voltage drop of 5v from it's open circuit voltage. And 5v×10amps=50 watts lost. But if one draws just 5amps then 5amps×0.5ohms = just 2.5 volts dropped from open circuit voltage. And 2.5v×5amps = 12.5watts lost due to internal resistance. The above highlights why it's vitally important to get higher voltage and lower the resistance in the coils.

Lot of good information here! Shadow strobe is something I never thought about before.

Really clever idea, I have not seen anything like it. Worked really well for something put together with some household materials.

I applaud your pioneering and innovating thinking! This is how new ideas are proven or disproven. I have been doing a LOT of reading on VAWTs and for the sake of simplicity, have decided to go with the "traditional" Savonius design of a split and offset cylinder. While I really like your concept of lowering the coefficient of drag on the leeward side of the rotor, it introduces an element that will need maintenance/replacement. Would be interesting to see what the "real world" data is by constructing one of your turbines with rigid blades and comparing the output to one with fabric collapsible blades. This is in no way intended to be a negative criticism of your implementation... everybody should weigh the costs, complexity, and durability when choosing a design. Keep up the great thinking and experimenting!!!

Great vid Jim. I may build one of these to help run my man cave!! Thanks for the cool ideas.

thank you my friend ill be sure to share and try to duplicate your new and brilliant way on how the wind mill can be improved and to produce energy

Sir you are a genious. Thank you for sharing your ideas.

Brilliant idea I can imagine different materials will produce different results and definitely going to try this one...I just want to add to this I can see this being a very brilliant way of producing power on a larger scale and also be brilliant to scare the birds away from my seeds in the garden👍

This is pretty awesome stuff Jim!

Thanks for posting this video Jim. I currently have 5 high powered fans that I need to run with computers that have a high wind output, my wife often puts her washed clothes in front of them to dry. Anyway I was thinking of building a VAWT to generate electricity from these fans so it can charge my lithium batteries so I get a bit of power back and dont use as much electricity. Once again thanks Jim

Brilliant. Just what I was looking for. Thank you.

Very impressed by your passion and adherence of throwing knowledge on you tube 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

That is way cool, nicely done -gonna give this a go for sure!

Yes what struck me was my experience when I started windsurfing in the early 1980, sails where made of nylon an where unsupported apart from the mast and boom section and not very efficient. As the technology improved batons where added to the sails and by the late 90’s sails were transformed and more sophisticated using light weight batons combined with Mylar films which maintained the shape of a wing at all time, making them very efficient. My thinking was to use the same principle but pivoting each sail (wing) around the circumference limiting the aperture on leeward side for maximum capture and using the aerodynamic foil on the windward return for dynamic efficiency. Perhaps I’m getting too complicated with my suggestion but in my mind it seems to work with your model. I really enjoy your videos. 👍

Note that in collapsing a cup, air that was inside it is forced out. While It takes energy to collaps a cup pushing the air inside it out of the cup, the escaping air provides some thrust. This thrust should be providing some torque on the side 180 degrees from the side where the cup opens. This theory should be testable with an open cup that when the wind is turned on, the cup is collapsed and if I'm right causes the turbine to begin rotating.

EXCELLENT INFORMATION AND DESIGN, THIS MAY BE THE BREAKTHROUGH AIR POWER NEEDED. I HAVE A DESIGN FOR A BLADED ONE WITH A SPRING LOADED MOUNT THAT BENDS BACK IN HEAVY WIND, NO BREAKING NEEDED JUST A TENSION ADJUSTMENT ON THE SPRING THAT PULLS IT BACK TO THE UPRIGHT POSITION..

Great idea. Thank you for sharing.

Great job very informitive

Brilliant idea to solve the big problem most vertical axis generators have in common. The only drawback is , flapping materials tend to fatigue easily like flags . Maybe something like a thin lightweight rubber as used in push bike innertubes may be better. (A bit like heart valves... lightweight and strong.

If your can was wire mesh you could get pass through airflow. That is typically more ideal.

You have open my mind! I want to try to make it, with materials that resist at rain! Thanks for your content

Very informative thank you!

A very intelligent concept.. I liked it.

Good work Jim! I may use something like this as a STEM project at our local Boys and Girls Brigade

This is awesome thanks for the idea

Jim, don't worry about the haters. You can pronounce turbine however you want so long as we can understand it contextually.

Thank you for your knowledge

That is just brilliant!

Beautiful thing you made. Was thinking how to use it on a boat. There are few thoughts: 1. Moving fabric (collapsing) blades like that will tear apart quickly regardless of what they are made of. Practice shows that free waving fabrics do not last. 2. Metal closing blades on a free shaft will probably break fast as well. These will break off at the shaft, but probably it is a best bet anyway. 3. For harder (heavier) blade materials centrifugal force will not allow them to collapse properly. Maybe a stopper which does not allow blades to swing out completely might be weighted with the blade itself to balance out centrifugal force (and there will be plenty of it with 40 knot wind). 4. Balancing lower and upper parts, reducing drag will probably be the hardest challenge, because moving blades will change weight distribution. Maybe mount it on a bent turning shaft heeled to the side with blades out.

On performance, your probably getting higher than you realize. When working out a turbines COP in a given wind, the typical cross section is based on the diameter of the rotor×height. But with collapsing cups, one might argue the actual cross section is smaller which sugest the COP is better than if the cross section area is calculated like cups that don't collaps.

Sir, this video was amazing, thank you so much 🎩.

This is good,very good,simple and effective

If you create a wind tunnel that positions the fan at the exit end of the experiment, it will pull air through evenly rather than push air spirally, which would make the test more efficient.

Thank you

I have found a permanent magnet motor from a front load Whirlpool washing machine, took the whole drum and surrounding plastic. Spun by hand it made over 12 V AC when turned with a drill it made 168V AC looking to use your sail idea to attach to the drum and make a VAWG by trimming most of the plastic surround off and mounting with the remaining housing

This as I have concieved but different. Amazing!

very very nice and hobby budget

Props!

Question. Why did you use an even number of sails? With an odd number it would disperse the wind more effectively.

Hello Jim, you have presented some interesting ideas, One thing I did wonder was how practical cloth would be in a working version due to external elements such as rain and snow? Windsurfing sails are made using Mylar films which are very strong. While expensive I thought this might be more resistant to the elements.

Sehr gute idee

I suggest that you can get familiar with 3D printing, and perhaps a design program like OpenSCAD which you can write "circle+square+many other commands which are fun" ... and test a bunch of designs for cumulative torque over a few minutes with a fan running various turbulances and speeds "and ting":)

Brilliant idea ! Why don't you make a real working one with generator in some big scale? I look forward to seeing it asap. Thank you.

sorry if this question has been asked already, Jim ... How is this design when it comes to noise issues? Will the "blades" flap and make lots of noise?

Interesting! I wonder if it works outside too!

Simply brilliant... M gonna build some turbine with jeans 👖 fabric now

This is great, never seen this design before, sounds very logical. The only problem is the material and it's dimensions and how it can withstand the tension and all the flexing forth and back. The best design I have seen where there is almost no lost from the wind hitting on the "wrong" half is by using outer layer of blades that directs the wind only to the "right" half side. That should be much simpler to do.

Very nice invention. But i have some questions. Is it still in use in a garden ? Does the foil stick when wet or when it is freezing ?

If it goes so well att under 6,3 m/s! It got my attention!

Good evening sir, We are from the Philippines and inspired by your work, can we use your design for our study? Thank you in advance

old guy easily beats sophisticated DIY builds and VAWT startups.😂 it is just a matter of scaling this up with more power and durable, reliable, long lasting design.

Jim, very interesting concept, thanks! Was wondering what came of the aircrete testing and whether you used it to build anything... was thinking of that garden bed idea done in aircrete myself, although I rather liked your foam board sandwich. Anyway, congratulations on the health improvement and getting off the statins. Thanks again.

Brilliant. One thought on how you could make the paper out of stiff aluminum. If you’re interested, contact me. Question. I have a thermal chimney on the south side of a hill in the desert. The chimney starts out wide horizontally (not much height) at the bottom of the hill. It’s like a triangle covered with Mylar. As the volume moves up the hill, it becomes circular. The bottom half is buried in the hill and the top half is translucent Mylar Painted black inside to absorb visible and near infrared. This goes all the way to the top of the hill and the tube is open, pointed vertically. I want to put a wind turbine there to turn the hot rushing air into electricity. What kind of turbine would be best? Either vertical or horizontal, but I’m unsure on how to maximize the efficiency in blade design. Love your video. You now have a new subscriber. Thanks, Paul (I’m an optical physicist)

What is the exact equation for horsepower versus RPM you mentioned it but you didn't give us a starting point here. If you could answer that I'd appreciate it

so have bending blades, (flap valves). opened when wind is along, and fold in when against the wind

Interesting. I guess the TSR would be less than 1?

I like the idea, but I'm imagining the cup fabric wearing from the constant flexion and rubbing against each other. I've seen other implementations with hard vanes basically on hinge pins, but again, the culprit is wear in the system. That system was kind of noisy, though, compared to this one.

Hi.. Sir .. i m from pakistan.. I love your great idea of paper blade.. But when rain is come its blade dameg with water.. So we use paper of plastic.. Lcd screen refleter plastic paper.. What u think about.. Sir i m poor in english so forgot me.. Thanks

Brilliant but the noise would really p**s off my neighbours (US neighbors)

Generally, for VAWTs, lift turbines like Darrieus and Gorlov are 35 to 40% efficient but are expensive and do not self start. Savonius turbines or drag based turbines are 15 to 20% efficient but self start and are cheap. Sail turbine seems to be a cheap lift based turbine. If its efficiency is as much as Darrieus or Gorlov Helical Turbine, it is surely the real deal. Good job!!!

Hi Jim, I have seen all your Vertical Axis Wind Turbine videos. Your idea of using sailboat technology to make a wind turbine is genius. Sounds primitive but actually is quite advanced and low cost at the same time. The sail acts as a door that allows the wind to produce a lift to spin on one side and not produce drag on the other. May I know what is the efficiency of this turbine?

Betz limit has been smashed and debunked regards Graham S Flowers

But i think some monsoon showers in India might ruin the principle...

If ya need your talk faster playback speed 1.5x is great

All my homies hate hawt

Your channel is much better than Robert Murray Smiths.

Compared to a regular windmill they are not very efficient. Standard style the blades are into the wind 100% of the time. VAWT will never be as efficient.

As an American, that's not how we say turbine

It would flap the material to rags in less than a day. Doubt you are developing any power. Most inefficient drag type vast I have ever seen. An boring drawn out video. Should have done a 3 to five minute one.

U r my inspiration . Uncle Jim

I like you old boy....😝

Good day sir, I am an electronics engineering technology student from the Philippines. We are inspired by your work to create a wind-solar street light. We would like to ask for your permission regarding the inclusion of an image of your design in our study as well as creating a sail type turbine with your concept. We humbly ask for your email address as a way for us to send our formal request. Thank you

Thank you