What is Japan famous for? Anime, manga, cat cafes, robots, and typhoons. And if the former bring money and joy to the population, then typhoons bring only death and serious damage to infrastructure. Nevertheless, one Japanese engineer wondered: what if you try to find at least some benefit from this all-destructive natural phenomenon? This is how the project for a wind turbine was born, capable of harnessing the power of these catastrophic storms and turning it into useful energy. If the project proves its worth, then the energy reserve from just one typhoon may be enough for Japan for 50 years!
Atsushi Shimizu is the inventor of the world's first typhoon turbine - an amazingly durable design that can not only withstand the most powerful forces generated by typhoons, but also convert this force into useful energy. Engineer's calculations show that if there are several such turbines, they will be able to generate from the energy of a single typhoon so much electricity that it will be enough for the inhabitants of Japan for 50 years.
Shimizu shows a model of his typhoon turbine.
Considering the fact that at the moment Japan is experiencing some shortage of electricity (as a result of the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011), the idea proposed by the engineer may turn out to be extremely useful.
“In fact, Japan is able to rely more on wind power rather than solar power when it comes to alternatives. But for some reason we do not use it very actively,”Simizu said in an interview with CNN.
Shimizu is actually right in his statements. This year alone, Japan has already experienced 6 typhoons. The engineer is the founder of Challenergy, a research and development company for alternative energy sources, and believes that Japan has the potential to become a "wind superpower".
Typhoon turbine working prototype
Promotional video:
A typhoon turbine differs from a conventional turbine in two important respects. First, they use an omnidirectional axle to enable the machine to withstand different wind directions. Secondly, the speed of the blades of such turbines can be adjusted taking into account the wind speed in order to prevent destruction of the structure.
The efficiency of the compact prototype of the typhoon turbine Simizu was 30 percent, which is about 10 percent less than conventional vane turbines currently in use in many countries. Nevertheless, the main difference between the Japanese turbine and all the others, of course, is that it is able to survive the storm. Shimizu notes that back in 2013, Typhoon Yusagi destroyed eight conventional turbines and damaged as many. His own attitude could have survived this catastrophic natural phenomenon.
A functioning prototype was installed near Okinawa earlier this summer. The next step is to test the device in strong wind conditions. In other words, a typhoon is needed.
It is not yet entirely clear how the typhoon's energy will be transmitted and accumulated. Perhaps it will be transferred directly to a power plant or first stored in huge battery installations. But the engineer promised to solve this issue too.