By Lena Babaeva Coradini

There has been a lot of talk of how solar technology is becoming more efficient, but a bit less coverage of how wind technology has been improving.  So it was good to see this headline: Next Generation Wind Turbine Produces 3 Times the Power:

A radical new design in wind turbines takes a page from the design of jet turbine technology to generate three times the amount of power as a standard wind generator using propellers. The Dragonfly Wind Turbine uses three sub chambers working in line to speed up the airflow inside the turbine, which may have far-reaching potential in the wind energy field.

The fundamental flaw in every wind turbine is that none of them actually speed up the air – they all base their functionality on relative wind speed and will only produce energy if the wind is blowing. The current systems extract less than 50% of the wind’s energy and are only working about a third of the time! . . .

The nacelle of the Dragonfly was inspired by the technology of the SR 71 Blackbird, with a unique nose cone capable of expanding over 600% in size, increasing or decreasing the air speed and flow passing through the unit. The generator is housed inside the shroud, or nacelle, and is similar to the jet turbo prop system which generates electricity. The faster the wind flowing through the unit, the faster the tail blades in the generator will spin.

According to Dragonfly Industries, two computer dynamic fluid (CDF) tests on the design were completed by an independent software company, SolidWorks, and the results are promising for moving forward with prototypes. Test results found that Dragonfly breaks the law – the Betz Law – and proves that more than 59% of the wind’s power can be harvested with the right design.