Standard-Helical Hybrid Wind Turbine

Most small to extremely large wind turbines installed in the world, are designed in the same way similar to a plane propeller, with three blades as most common number. They reorient facing the strongest wind by the help of sensors and then rotate by the force of the wind, connect the rotation energy through a shaft to an alternator which generates electric energy and feeds it to a collecting battery or directly to the electric grid.

Other designs have emerged during the last few decades, one of them seemed to catch more attention and it was called the Vertical Turbine or Helical Turbine. This design collects wind energy from all directions and can also be more efficient at lower wind speeds. The problem with that design is that, relative to its area, it does not collect as much energy as the standard propeller design, so its return on investment is low.

What I am presenting here is a Standard-Helical Hybrid turbine, which uses some of the advantages of Helical with the advantages of standard design. Three Helical blades are connected on a central hub and rotate around the hub like standard blades, but also rotate around their center like Helical blades. The rotating hub, increases the relative wind speed and thus increases the efficiency of the Helical blades. The central hub can be connected to the blades by mechanical gears, or could be independent and controlled by a motor driver.

A further investigation of the concept is needed of course. This mechanism needs to be simulated and the geometry of the blades and Hub can of course be optimized for improved aerodynamics and energy collections. What you see in the video below is a concept drawing without accurate proportions.