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Comment by taftster | Hacker News Reader

Just to ask. Do you think the housing of the turbine would somehow "channel" the wind it collects into the blades? And therefore increase the performance or yield against the size of the blades? Maybe in this way, the comparison is legitimate, that a smaller turbine blade (as in this case) can collect more wind?

I'm honestly not sure if that holds up properly, like from a true physics point of view. But it kind of makes sense from intuition. It would seem you'd get quite a fast moving turbine blade with this configuration.

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That's entirely the point of Aeromine's invention: the foil and body channel the wind (by decreasing air pressure between the foils) and this increases the speed of wind at the turbine. But per my edit, it doesn't seem sufficient to beat the efficiency of traditional wind turbines. I suppose that's why the company tries to focus on other advantage (less noisy, better aesthetics).

If I remember correctly they claim something like 40% of a conventional turbine, so it doesn't beat a conventional turbine in a classic setting however it may work well enough in a residential/light commercial setting.

It really seems like a reverse Dyson bladeless fan.

Dyson Jet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbXJa8osys0

'Bladeless' airplane turbine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPZI6XoHi10

> 40% of a conventional turbine

If I'm not mistaken, a conventional turbine can turn to face the wind but these can't. That could significantly impact actual performance.

I could see another advantage for residential use -- you should be able to make the failure mode for this style safer, because you are already wrapping the turbine in metal. It should also be easy to close the channel and stop wind from getting to the blades which is also not possible with traditional designs.

But yeah, I'm leaning with the other comments in this thread that these guys sound too shifty in the way they're promoting this, and it makes me suspicious of the utility of the product.

> not sure if that holds up properly, like from a true physics point of view

Thrust efficiency from ducting is real [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ducted_fan#Duct

What they're really after is using the structure to direct the wind and create stronger flows by the lip of the roof. This is not a new idea, but perhaps they have hit on a shroud design that works more effectively.

I have little doubt that it can produce impressive figures in very specific conditions - many designs do - but I doubt they see vastly improved real-world performance.

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