Simple Wind Harvesting: The Windbelt

[preachtheWORD]

Doing a search on wind energy I stumbled upon this article and video. This is a very interesting idea, and potentially much easier to produce than conventional wind powered generators.

Rather than using a rotating drive, the Windbelt uses "aeroelastic flutter" - that is, the way things flap in the wind. The device has a belt that flaps in the wind and drives a generator. It appears to work quite well. There is a video at this site:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/scie...r-wind/4224763

This is a site that markets a windbelt product, and explains more about how it works:
http://www.humdingerwind.com/#/wi_overview/

[Erratus Animus]

Man that invention blows I mean flutters I wonder how much wind is needed to cause it to flutter and how much juice is put out? I ask that since where I live we dont get very strong winds unless a storm is approaching. It may make for a cheap trickle charger.

[Rick]

Very interesting concept. You'd need more or less consistent wind movement and from looking at the l.e.d.s I'd think the trickle charger Erratus suggested would be a good tool.

[Trabitha]

I can't find the price of them. I wonder about the durability too. By our math, you would need about 6 panels to power a typical house...and that's a big IF you get enough wind to get full use of it. I don't know. Great idea...I just think I would need a lot more info on it before I made such an investment. The wind carries a LOT of crap...if something hits it wrong it could totally destroy your investment.