Sail Train Wind Generator

Alright, I have seen some interesting wind generator designs in the past, and this one ranks very high up there on the most interesting list. The sail train wind generator is like nothing you have seen before. How someone thought of this design is beyond me, personally I would love to know what inspired this very unique setup. If you watch the video below, it seems to work but I am not too sure about how efficient it is when it comes to producing wind power.

It is very apparent that the designers wanted to develop an alternative way to extract wind energy. They have eliminated the rotating blades assembly that sits on top of tower. Their generator utilizes a track in the shape of a lozenge which has sails attached to the rails both above at the head and below at the tail. The wind moves these sails along these tracks and they are all connected to make one continuous band. The drive wheels on the tracks capture the wind energy when they engage with the band. This action by the drive wheels is what ultimately is responsible for spinning the generators.

Sail Train Wind Generators

------------------------ Advertisement -----------------------


Yes the design is different, but I foresee some problems. For one there are too many moving parts to this assembly. This will most likely cause efficiency problems as well as maintenance ones. However, with the sails providing such a large surface area to capture the wind, this setup may actually be able to produce energy in very low wind conditions. You will notice when it starts raining in the video below, those sails could become drenched and heavy. Will they still move around the tracks as fast as they would in drier conditions. Probably not.

It is nice to see this outside the box designs for wind power generation like this one. Eventually we will have more options in the future to use for harvesting this renewable energy source. The Sail Train Wind Generator is definitely a step in the right direction. Love the idea, not too sure about how well it will perform in reality.