11月16日VOA聽力：仿生無槳葉風力發機電
Energy created by conventional three-blade windturbines is cheap, sustainable and pollution-free.But according to current estimates, their fast-moving blades kill up to 300,000 birds annually in theU.S.
That could change with a bladeless wind convertercalled Saphonian, designed by Tunisian engineer Anis Aouni. He studied ancient sailboats andthe movements of birds and fish to develop a parabolic dish that rotates in a peculiar patternwhile catching the wind like a ship's sail.
It's like a big 'eight' in space. It's a movement that we can find in nature. That's why I told youthat Saphonian is richened by biomimetics . Because we find the same movement in fish tailswhen they are moving, or in birds' wings.
The bladeless converter creates less noise than traditional wind turbines and does not sufferfrom the gyroscopic effect, which makes it easier to adjust to changes in wind direction. Theprototype is a little more than 1 meter in diameter, but computer models show it is scalable tobigger sizes.
Aouni hopes it eventually will be able to turn 80 percent of wind energy into electricity.
In practice, we reached 1.7 times the performance of a traditional wind turbine. Economically,it is a machine that costs much less than an equivalent wind turbine.
Tunisian company Saphon Energy, which developed the prototype, has won several awards forthe new turbine, including support from Microsoft’s initiative to help African startup companies.
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