An ancient concept for a futuristic wind turbine

With the threat of Eskom load-shedding ever-present, and a growing need to shift to renewable energy sources, investing in an Archimedes Windmill for your home might just be the solution you need.

- LUKE FOLB

ARCHIMEDES IS considered by many to be the greatest mathematician that has ever lived. He anticipated modern calculus and analysis using the concepts of infinitesimals and the method of exhaustion, and so great was his reputation that the Archimedes screw was given his name (even though it’s now commonly accepted that the Egyptians, in fact, invented the famed water screw many years prior). Still, Archimedes is said to have ‘described’ the device, and brought it to Greece, so he played an important role in its development.

Whoever actually came up with this invention millennia ago, it’s the principle behind the device that helped inspire Dutch scientists to develop a highly efficient windmill for home power generation. Marinus Mieremet considered the Archimedes screw when he began researching and developing what would later become the Archimedes Windmill (AWM). He wanted a more efficient way of harnessing the wind, which is how he devised a wind turbine with three circular blades that are wrapped around each other, and then expanded. The result is a three-dimensional conical turbine, not dissimilar to certain shells found on the beach. Wind is actually drawn into the turbine, making its yield several times higher than conventional windmill propellers.

The windmill can rotate 360° into the direction of the wind, just like a weathervane. Indeed, this detail isn’t new, but the fact that it also works in low-velocity winds, from 0.9 m/s (to as high as 14 m/s) makes it stand out from competing products. In high winds, such as 22 m/s, brakes are activated and the turbine is stopped to prevent damage from occurring.