Home-made vertical-axis drag-based turbine spins fan & lights bulb

Not sure if the bulb is LED or a filament, but the fan is spinning.

(7) Harness the Power of Nature: Build Your Own Wind Turbine for Free Electricity - YouTube

Nice job, for a quick-and-dirty build. Of course you’d probably lose it out in any real wind, but it does OK on the wall of a guy’s balcony. I had to laugh when he just set it down without bolting it down! :slight_smile:

I’m guessing the upwind blades are inside the wall, while the downwind blades are more exposed. There’s a name for that architecture - trying to remember what it’s called doesn’t even need curved blades.

OK I just looked it up in that booklet from the '70’s that has every known type of wind turbine.
They just have it labeled “plates” and “shield”. The upwind-traveling blades (plates) are shielded from the wind. Actually, this is the very oldest design from 3000 years ago, where they used square sails, turning like a revolving door, with the upwind half blocked by a stone wall. Peak Fred Flintstone.

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This guy is onto something. 309k views - thats some ad income there, and just keeps on giving. We all knew interest in inefficient expensive wind turbine design is huge, I just didnt realize there was big money in this particular avenue…