There are plenty of personal solar chargers on the market these days. The kind you can take with you and use anywhere there is sun. But personal wind turbines? not so much. The makers of a 3D Printer called Omni 3D have come up with a project to build a 3D printed wind turbine that can fit in a backpack; they are calling their project, AirEnergy 3D. The campaign is asking for about $30,000 to complete the project.
The uses for the turbine are numerous but according to the founders the most critical will be in sub-Saharan countries, where power lines usually do not work at night. The 3D turbines are designed to remedy the problem as they will work wherever there is wind, even if there is no sun. The turbine can generate 300W of electrical power.
AirEnergy 3D is an open source project, the makers plan to share the plans online for free. The kit includes electrical parts that can’t be printed on a home 3D printer, the rest of the turbine can be printed according to the specifications provided by the company. In order to use the turbine, any device can be directly plugged in or the power can be stored by charging a battery. The design can also be customized and upgraded to the user’s needs.
The company does not seem initially interested in mass producing the wind turbines or turning them into a commercial product. Konrad Sierzputowski, co-founder of Omni 3D told Techcrunch that they view the turbine as a special project to educate people on the power of 3D printing and provide low-cost renewable energy.
From the very beginning the most important thing for us as 3D printers producer was educating people about the incredible potential of the technology. That’s why we always have special projects running inside Omni3D.
A Personal 3D Printed Wind Turbine? It’s Crowdfunding Now There are plenty of personal solar chargers on the market these days. The kind you can take with you and use anywhere there is sun.
