Bird-friendly Bladeless Wind Turbine Mimics Nature

Bird-friendly Bladeless Wind Turbine Mimics¹ Nature

Energy created by conventional three-blade wind turbines is cheap, sustainable and pollution-free. But according to current estimates, the devices' fast-moving blades kill up to 300,000 birds annually² in the U.S.

That could change with a bladeless wind converter called Saphonian, designed by Tunisian engineer Anis Aouni. He studied ancient sailboats and the movements of birds and fish to develop a parabolic dish that rotates in a peculiar³ pattern while catching⁴ the wind like a ship’s sail.

“It's like a big 'eight' in space," Aouni said. "It's a movement that we can find in nature. ... We find the same movement in fish tails when they are moving, or in birds' wings.”

The bladeless converter creates less noise than traditional wind turbines and does not suffer from the gyroscopic effect, which makes it easier to adjust to changes in wind direction. The prototype is a little more than 1 meter in diameter, but computer models show it is scalable to bigger 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," he said. "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 for the new turbine, including support from Microsoft’s initiative to help African startup companies.

1 mimics   

n.模仿名人言行的娱乐演员，滑稽剧演员( mimic的名词复数 )；善于模仿的人或物v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的第三人称单数 )；酷似

参考例句：

• Methods:Models were generate by CT scan,Mimics software and Abaqus software. 方法：采用CT扫描，Mimics软件和Abaqus软件的CAD进行三维有限元模型的创建。 来自互联网
• Relaxing the mind and body mimics the effect that some blood-pressure pills would have. 放松身心会产生某些降压药才能产生的效果。 来自辞典例句

2 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

3 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

4 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。