We we work to build out products it is becoming very clear that there are areas on the cutting edge of technology in which we can excel. One of the biggest challenges for companies today is reducing carbon footprints and at the same time coming up with creative ways to power production. Over the last few weeks, Jigsaw Security has been secretly working on a new project code named "Breeze". For information on this wind generation project keep reading.
The Hub
As with any project, there has to be a core, a center, balance and this project is no different. We have been working on CAD designs of hubs for our blade arrays for the project. The hub is one of the main components in a wind turbine setup because it brings together all elements, just like a leader in a company. In order to be an efficient and effective component of a wind turbine or an organization, we must fully be able to harness the skills or capture the wind. Be believe the current design (pictured here) is optimal for the project. It is lightweight and as strong as carbon fiber. It must be since it will be deployed in our test environment here on the coast were we sometimes get winds higher than 40MPH with a certain frequency.
Why this project?
In short, not enough companies are focusing on wind power for the consumer. We set out with a goal of providing a 12VDC system capable of powering small electronics and lighting in an on demand configuration. In short there are a few components that will be required and a few ideas that are being incorporated into the Breeze project. We will be holding a contest to name the final product but as of now we are referring to the project and design as Breeze.
Figure provided by US Department of Energy
Some of the goals of this project include:
Low Cost: Estimate that the final cost of our system will be less than $250 complete
Must be capable of smart charging - Will charge anytime there is movement through innovative electronic controllers that can be monitored
Must provide time of use based on currently charged capacity and drain on system
Must be installable by anyone
Must be able to repair parts quickly and easily - Parts will be extremely affordable
Why Wind Power?
We feel that there is an untapped need for low voltage power and believe that in locations with frequent wind such as our offices that we can cut power consumption by 40-50% using multiple arrays and multiple storage banks of power.
Why a telephone port?
Good question, one of the main features we are planning on implementing is the ability to monitor power generated at particular locations. When a turbine is deployed, we will monitor the weather and power generated in that location using our big data analytics to figure out the most efficient locations for deploying wind power, in short we want data so we can reliably predict what cost savings a customer can expect if they deploy our solution.
Can't I just buy an already available solution?
Of course you can. We believe there are benefits to many of the designs we have seen on the market. The only difference is that companies that are large such as SIEMENS as an example, charge thousands of dollars for systems that are no better than our low cost solution. These systems will pay for themselves over their lifespan, the difference is it will take less time, approximately 3-4 months to realize the savings of the cost of a single turbine. This is if you are running 10 lights within your home and small appliances.
What type of output are you planning on making available?
In the original version we are testing now we will only make 12V DC output available. This will ensure safety and that the system performs as intended. In the future we will be releasing models that can be chained to create much greater power storage. This initial system will only be a 28AH (Amp Hour) test platform. Upon successful testing will be releasing a dual 96AH solution that will include 4AC ports and built in inverter system.
Will this be a primary power source?
The goal of this system is to save you expenses on lighting and appliance use. The system is being designed to work alongside existing power sources and will provide 120AC power in the future but for now we will only be powering LED lighting (whole house) and appliance power for items such as low draw televisions and small tools. We will be working to figure out how many systems it will take to power a typical home and also if whole house power.
BOOKMARK THIS PAGE AND CHECK BACK FOR PROGRESS AS WELL AS PHOTOS AND TEST RESULTS, NEWS AND COMMENTS FROM OUR ENGINEERS
About the Blades
So as you can guess we have a large choice in materials for this project. We can make the parts in metal, plastic or carbon fiber. We probably will offer both plastic (ABS) and carbon fiber but not metal as metal is more costly and not as flexible as carbon fiber and plastic.
The included picture is the first set of blades to come off the production line. We can produce 2 systems per day utilizing our existing capacity for printing but may be able to adjust to 4 systems per day. These smaller projects run in the background at our office while we work on other projects.
These blades should be done in about 5 hours, we will post a completed photo of the results when they are completed. We are excited to bring yet another innovation to our company in that we will be using our own designs just as we do for our security software. Real world testing is the best way to determine if a product can live up to our customers expectations.
Update 14 Aug, 2018
We are still working on our blade layout. We are fully confident we will be testing this layout in the next week. Not bad for 48 hours into the process of design, build, testing and finalization of the process.
We are making good progress day 2. We should have all of our blades completely printed tomorrow and we will then have to bond them and wait 24 hours for them to completely seal and dry. For reference, each one of these blade pieces is 10 inches in size approximately so the blades will end up being around 28 inches in total length.
So the fully assembled design will be about 5 feet of blade area which should really catch a lot of wind when deployed.
Check back in later and we will be posting additional updates, software and the actual plans if you want to build your own Breeze device. The plan is to open source this project if it is successful and to make it available to anybody that would find it useful.
A commercial version may also be planned for those that just want to buy a unit and have no interest in printing and constructing their own system. We anticipate this thing being online and active in the next week or so and we will begin collecting data to see how well it actually works.