Startup uses RoboTuna to improve wind tech

Michael Stavrou Kilaras is a little obsessed with fish, and not just any kind of the aquatic species.

During his college years in the United States, he was getting his master’s degree in mechanical engineering at MIT studying water in turbine aerodynamics, when his attention turned to the RoboTuna, or a fish-like robot developed out of MIT that's designed to be biomimetic, based on animal biology and behavior. He started reading everything he could get his hands on about the mechanical fish that imitates the real one, especially how fast they move in the water.

“We’re basically trying to learn from nature and use those lessons to develop better, more efficient and effective technology for wind turbines,” he told the Cleantech Group.

Today, he’s the inventor and founder of a Nicosia, Cyprus-based wind technology company, AeroVortex Mills, that’s been inspired by fish locomotion and bird and insect flight propulsion, with its mechanism it says can improve wind turbine performance.

“It’s not an obvious connection between these two disciplines,” he said. “But I believe this is a secret to making breakthroughs in technology these days.”

Fish use their fins to improve aerodynamics and reduce drag, he said.

“If fish are able to do that, why not do it on wind turbines, which are basically lifting surfaces, of a different surface—air,” he said. “The fundamental dynamics are basically the same.”

And it’s a concept Kilaras thinks could have applications above and beyond the wind sector, such as underwater wind turbines, propulsion, and data center or computer cooling systems.

The technology is trying to accomplish two things. The first is to control extreme aerodynamic forces on the tips of the blades. Kilaras said the mechanism changes the way air flows over wind turbine blades in a way that reduces extreme aerodynamic loads on the blades.

“If we can reduce the load on the blades then we can have longer and lighter blades,” he said, adding that lighter blades means less materials and therefore less expensive wind turbines.

The second intent is to enhance the aerodynamics of the blade, especially the tip, which can lead to better power output.

Besides developing the theory, the company has built a demonstration model and has filed a patent application. It’s now looking to raise $500,000 from private investors to optimize the device and build an actual model that would be tested in a wind tunnel. Kilaras thinks this can be completed within a year.

The company has been funded with about €40,000 to €50,000 ($59,000 to $74,000) by Kilaras, friends and family.

“We’re trying to implement this theory and [test] these results in real world applications,” he said.

Kilaras says the mechanism could be integrated into new wind turbines or retrofitted with existing ones, without adding significant extra manufacturing costs, and having the potential to offer as much as a 7 percent performance improvement.

“We’re not interested in developing the product ourselves,” he said. “We don’t have the resources to do that.”

Instead, Aerovortex Mills would likely partner with a big wind turbine manufacturer, leveraging its manufacturing and marketing expertise. Companies he suggested might be a good fit include General Electric, Vestas Wind Systems, Suzlon, Siemens, Enercon and Iberdrola.

Other companies in the wind business, such as Muskegon, Mich.-based EarthTronics and Honeywell International (NYSE:HON) are working on gearless blade tips, rather than a complex center gear box. The blade tip system cuts in at wind speeds as low as 2 mph and as high as 45 mph (see EarthTronics snags Honeywell name on its new gearless wind turbine).

And Israel’s Leviathan Energy claims it can improve energy generation by 30 percent by altering the aerodynamics of large wind turbines from the outside (see Israeli startup guides wind to improve turbine output).

AeroVortex Mills is one of four potential new investment opportunities the Cleantech Group added to its innovation pipeline this week, available exclusively to members of the Cleantech Network. Members can click here to search the database.

Interested in emerging cleantech innovations? Here are two new international companies added to the Cleantech Group's database this week also looking for funding:

• Denmark-based Fionia Lighting is seeking €4 million ($6 million) for its specialty light-emitting diode technology for the horticultural industry. The company said its technology offers professional nursery gardeners significant energy savings to improve their market competitiveness.
• Norway-based Wave Energy is seeking €5 million ($7.4 million) for its Sea-wave Slot-cone Generator or SGG technology, based on the wave overtopping principle, which allows the storage of potential energy from incoming waves. The company is currently identifying and evaluating potential test locations for their SSG Breakwater concept.

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Browse past pitches here.

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