Monday 17 August 2009

R&D Project Starts with Kingston University on Self Powered Street Lights

With the recent surge in fossil fuel prices and demands for cleaner energy resources, wind turbines are becoming a more viable technology for electrical power generation. Most commonly seen is the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) however these are not ideally suited to urban environments and so JNDC Ltd has teamed up with Kingston University to design and prototype a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT).
The all inclusive design of lighting combined with a turbine will be easily retrofitted onto existing lampposts. The turbine will create enough energy to power the light source and be able to meet street lighting regulations. Any additional energy created will be returned to the grid.

The project is presently at the design stage with JNDC Ltd using its in house design, CAD and analysis facilities. Various parts will be made at the Kingston University workshops in Roe Hampton Vale using their rapid prototyping machine. The University will be carrying out wind tunnel tests to validate the models.
The initial prototype design is intended to be tested at Kingston Hill car park with the intention of the final production versions of the turbines to replace lighting around many of Kingston University campuses.


engineering design services JNDC Kingston University