The "ingenious" O-Wind Turbine designed by UK students Nicolas Orellana and Yaseen Noorani is the winner of the international James Dyson Awards.
The 2018 grand prize winner is an omnidirectional wind turbine that works in the middle of big cities, where the architecture of tall buildings typically throws wind flow into chaos and makes conventional unidirectional turbines useless.
The James Dyson Awards recognises the best in student design and engineering from around the world, with a final winner emerging following heats in 27 countries. Entries are asked to design something that solves a problem, big or small.
"It's an ingenious concept"
Dyson, who is best known for his eponymous vacuum cleaners as well as blade-less fans and hairdryers, said Lancaster University students Orellana and Noorani had solved a real problem with their invention, which could allow people living in apartments to generate their own electricity. "Design something that solves a problem is an intentionally broad brief," said Dyson. "It invites talented, young inventors to do more than just identify real problems. It empowers them to use their ingenuity to develop inventive solutions."
Nicolas Orellana and Yaseen Noorani'sare the 2018 Dyson Awards winners
"O-Wind Turbine does exactly that," he continued. "It takes the enormous challenge of producing renewable energy and using geometry, it can harness energy in places where we've scarcely been l...