- Our home wind turbine project fits very well with the goals of sustainable development. We are glad that we can constantly develop it and thus offer an alternative to photovoltaic panels or heat pumps, which have become an inseparable part of modern construction. We have won another award proudly representing Lodz University of Technology, a university that supports us and inspires us to act. We study and work at the Institute of Turbomachinery of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in an interdisciplinary team composed of students from several faculties– says Anna Baszczyńska, leader of the GUST Project.
GUST is a small home wind turbine – its height is less than 2 meters, the rotor diameter is 1.6 meters – which generates 460 W in 10 m/s wind. The shape and number of blades are not a coincidence - the rotor has been thoroughly tested in the wind tunnel at Lodz University of Technology and during a competition in the Netherlands and in a laboratory in Paris.
- One of the turbine modules is a turntable, which allows the turbine to adjust itself to the wind direction, which maximizes the use of this renewable energy source – emphasizes Anna Baszczyńska and adds - We use ecological, environmentally friendly materials to build the turbine. For example, the housing is made of ABS polymer, which is easily recycled.
Students also talk about the economic aspect.
- In addition to the ecological aspects, profitability plays a huge role. Our investment is very promising. Knowing the electric power obtained at a given wind, you can easily calculate the profit from using the turbine and the period of return on investment, which is about 10 years, or several years in case of photovoltaics or heat pumps. Thanks to this, our customers will feel a real reduction in the price of electricity!
The GUST Project has been very successful. It has won three times in the prestigious international competition The Small Wind Turbine Contest in the Netherlands, it has won the national competition The ECOinnovators Competition in the ECOinnovative Project category, and has also been presented at international fairs, including twice in the United States and Germany.