oskar zieta and CAAD: 'fidu rotor' at DMY berlin design week 09

‘fidu rotor’ by oskar zieta and students from CAAD

in the search for possibilities concerning renewable energies, a wind turbine was produced using ‘free inner pressure deformation’ (fidu technology), a method developed by oskar zieta.

‘fidu rotor’

‘fidu rotor’ fixture

a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) format was chosen since they can operate efficiently without sophisticated and expensive equipment to orient them into the wind. they are often more flexible in their design and have a wider range of applications than horizontal turbines with regards to the potential to decentralize yet upscale the capacity for energy production.

the project was developed by oskar zieta, philipp dohmen with students from CAAD (chair of computer aided architectural design) switzeralnd: mathias bernhard, katerina bouziana, kent brockmann, gunes direk, aphrodite stavropoulou, jasmin zarali.

it was on display at DMY berlin design festival 09 as part of the DMY youngesters exhibition.

image © designboom

models of ‘fidu rotor’ image © designboom

the dimensions and proportions were based on existing studies of free-standing wind turbines. models were used to test which forms and contours resulted in the desired profiles. three separate wing designs were subsequently advanced and developed: a single-chamber, triple-chamber and a waveform wing. these designs lead to different approaches regarding the connection of the three-armed support. the production of the primary components of the wind turbine was accompanied by a search for suitable assembly methods.

models of ‘fidu rotor’ image © designboom

model of ‘fidu rotor’ image © designboom

‘fidu rotor’ concept

the concept is for a low cost wind turbine, for individual use.

manufacturing process of the ‘fidu rotor’ metal sheers are cut precisely

the blade of the turbine

the blade being cut

the blade being blown up using fidu technology

blades all blown hung ready for assembly

the complete set of parts of the ‘fidu rotor’

‘fidu rotor’ being assembled

‘fidu rotor’ blade

‘fidu rotor’ connected with screws

‘fidu rotor’ blade

‘fidu rotor’ blade ‘fidu rotor’

Hi Jacob,
Our design goal for this size of unit is about 1kw.
In rough terms, if it could produce this amount for about 20% of the year, it would be near half the yearly demand for an average German household. (We used statistics from Germany in our figures.)
The starting speed should be in about 3m/s breeze (about 6.7mph) , and cutoff speed in 14m/s wind (31mph). The operating range goal is somewhere between 6 and 12 m/s.
As for the noise, we will have to determine that once we are finished with the remainder of our wind testing. Thanks for your interest, and please let us know about more questions.
CAAD, ETH
Kent B.
Jun 16, 2009
So… nice look, but how effective is it? How many kWh and at what wind speed? How many dB of noise?
Jacob, Denver, USA
Jun 12, 2009

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