We want you to discard the idea of the conventional wind turbine and check out this amazing new design that is being introducted by Janulus, a startup based in Minnesota. It is being called the Trinity wind turbine. The company was able to pull off a successful crowdfunding campaign back in 2014 for the 12-inch Trinity wind turbine and is now again here with an updated version of the same gadget that is now available in four different sizes and can switch between vertical and horizontal axis form factors.
The redesign has resulted in a few changes. It is now a three-blade, horizontal type wind turbine with 50-watt generation along with three new iterations; Trinity 400, 1000 and 2500. These are larger versions in terms of sizes and power output while also being able to switch between horizontal and vertical axis modes.
The biggest out of all four, Trinity 2500, is 39 inches in height without unfolding the 40-inch tripod stand and weighs in at 19kg. It features a 2,500watt generator that is capable of charging a 300,000-mAh lithium-ion battery pack. Vice President of Janulus, Agust Agustsson says that the Trinity 2500 ‘generates and stores power to run small appliances or to charge your home, electric car and laptop, phone or other gadget.’ Every Trinity comes folded up in its cylindrical tube carrying case and can be snugged easily in the trunk of an electric car.
Apart from being portable, the Trinity wind turbines are also easy to use and can be obtained at a low cost. Batteries, inverter and controllers have been built into the unit and the wind turbine is, for all practical purposes, plug-and-play. It can be simply plugged into a wall socket and can begin supplying the power it generates and stores to other outlets without requiring any electrical work. It is also capable of switching between charging devices from battery or directly from the turbine based upon how much electricity is being generated.
Agustsson speaking of Iceland said, “We come from a country that is completely run on renewable energy. After spending a few years in the USA we witnessed both the high cost of electricity and the harmful effects of the carbon fuels used to create it. We built our first wind turbine to lower the energy bill and that was the beginning of the development process of the Trinity. We wanted to design a portable product that gave people easy access to sustainable energy.”
The minimum speed required for Trinity to work is 4mph and once the wind speed is near 25mph, the turbine can be converted to the vertical setting. The gadget comes with a smartphone app allowing the user to monitor the battery level, amount of electricity being generated and also provides control for turning the blades off or on. If all goes well, the Trinity will begin shipping at the beginning of 2016.