Update #2 – March 2023
Eureka is the Greek word for “I found it”, and it was supposedly said by the Greek Mathematician, Archimedes, more than 2000 years ago, when he discovered that the volume of water displaced is equal to the volume of an object submerged. At NextPower360, we can’t point to a single Eureka moment, but every week, we appreciate more and more the critical role our technology can play to enable wind turbines to harvest wind that is intentionally wasted by current generator designs. We have news worth sharing, so please find below our second company update.
Proving Concepts For years, Dr. Iacovelli has been running thought experiments about his wind generator design, and for a long time, he tried to kill the idea conceptually as his life was plenty full without trying to push forward a disruptive technology. As fate would have it, Tony failed to fail fast. Now, finally, with a company behind him and some financial resources (thank you investors!), the NextPower360 technology team is testing Tony’s ideas by building physical prototypes. We are out to prove eight innovative design concepts, and in a short time, we have already proved the four items below. If you would like more information on our R&D process or to see photos and videos of our proofs of concept, please email me.
Radial Magnetic Field. Our design produces a well-organized magnetic field that spans a full 360 degrees with minimal bulging, cross-fielding, or dead zones.
Low Cut In Speeds. Our design cuts in at a low RPM (< 100 RPMs vs 1000 RMPs for conventional generators)
Generation. Our electricity generation increases exponentially with increasing inputs, and we still have not hit a point of diminishing returns even at 1,700 RPMs.
Topology. The topology of our design enables the generator to intrinsically adapt to highly variable input RPMs and harvest the energy from a full range of input speeds.
Additional Accomplishments
We have made significant progress outside of the lab as well. In the previous two months, we have submitted our comprehensive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant application to the US Department of Energy, outfitted our private lab space in Asheville NC, and hired our first employee -- an outstanding and fastidious technician, Barry Smith. We have also sought advice and met with generator experts at the both the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and North Carolina State University, and the faculty and teams at both universities have been very generous with their time.
Fast Wind is a Terrible Thing to Waste As part of a grant proposal, I created a 90-second video to explain our technology and the company. The theme of the video is that “Fast wind is a terrible thing to waste.” If that statement piques your interest and you’d like to learn why fast wind is wasted by current generator technology, please take a look here. Thanks for reading!
Michael Shore