The article triggers my hype meter, which is a bad thing if the product actualy delivers what it claims.
The design is new and looks neat, so I searched for an article with more information, and found this:
https://newatlas.com/the-archimedes-liam-f1-urban-wind-turbine/32263/
They do firmly claim a very high energy extraction rate (a power coefficient of 0.8):
Today the company officially introduced its Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine, which is said to have an energy yield that is “80 percent of the maximum that is theoretically feasible.” That’s quite the assertion, given that most conventional wind turbines average around 25 to 50 percent.
The downside is a rotor with great surface area, and thus mass. It doesn’t weigh 20 kilograms like a bladed 1.5 meter turbine might be expected to weigh, it weighs 75 kilos.
The 75-kg (165-lb) 1.5-meter (5-ft)-wide Liam obviously doesn’t look much like a typical turbine. It draws on the form of the nautilus shell, and the screw pump invented by ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse.
For now, sadly, the cost is ridiculous. But I guess they need to recover their development cost somehow, and the manufacturing cost is considerably higher than with bladed turbines.
Although no price was given in today’s announcement, a previous posting on the company website puts it at €3,999 (about US$5,450).
How to find a cheaper manufacturing method? Good question. Printing one is probably very slow. It looks unsuitable for conventional blade-making technologies (glass fiber + resin). They seem to have made it from metal (I’m not 100% sure), but is there a better way?
Nice project, I hope they arrive at good recipes. :)