Quietrevolution wind turbine

The Quietrevolution (often stylized with lower-case "q": quietrevolution) was a brand of vertical-axis wind turbine before going into administration in 2014.

Quietrevolution turbine at the Colston Hall, Bristol

The helical design is most similar to the Gorlov helical turbine. Both are an evolution of the Darrieus wind turbine. It had won several awards including the "Sustainable Innovation Award" in 2006 but did not perform.

The turbine consists of three vertical airfoil blades, each having a helical twist of 120 degrees. This feature spreads the torque evenly over the entire revolution, thus preventing the destructive pulsations of the straight-bladed giromill (Darrieus turbine). The wind pushes each blade around on both the windward and leeward sides of the turbine.

The qr5 turbine, rated for 6 kW, measures 3.0m in diameter by 5m high.

Poor performance of a QR5 installed at Welsh government offices in Aberystwyth has been blamed on poor siting.[1] The turbine's overall cost was given as £48,000 and in 2012 it generated an average of 33 kWh per month, a value of £5.28 per month.

Quiet Revolution Limited entered liquidation in April 2014.[2][3] VWT Power Limited (trading as Quiet Revolution) acquired the IP and assets later that year to support the fleet of legacy Qr5 turbines and with the intention of developing a new generation of products.

It became apparent quite early on that many of the early iterations of their Qr5 design had been superseded by huge step changes in their knowledge and progression of the original design. Many of the flaws of the early design were being eradicated by the later iterations however there some fundamental inherent design faults which would take a complete halt and re think. This had been started by QR Limited before going into administration and the basis of the new Qr6 was born however since then this new design has undergone significant design modifications resulting in the new Qr6 being launched today. The blades have a 60% greater swept area, are stiffer and the trailing edge is more precise, reducing drag. The rotating mass of the turbine is now almost completely manufactured from composite materials significantly improving the power to weight ratio. Furthermore the control equipment is more intelligent, accurate and efficient, resulting in less down time caused by noise on the line and vibration issues being misinterpreted. The new software and algorithms have dramatically changed the turbine, enabling an impressive increase in energy generation and reliability.

See also

References
  1. Paul Martin (7 November 2013). "Welsh government's £48k wind turbine creates £5 of power a month". BBC News online. A wind turbine that cost the Welsh government £48,000 to buy has been generating an average of just £5 worth of electricity per month.
  2. "Appointment of Liquidators". The London Gazette. The London Gazette. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  3. Paul Gipe (7 May 2014). "Quiet Revolution Goes Quiet: Maker of QR5 VAWT Files for Bankruptcy". Wind Works. Paul Gipe. Retrieved 2 August 2019.


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