Losing yourself in nature for days can be so incredibly refreshing that only writing about it makes me want to ditch everything, dig out the hiking boots, and just go, taking only my most needed items with me. Unfortunately, these days, the list of these “most needed items” is a bit longer than just a map, some food and some water.
Now it is almost impossible to go out without an electronic gadget of some sort. This of course comes with an added complication, the charging. There have been some portable solar chargers that usually do the job, but they can never serve our needs at night or on a cloudy day. This is why a group of guys decided to develop Windpax, a small, cheap, portable, folding wind turbine that can generate power when solar fails.
The Kickstarter campaign to fund the Windpax invention just went online. According to the ad, the guys need to raise US$50,000 in order for the tiny wind turbine to hit production. Yes, we told you how to build a turbine yourself in the back yard, but you would not be able to move it around easily. Considering all the cool features that the system has, it will definitely give you a good run for your money if you decide to invest in it. Windpax is super light, very cheap, it collapses, so it is easy to carry around and most of all, the only thing it needs to work is wind.
The mechanism behind it is very simple. It uses the vertical method of trapping the air, which then spins the impellers to create power. It has a removable battery that can be used to charge your electronic gadgets, but you can also just plug the cable directly to the turbine. It is very simple to use and it could be assembled in not more than 2 minutes. And to make it even more convenient to use, it comes with little removable clamps that allow you to attach it to pretty much any vertical surface or a table. The guys have of course also thought of safety, and have designed it in a way that the vanes become flat in case they get broken by high-speed winds, preventing them from flying off.
Windpax comes in two sizes, a small one called Wasp, which weighs only 1.8kg (4lb) and when folded it is about 3.5 cm (14in) long. Under an average wind speed it can generate around 25Watts. The bigger one, the Breeze, is slightly heavier, 4kg (9lb), it is quite impressive when assembled, standing up to 3m height (10ft), but generating up to 100 Watts.
The campaign is up until mid- June, so go ahead and invest. If you need more convincing, check out the video here. The guys are planning to start selling in September, so the time is limited.
Image (c) Windpax
