PAX Streamline: Nature Design Meets Wind Turbine
Nature creates the most efficient designs, which is why a whole industry has been spawned around biomimicry, or using nature as a model for innovation. PAX Streamline, a San Rafael, Calif.-based startup funded by Khosla Ventures and spun out of PAX Scientific, has been creating mechanical designs for appliances like pumps, fans and heat exchangers that are based on models including the fluid flow of a whirlpool, or the spiral of a nautilus.
Khosla’s newest member, Ford Tamer, tells us that PAX has been working on “a very cool-looking wind turbine” based on its nature-inspired fluid flow shapes. While Tamer and the company aren’t giving details on the wind turbine just yet, Tamer tells us “it is very different” from the standard, and that “once you see it, you’ll be very surprised.”
For all of the company’s designs, the intellectual property relies both on the shape itself and the design technology to produce the most efficient shape. Tamer explains that the shapes are perfected through algorithms and fluid dynamics programs and can be patented, plus or minus a few percent variation. He says if you change the shape by 2 percent or 3 percent, you can lose that efficiency. We’re looking forward to seeing exactly what nature’s designs can do for the wind turbine efficiency.
Green energy is definitely the best solution in most cases. Technology like solar energy, wind power, fuel cells, zaps electric vehicles, EV hybrids, etc have come so far recently. Green energy even costs way less than oil and gas in many cases.
Hi,
I saw your artical in The Santa Rosa Press Democrat on Tuesday May 27th Business edition. I was interested to see that CEO John Webley was involved in starting PAX Streamline. I worked at AFC now Tellabs for close to 10 years. Will PAX Stramline be opening any posistions in the near future? I would love to learn more green engineering and have an opportunity to work for another company like AFC.
What I am looking for is a vertical axis (fat and short) wind turbine.
My concept is - subject to revision- is one with a rotating shroud- that will adjust the annulus to the incoming wind. Likely of a Sarvonius blade design.
Any thoughts?
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