Introduction

Green.

Everybody is green or trying to be nowadays. Because it's trendy, because it's real, because there's no other way.

It seems that in order to be greener you have to build the most pharaonic building with the biggest wind turbine on top (Maglev wind turbine, Lighthouse, Bahrain world trade center, etc.); the biggest solar power plant (Mojave desert, Solana Arizona, etc) or build a new city (Rak Gateway, Masdar carbon neutral city, etc.) because the ones we already live in are not green enough.

Why don't we start thinking on a smaller scale and apply it to existing buildings, houses and structures (tunnels, road barriers, etc) to generate energy.

With this approach Nano Vent-skin tries to make existing objects greener with a skin made out of micro wind turbines.

Nano Vent-Skin used on highway tunnels to power the lights.



Nano Vent-Skin used on existing buildings to supply electricity.




Nano Vent-Skin used on road barriers to power the lights, where there is no access to electricity.




NVS wrapped around train tunnels uses the wind generated from the speed of trains to power the lights of the next station.

Scale Model

A scale model was developed in order to test the wind turbines and do changes that might improve the design.

Each wind turbine is 25mm long by 10.8mm wide.

Images of the model against the sky, testing the final proportions.

Why Nano?

Nowadays controversy runs around the topic of scientists playing God in trying to reshape organisms and living things. It’s true that we run the risk of not knowing what the consequences will be. But we have to think as well of all the benefits we are missing out on.

Nature is a 4.5 billion year old research center of trial and error. The more we learn and take advantage of this huge database, the less we run into dead end solutions.

We can’t improve nature. It does this by itself and in a way we will never achieve. It even reinvents itself in order to survive in areas where human kind is trying to destroy it.

NVS is not trying to reinvent or reshape nature. It’s just acting as a merger of different means and approaches into energy absorption and transformation, which will never happen in nature.

For example: a palm tree can never learn from an arctic raspberry bush or a bonsai tree if they never coexist within the same surroundings.

NVS takes advantage of globalized knowledge of different species and resources and turns them into a joint organism where three different ways of absorbing and transforming energy work in symbiosis.

Using nano-manufacturing with bioengineered organisms as a production method, NVS merges different kinds of micro organisms that work together to absorb and transform natural energy from the environment.

What comes out of this merging of living organisms is a skin that transforms two of the most abundant sources of green energy on earth: Sunlight and Wind.

There is another advantage of using living organisms: the absorption of CO2 from the air.

Nano Engineered details

How does NVS work?

The outer skin of the structure absorbs sunlight through an organic photovoltaic skin and transfers it to the nano-fibers inside the nano-wires which then is sent to storage units at the end of each panel.

Each turbine on the panel generates energy by chemical reactions on each end where it makes contact with the structure. Polarized organisms are responsible for this process on every turbine’s turn.

The inner skin of each turbine works as a filter absorbing CO2 from the environment as wind passes through it.

The fact of using nano-bioengineering and nano-manufacturing as means of production is to achieve an efficient zero emission material which uses the right kind and amount of material where needed.

These micro organisms have not been genetically altered; they work as a trained colony where each member has a specific task in this symbiotic process. For example, an ant or a bee colony, where the queen knows what has to be done and distributes the tasks between the members.

Imagine NVS as the human skin. When we suffer a cut, our brain sends signals and resources to this specific region to get it restored as soon as possible.

NVS works in the same way. Every panel has a sensor on each corner with a material reservoir. When one of the turbines has a failure or breaks, a signal is sent through the nano-wires to the central system and building material (microorganisms) is sent through the central tube in order to regenerate this area with a self assembly process.

As researchers have stated, nano-manufacturing will be a common way to produce everyday products.

NVS interacting with Sunlight, Wind and CO2

Nano-structure components

Zoom in showing the scale of nano engineered structures

Nano Vent-Skin in use

This animation shows how the turbines work. The main structure remains rigid attached to the metal frame while the turbines rotate freely depending on the direction of the wind.

Wind contact study

In order to achieve the best outcome of energy, the blades of each turbine are symmetrically designed. With this feature, even if the wind's direction changes, each turbine adapts itself by rotating clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on the situation.

NVS_Building on site

This Building was developed to show how Nano Vent-Skin can be used on new designs and concepts.

Bay view

View from the beach

Detail side view

View from the interior

Storage and supply Units

Each panel has four round supply units (one on each corner).

These units are in charge of:
- Monitoring that all the turbines are working.
- Delivering material to regenerate broken or malfunctioning turbines.
- Receiving and storing the energy produced by the turbines.

Other uses

NVS can be applied like "Hedera helix" onto existing wind turbines to maximize the absorption of wind energy

The possibility of applying NVS panels on cars or trains is not yet proved because of friction and other factors which have to be tested.