Vortex Bladeless Ltd. is a Spanish technology startup company that is developing a specific type of wind power generator without rotating blades or lubricants.
The design seeks to overcome perceived issues related to rotary wind turbines such as maintenance, amortization, noise, birds and environmental impact, logistics, and visual aspects[citation needed].
According to the firm, Vortex generators have a small carbon footprint and use less raw materials compared to rotary wind turbines of the same height.
It is composed of two main parts: a fixed base where the device is attached to an anchor, and a flexible mast which, acting as a cantilever, interacts more freely with moving fluid in an oscillating movement.
The specified goals for each model are:[10] With Vortex technology, the amount of energy harnessed grows exponentially squared by height and cubed by wind speed.
[13] In early 2014, Vortex obtained public funding from the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) and began to collaborate with Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)[14] and their huge computing resources for the simulations on vortex-induced vibrations (VIV), magnetic field interactions, and finite element method magnetics (FEMM) researches needed for their development.
[15] The proof of concept was validated and the story of Vortex began winning the South Summit Award 2014 in the category of Energy and Industry.
[10][16] In the United States, the project reached the company Altair Engineering who offered their advanced simulation software to Vortex for their investigation on their fluid dynamics concept.
Also, NGOs and other environmental entities like BirdLife International have shown interest in this system and offered to collaborate,[17] since Vortex may have a lower impact on nature and birds, especially as bigger wind power devices are built in the future.
Thanks to the support from these public administration and research centers, in 2015, Vortex launched in June a successful crowdfunding campaign to fund the first supply agreements, and hire engineers needed to advance the project.
Since this technology is considered as new in many aspects intervening (geometry, movement, energy conversion system), it has been a harder development than the firm expected.
At this point, the firm faced many problems due to the lack of feasible industrial production processes to mass-produce some of the pieces that use Vortex technology.
[22] Most relevant strategic partners for Vortex Bladeless are the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), Altair Engineering, and the Council of Castile and León in Spain.