Participants Name : Bhuvan Bagwe 

Pitch of the Project ( Text ) : 

Problem : Railway locomotives travel at an average velocity of 90-110 km/h (outside station areas) which results in generation of high speed slipstream due to atmospheric drag faced by the locomotives. This results in the generation of high speed winds reaching speeds of up to 22-25 m/s. The wind energy generated from these locomotives can be utilized to generate electricity. 

Solution : We propose the use of a modified version of a Helical Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine to be placed adjacent to the railway tracks at a safe distance to generate electricity from the wasted energy from railway locomotives and use it to power various systems in the vicinity. These turbines use wasted energy in the form of wind and do not induce any drag on the train. 

Our design uses a vertical axis wind turbine which is best suited for this application because of the limited space that it requires. Further advantage of the design is that, helical lift driven VAWT is well suited for high wind speed operations in comparison to traditional drag based wind turbines. A study was conducted to conclude that design of this rotor configuration did not induce any drag on the train due to the presence of the turbine. 

Youtube Video Pitch : https://youtu.be/3hZ2I5goJuk

Prototype Demonstration : https://youtu.be/SPRo8V5Hav8

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