Moya Power – Flexible, lightweight & low cost material for harvesting wind energy
Moya is a new dynamic building material that harvests small amounts of wind energy, in many possible locations. The printed, semi-transparent sheets are light, low cost, versatile and scalable.
Proportions and density of filaments can be optimized based on wind energy analysis on buildings, or challenged by architect’s designs using it as a dynamic façade. Moya can wrap around buildings, coat windows, line bridges, or be hidden in structures.
Flexible working prototype (Credit: Jamesdysonaward)
RCA Graduate show (Credit: Jamesdysonaward)
Moya Power uses a number of finger-like filaments which are moved by passing currents of air – with the movement harnessed to generate electricity. The filaments can be optimized based on wind energy analysis for maximum efficiency or adapted to architect’s designs to be used as a dynamic building façade.
The end result is a low-cost flexible material that can wrap around buildings, coat windows, line bridges, or be hidden in structures unlocking their potential as energy generation sites.
As wind moves each filament on a sheet; the strain energy caused by the movement is converted into electrical energy. Many tests were conducted in order to determine the dimensions and proportions of an individual filament. An important factor when considering the functional design of a single element was how it would be easily mass-produced in a sheeting process in order to keep costs to a minimum.
There is a compromise between complex shapes that may catch the wind more effectively when compared to simplified shapes that will be more efficient to mass-produce.
A prototype of a flexible sheet was produced with all the elements embedded in the single sheet. In addition to this, LEDs were integrated into the flexible sheet as a means of directly transferring the energy to an immediate application. The energy is first harvested and rectified, then stored intermittently in capacitors. (Source: Jamesdysonaward)
