Micro wind turbines installed in subway tunnels recover the energy lost through the friction of the trains with the air.
A team of 10 students and two teachers from Kalindi College at Delhi University is now studying, simulating and building a micro turbine prototype that could produce up to 200 watts of power each.
The micro wind turbines are to be put strategically in New Delhi’s Metro subway system, more specifically at the entry points of tunnels and in the passage from an underground line to an overhead line, where wind speed is higher.
Theoretical work has concluded that each micro wind turbine can produce up to 500 watts of power, but after counting in friction and a number of other factors, the figure that resulted is 200 watts per hour of real life energy production.
The team will start installing the system next week and will make field tests to see what their micro wind turbines are actually producing. 440 trees would be saved if the turbine would produce 3 kW per hour.
