In our early years, it was all about research and development. Our talented team of engineers spent their time perfecting the physics and aerodynamics of our wind turbine to capture as much energy as possible, all while maintaining its low maintenance design. This meant refining the flow of air through the turbine to maximise efficiency.
The “small” nature of our turbine means that it is viable for a whole range of applications. Our engineers have never compromised on this. It’s one of the many reasons that separates us out from other wind turbine providers.
In recent years, armed with a world-leading “small” wind turbine, we’ve been securing investment to expand our operations. We are now in a fully blown commercialisation stage and our solution is pioneering “small” wind across various applications in the UK and wider world.
Our Timeline
2008 – The Concept
Throughout the extensive R&D phase, Crossflow Energy implemented the world leading advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) capabilities of Swansea University’s Zienkiewicz Centre for Computational Engineering to model the complex air flow for the conceptual turbine to identify the optimum blade and shield shapes required to maximise the greatly enhanced aerodynamic efficiency of the turbine and shield concept.
2017 – Validation
This analysis was validated using the full scale X-feg Proof of Concept turbine built using the CFD developed design incorporating the game changing patented rotor shield to enhance energy capture.
Extensive market research resulted in the decision to focus on continuous and reliable distributed energy supplies and the development, by combining Crossflow’s novel wind turbine with solar PV and battery storage of an Integrated Energy Solution (IES) offering reliable, clean energy as a viable and cost effective alternative to diesel generation in remote off/weak-grid locations; and developing an in-house Smart Energy Management system to optimise energy capture and ensure continuous clean energy output.
2019 – Proof
The Crossflow Pre-production Prototype (PPP) was successfully installed and commissioned as part of our SMART Turbine and SMART Modular system development at the company test site in Port Talbot, Wales. The PPP was used to gather operational data confirming energy capture and operational performance of both the turbine and Energy Management Software.
2021 – Evolution
In discussion with Mobile Network Operators, Crossflow has since repackaged the turbine layout design to incorporate a split-blade rotor, bifacial solar canopy plus compact storage for batteries, with the option to tie in either grid electricity or a generator as a back-up power source. This allows the combination of communications and clean energy generation in one structure on a much smaller footprint.
To read more about this, see our work with Vodafone.