DAWT Rebranding as Compact wind acceleration turbine

By Paul Gipe

WARNING: There’s an attempt to rebrand Diffuser-Augmented Wind Turbines (DAWT), also known as Shrouded Wind Turbines as Compact wind acceleration turbine. Why this is so isn’t clear.

It is possible that the disastrous commercial and technical history of DAWTs, shrouded turbines, and concentrators has so poisoned the Internet well that promoters of these designs think the only way to get their message of new “revolutionary products” out is to coin a new term.

The Wikipedia entry forthrightly states “CWATs are a new acronym that encompasses the class of machines formerly known as DAWTs (diffuser augmented wind turbines). The technologies mentioned above all use diffuser augmentation that is substantially similar to previous designs as the primary means of acceleration.” After noting that “The concept of these structures has been around for decades but has not gained wide acceptance in the marketplace.”

While the Wikipedia entry is not written in a promotional manner, as are some other entries on novel wind turbines, it is clear in the first paragraph that the reason for the entry of a new term is the introduction of several new designs.

Defunct Optiwind is the first mentioned. (This looks like a modern-day version of TARP for Toroidal Acceleration Rotor Platform from the 1970s.) Followed by the aggressive company FloDesign that has been promising a ducted turbine for several years. Google picks up no mention of the turbine since the prototype was installed a year ago. The web site is not active. Elsewhere on the Web, FloDesign claims to have raised $40 million to develop its “new product”.

Worse, the Wikipedia entry also lists Wind Tamer (rebranded Arista) and WindCube and Enflo. I’ve written about all three. See Windtamer, Wind Cube Squarely Over the Top, and Ducted or Augmented Turbines–Enflo.

It appears from a quick Google search that the rebranding hasn’t paid off. The companies mentioned all appear to be defunct or in some form of netherworld. They are certainly not commercial.