Galang, Ariane Joy D.

2013 48638

Sir Ace Acosta

When MIT graduate Shawn Frayne visited a village in Haiti that was not powered or connected to
an electrical grid, he realized the need of rural villages for a low cost electric generator that can
easily be assembled and put up. Instead of using traditional kerosene lamps, Frayne thought of
powering LEDs using micro-scale wind-based energy as a better alternative source of light for
poor villagers.
In 2004, he invented the Humdingers core technology which is the Windbelt that aimed to
produce energy enough to power light systems of rural areas and replace batteries in most
portable devices with the smallest cost possible.
For years now, turbines have been used to pound grains, pump water, and create electricity for
large scale applications but with equivalent large costs. Producing energy for small scale
applications with the smallest of costs and easily conceivable materials, on the other hand, has
been difficult and problematic for generator companies. Since Fraynes target market was
humble villages, turbine-based power generating technologies couldnt meet economic and
manufacturability standards.
With the Windbelt innovations breakthrough in the field of small scale wind energy
production, Frayne has been able to produce electricity from low wind speeds that can charge
cell phones and light white LEDs. This type of technology is known to be market pull that
addressed the need for convenient and efficient turbine-less wind energy generators.
The Windbelt innovation is an example of a breakthrough, product innovation in the field of
renewable energy generation. With Humdinger as the first company to produce turbine-less
wind generators for small scale and large scale use, the chain of incremental turbine
technologies has finally been broken by this new invention with costs of only US$10. The
Windbelt innovation is absolutely a radical innovation designed to replace turbines that have
nearly only 1% efficiency when used specifically for small scale applications. Aside from it being
the first turbine-less wind energy generator, its materials are very easy to acquire and thus
making it a simple and new product with far different components and assembling methods
from conventional turbines.
Although considered to be more of an invention, than just simply an innovation, the Windbelt
technology is a fresh approach to years-old problems regarding wind energy. It produces new
output and answers the questions in producing low cost and reliable electricity generation.

Sources:
http://www.humdingerwind.com/docs/IDDS_humdinger_techbrief_lowres.pdf
http://www.ijeit.com/vol%202/Issue%209/IJEIT1412201303_48.pdf
http://thefutureofthings.com/3210-windbelt-technology-good-vibrations/
http://www.humdingerwind.com/
http://www.elrha.org/hif/innovation-resource-hub/innovation-explained/types-humanitarianinnovation/#1