Shark inspires new 40% more efficient turbine design

[FLPanhandle]

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2011/02/08/re-designed-strait-power-water-turbine-inspired-by-earths-laziest-predator/

In a new and never-to-be-continued column I like to call ‘totally ripping off nature’, industrial designer Anthony Reale has designed a new kind of water turbine called the ‘Strait Power’ which was inspired by our planet’s laziest predator, the Basking Shark. The shark basically spends a good 18 hours a day drifting through the waters with its mouth wide open, filter feeding on zooplankton. But it turns out that thanks to a clever design the Basking Shark creates a pressure differential as it moves through the water which helps to automatically draw water through its gills, instead of actively having to pump water through its system.



I find this stuff so cool.

[Arctic Dave]

1. 40%, that is one hell of a jump in effiiciency.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Let's hope the shark doesn't sue him

for patent violations.

[Ozymanithrax]

3. That'll teach the shark for not patenting its mouth. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

4. We could learn so much from Mother Nature's designs, if we don't destroy them all first.

Thanks for the thread, FLPanhandle:thumbsup:

[Silent3]

5. My first thought was that they threatened...

...to feed the engineers to a shark if they didn't come up with a more efficient design.