I have been studying up on bladeless turbines, like the one in this video and after looking at their website FAQ and their patent information, there seems to be some potential for design improvements and decreased costs in building one.

For example:

1. They are striving for a "no moving parts" system, this limits some of the available (and possibly more efficient) options for power generating at the base.
   
2. Their mast is hollow and based on their description seems to be a little fragile. (would not survive the wind where I live)
   
3. As someone who lives in a constant high wind area, I know that there are some shapes that are more efficient in wind capture than the shape they seem to be using.
4. They say that the cost would be "similar price to medium-high production solar panels." which would be putting it outside of many peoples price range.

After initially doing the research, and still being in the design phase till I print some parts for the prototype, I have come up with a design that takes all of this into account which would have the following characteristics:

1. It uses some moving parts, but cheap and easy to repair should they fail. While they seem to be focusing on "no moving parts" my design is more geared towards "one person can set it up and maintain it".
   
2. Solid core mast, based on estimates it will be really strong while still remaining fairly light due to its shape.
3. While it uses a mast, the design of the mast is a bit different and I believe it would be more efficient at catching wind regardless of direction.
   
4. Other than the mast itself, it uses a lot of "off the shelf" parts that you would find at your local hardware store, very cheap to build and maintain.
   
5. The larger you make the base, the more power generation you can get out of one mast (exact numbers will be available if I build the prototype).
   

At this point I am wondering if it is worth taking it from the design stage to the prototype stage, but if I run into patent issues then may never get beyond prototype.

Would my "improvements" be enough that I could possibly get a patent on my own design?

If I file for a patent, would I then have to also reference their patent?

If a patent were not feasible for some reason, would I be able to release my design as an opensource "do it yourself" project or would that be patent violation?

Just a few thoughts/questions I have before proceeding.