A wind turbine designed to harness urban air as a source for renewable energy has won the James Dyson Award, an international design competition led by the British entrepreneur.

The product's inventors, Lancaster University graduates Nicolas Orellana and Yaseen Noorani, will receive £2,000 for winning the national award. The international winner will be selected from hundreds of applications later this year.

The UK winners were inspired by watching the movements of the Mars Tumbleweed Rover device 12 years ago.

The Tumbleweed Rover was an inflatable ball designed to track atmospheric conditions in different locations, but was unable to withstand challenging conditions and terrain.

Unlike current turbines, designed to capture only horizontal wind, their 25-cm spherical turbine makes use of air approaching from all directions. It sits on a fixed axis and spins when wind hits it from any direction due to the geometric structure of its vents.

When wind energy turns the device, gears are triggered which kickstart a generator, converting the energy from the air into electricity.