In a bid to increase efficiency and reduce costs, wind turbine developers have produced a number of interesting, and perhaps radical, designs for new turbines. Here are six of the more interesting designs to have appeared recently. Contact online >>
In a bid to increase efficiency and reduce costs, wind turbine developers have produced a number of interesting, and perhaps radical, designs for new turbines. Here are six of the more interesting designs to have appeared recently.
In a bid to increase efficiency and reduce costs, wind turbine developers have produced a number of interesting, and perhaps radical, designs for new turbines, as well as further developed the capabilities of conventional models. This pattern of innovation has examined areas such as materials design, aerodynamics, rotor size and form, and durability. Here are six of the more interesting designs to have appeared recently.
Vortex Bladeless is a company that has developed a bladeless wind turbine that it says has the potential to be more efficient, less visually intrusive and safer for wildlife, particularly birds, than conventional turbines. The RSPB and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), both vocal critics of the wind industry, have welcomed the new turbine, which contains no moving parts and is virtually noiseless while also reducing vibration.
The turbine uses the energy of vorticity in which wind bypasses a fixed structure, generating a cyclical pattern of vortices which then causes the structure to oscillate. The new turbine captures this energy via a fixed mast, power generator, and a hollow, lightweight cylinder. There are no moving parts, thereby eliminating the need for lubrication and reducing wear and tear. It is also cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
Dutch tech firm The Archimedes has developed the Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine for domestic use, generating as much as 80 percent energy from the wind while also being considerably quieter than conventional turbines, compact and affordable. It can also capture wind energy from multiple directions. The turbine features a front-facing rotor but is designed along the lines of the Archimedes screw pump which was used in Ancient Greece to pump water.
The blade is shaped like a spiral, enabling it to swivel and collect wind energy at angles up to 60º from the central axis. The turbine can generate energy from wind speeds of up to 5 meters per second, delivering up to 1,500-kilowatt-hours per year, thereby enabling the supply of about a third to half the electricity of an average Dutch home.
Invelox has been developed by Sheerwind, a company based in Minnesota, USA. It is shaped like a funnel with an omnidirectional intake area that allows wind collection from multiple directions. The wind is funneled through the system and concentrated and further accelerated in the Venturi Effect section of the system.
The Venturi Effect is a phenomenon that occurs when a fluid flowing through a pipe is forced through a narrow section, thereby resulting in a decrease in pressure and an increase in velocity. The wind is then delivered to the turbine/generators and converted into electricity. The technology utilizes current turbines and rotors but brings them down to ground level, enabling easier and cheaper operation and maintenance.
This is actually a type of rotor blade that can be used in both wind turbines and marine energy devices, developed by a company called Whalepower, whose founder, Dr. Frank E. Fish, noticed that humpback whales use strange bumps on the leading edge of their fins to utilize the fluid dynamics of their marine environment. The company created versions of these bumps on the leading edge of its rotors to overcome the limitations of fluid dynamics. This, in turn, increases efficiency performance and reliability while also reducing noise.
The 2.5-120 wind turbine is a conventional model designed for high performance, reliability and availability and building on the performance of its predecessors. The turbine features a 120-meter rotor with single-blade pitch control incorporating the latest enhancements in load management controls, low acoustic emissions, efficient electrical power conversion, and robust performance.
It was designed for forested areas and low to medium wind sites and offers a 25 percent increase in capacity factor and a 15 percent increase in Annual Energy Production (AEP). This, in turn, increases full load operating hours, improving project economics for wind farm developers.
The DW61 (Direct Wind 61) has been developed by EWT, building on the experience of the DW54. The turbine has been designed to significantly increase output through a larger rotor diameter, resulting from the latest aerodynamic blade designs and advanced control technologies.
The company focused its development on the global requirement for a localized generation, both on-grid and off-grid, for high yield and competitive costs with regard to local grid supply. The prototype DW61 was recently installed in Lelystad, The Netherlands, and the company is expecting the first units to be deployed in the third quarter of 2016.
In 2012, two wind turbine blade innovations made wind power a higher performing, more cost-effective, and reliable source of electricity: a blade that can twist while it bends and blade airfoils (the cross-sectional shape of wind turbine blades) with a flat or shortened edge.
The evolution of bend-twist-coupled blades with flatback airfoils represents a story of the U.S. Department of Energy''s (DOE) investment and leadership, national laboratory and university research and development, as well as industry collaboration and commercialization. This is also a story of continuous improvement and multidisciplinary problem solving, helping wind energy to become a key player in today''s domestic energy mix.
Before the mid-1990s, wind power was not yet commercially viable because it was still more expensive per kilowatt-hour than energy from conventional electric power plants. The wind industry needed to make improvements that could reliably produce more power per turbine. But finding ways to make such advancements posed challenges.
Wind industry researchers understood that larger rotors with longer blades can capture more energy per turbine, in turn reducing the cost per kilowatt-hour. However, without changes in blade design, the weight and cost and of the longer blade would multiply, thus outweighing the benefits. Additionally, even a small expansion in blade diameter increased wear and tear caused by wind gusts and turbulence.
Competing engineering considerations represented another challenge to the goal of more power at lower cost. Aerodynamic engineers wanted thin shapes from the blade root to the tip to generate as much power as possible. Thinner blades have lower drag and are therefore inherently more efficient for producing power. Structural engineers wanted thicker blade shapes which are structurally more efficient. And manufacturing engineers struggled to control quality when layering fiberglass to support complex shapes with intricate structural requirements.
In the late 1990s, DOE''s Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) began funding research at Sandia National Laboratories, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, universities, and manufacturing companies with a focus on cost-effectively increasing rotor diameter and improving efficiency in order to develop wind turbines that could produce more electricity.
Focusing on optimizing wind turbine aerodynamic efficiency, performance, and manufacturing ease, this work examined a broad range of ideas. Among these were bend-twist-coupled wind turbine blades and flatback airfoils, two separate innovations developed in parallel. Both ideas had been mentioned in early studies for aerospace applications but had never been seriously considered for wind turbine applications.
Bend-twist-coupled blades with flatback airfoils reduce wear and allow for longer blades without increasing their weight or cost. DOE investment and leadership, national laboratory and university research and development, and industry collaboration and commercialization made these blades possible.
Wind turbine blades naturally bend when pushed by strong winds, but high gusts that bow blades excessively and wind turbulence that flexes blades back and forth reduce their life span.
Bend-twist-coupled blades twist as they bend. As wind forces the blade to flex, twisting changes the blade''s angle of attack (the angle at which the blade meets the wind), and thus reduces the load on the blade, decreases stress, and allows for longer blade length without added weight or expense.
Another innovation that helped reduce blade weight is flatback airfoils, which are easier to manufacture, and enhance structural strength and aerodynamic performance.
The outer half of the blade delivers the bulk of the energy production. The inner half must carry these energy-producing loads to the generator and thus have greater structural demands. An integrated system design using a flatback only for the inner portion of the blade, and thinner airfoils for the outer portion, results in an optimized blade that is lighter, despite being longer.
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