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Performance analysis of a small wind turbine equipped with flexible blades

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  • MacPhee, David W.
  • Beyene, Asfaw

Abstract

Wind turbine efficiency can drop drastically away from design conditions, which is especially troublesome for small fixed-pitch, constant speed types of devices and those operating in highly variable winds. Recent advances in the design of adaptive structures gives rise to a new turbine concept, employing continuous shape morphing, allowing the turbine to adapt more effectively to variable conditions. Such morphing blades could increase energy capture, and help small wind turbines become more economically viable through increased efficiency over a wide range of wind speeds and tip-speed ratios. In this paper, we examine the practicality of a flexible or morphing bladed turbine through experimental and numerical analysis. Experiments are conducted comparing a prototype rigid bladed design to an identical flexible one, with a total of 18 data sets containing 230 data points. Experimental results show that the flexible design outperforms the rigid one, especially when experiencing unfavorable loading conditions. Maximal corrected power coefficients were increased in all cases, up to 32.6%. The operational range was also increased in most cases, to a maximum of 34.5% over the rigid bladed design. These results suggest that the flexible design could produce more power than a rigid one, especially when conditions are sub-optimal.

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  • MacPhee, David W. & Beyene, Asfaw, 2019. "Performance analysis of a small wind turbine equipped with flexible blades," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 497-508.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:132:y:2019:i:c:p:497-508
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.08.014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. MacPhee, David W. & Beyene, Asfaw, 2015. "Experimental and Fluid Structure Interaction analysis of a morphing wind turbine rotor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 1055-1065.
    2. Rocha, P.A. Costa & Rocha, H.H. Barbosa & Carneiro, F.O. Moura & Vieira da Silva, M.E. & Bueno, A. Valente, 2014. "k–ω SST (shear stress transport) turbulence model calibration: A case study on a small scale horizontal axis wind turbine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 412-418.
    3. Ryi, Jaeha & Rhee, Wook & Chang Hwang, Ui & Choi, Jong-Soo, 2015. "Blockage effect correction for a scaled wind turbine rotor by using wind tunnel test data," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 227-235.
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    1. Koca, Kemal & Genç, Mustafa Serdar & Ertürk, Sevde, 2022. "Impact of local flexible membrane on power efficiency stability at wind turbine blade," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 1163-1173.
    2. Xue, Zhanpu & Wang, Wei & Fang, Liqing & Zhou, Jingbo, 2020. "Numerical simulation on structural dynamics of 5 MW wind turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 222-233.
    3. Yu-Ting Wu & Chang-Yu Lin & Che-Ming Hsu, 2020. "An Experimental Investigation of Wake Characteristics and Power Generation Efficiency of a Small Wind Turbine under Different Tip Speed Ratios," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, April.
    4. Azael Duran Castillo & Juan C. Jauregui-Correa & Francisco Herbert & Krystel K. Castillo-Villar & Jesus Alejandro Franco & Quetzalcoatl Hernandez-Escobedo & Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno & Alfredo Alcayd, 2021. "The Effect of a Flexible Blade for Load Alleviation in Wind Turbines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-15, August.
    5. Chu, Yung-Jeh & Lam, Heung-Fai, 2020. "Comparative study of the performances of a bio-inspired flexible-bladed wind turbine and a rigid-bladed wind turbine in centimeter-scale," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    6. Abdulbasit Mohammed & Belete Sirahbizu & Hirpa G. Lemu, 2022. "Optimal Rotary Wind Turbine Blade Modeling with Bond Graph Approach for Specific Local Sites," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-17, September.
    7. Zhanpu Xue & Hao Zhang & Yunguang Ji, 2023. "Dynamic Response of a Flexible Multi-Body in Large Wind Turbines: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-25, April.
    8. Gao, Rongzhen & Yang, Junwei & Yang, Hua & Wang, Xiangjun, 2023. "Wind-tunnel experimental study on aeroelastic response of flexible wind turbine blades under different wind conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P2).
    9. Hércules Araújo Oliveira & José Gomes de Matos & Luiz Antonio de Souza Ribeiro & Osvaldo Ronald Saavedra & Jerson Rogério Pinheiro Vaz, 2023. "Assessment of Correction Methods Applied to BEMT for Predicting Performance of Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-26, April.
    10. Koca, Kemal & Genç, Mustafa Serdar & Bayır, Esra & Soğuksu, Fatma Kezban, 2022. "Experimental study of the wind turbine airfoil with the local flexibility at different locations for more energy output," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PA).
    11. Wang, Longyan & Xu, Jian & Wang, Zilu & Zhang, Bowen & Luo, Zhaohui & Yuan, Jianping & Tan, Andy C.C., 2023. "A novel cost-efficient deep learning framework for static fluid–structure interaction analysis of hydrofoil in tidal turbine morphing blade," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 367-384.

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    Keywords

    Wind; Turbine; Flexible; Energy; Morphing; FSI;
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