Downwind pre‐aligned rotors for extreme‐scale wind turbines

• DOI: 10.1002/we.2092
• Publication Date: 2017-03-08T07:56:48Z
• Authors: Eric Loth; Adam Steele; Chao Qin; Brian Ichter; Michael S. Selig; Patrick Moriarty
• Keywords: 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology; 7. Clean energy

Abstract Downwind force angles are small for current turbines systems (1–5 MW) such that they may be readily accommodated by conventional upwind configurations. However, analysis indicates extreme‐scale (10–20 will have larger benefit from downwind‐aligned To examine potential rotor mass reduction, the pre‐alignment concept was investigated a two‐bladed configuration keeping structural and aerodynamic characteristics of each blade fixed (to avoids complete re‐design). Simulations 13.2 MW rated at steady‐state conditions show this concept‐level design yield 25% savings while also reducing average stress over all wind speeds. These results employed on basis speed 1.25 times speed. The downwind pre‐aligned reduce damage equivalent loads blades 60% steady conditions. Even higher load (relative to designs) possible (15–20 which load‐alignment become even larger. much more work is needed determine whether can translated into practical must meet wide myriad other criteria. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.