An engineering team from the University of Virginia just published wind turbine designs that could enable a leap forward in generating clean energy, Tech Xplore reported.
Wind turbines have been getting bigger for a long time. The bigger they are, the more wind they can capture and the more power they can generate. This is especially important as the world moves to offshore wind farms.
However, making them bigger isn't as simple as scaling up existing designs. Past a certain point, the force of the wind and the weight of the turbine itself is more than the material of the turbine can tolerate, and it will break.
That means new designs have to balance lightness, structural strength, and efficient energy generation, using new blade shapes to achieve all three — and this team has just published designs that could lead to a new generation of wind turbines.
UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science professor Eric Loth led the team, which included researchers and engineering professors from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Washington State University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The lead author was doctoral student Michael Jeong, Loth's graduate research assistant.
"Our research focuses on designing cost-efficient wind turbine rotors at unprecedented sizes, meant to operate offshore where winds are stronger," Jeong explained, per Tech Xplore. "Models like 25 MW Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotor (SUMR) envisioned by Professor Loth are among the largest designs to be published and promise high energy capture while optimizing costs. With wind turbines continuously growing in size, it has become essential to improve on design strategies and to consider the structural challenges for turbines at these scale."
The researchers made adjustments to the shape and angle of the blades, as well as their thickness.
"We designed rotors with small, medium, and large blade widths relative to the blade length and used wind turbine simulation codes to predict which of the three rotors performs the best in the highly sheared wind typical of offshore conditions," Jeong said, per Tech Xplore.
Ultimately, a blade of medium thickness performed best. It would generate the most power for its weight and cost, leading to lower energy bills for users and making clean energy that much more cost-effective.
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"The impact of Michael's work extends beyond just one turbine design," Loth said, per Tech Xplore. "It lays the foundation for future innovations in wind energy technology."
Wind energy continues to see progress in all sorts of ways. In March and April of 2024, wind power surpassed coal power in the U.S. for two consecutive months for the first time ever. China, meanwhile, has produced massive turbines that can withstand hurricanes.
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