May 19, 2010
"Schooled" wind turbines
Arrange a bunch of vertical-axis wind
turbines like a school of fish and you can boost the amount of energy
each turbine produces.
A computer model inspired by the fluid dynamics of schools
of fish shows that in an array of vertical-axis turbines the wakes
generated by upwind turbines can increase the power output of downwind
turbines. The right arrangement results in average turbine performance
of up to 1.4 times that of standalone turbines.
Turbine wake is usually detrimental, which means today's more
common horizontal-axis wind turbines have to be spread apart. This
limits the number of turbines that can be placed in a given area.
Horizontal-axis turbines are more efficient than vertical-axis
wind turbines, but the fish-inspired arrangement could make vertical-axis
turbines more efficient on a farm-by-farm basis. The scheme could
increase the amount of wind energy that can be collected from a given
area by as much as 10 times compared to horizontal-axis wind turbines.
The researchers are developing more detailed models and conducting
field tests to assess the system over longer periods of time and in
various wind conditions.
Fish schooling as a basis
for vertical axis wind turbine farm design
arXiv (submitted to BioInspiration and Biomimetics)
John O. Dabiri
Caltech Field Laboratory for Optimized Wind Energy (FLOWE) --
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