Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access

Advances in morphing wind turbine blade for wind energy conversion

World Congress and Exhibition on Wind & Renewable Energy

July 28-30, 2016 Berlin, Germany

Asfaw Beyene

San Diego State University, USA

Keynote: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl

Abstract :

One serious challenge of energy systems design, wind turbines in particular, is the need to match the system operation to the variable load. Invariably, system efficiency drops at off-design load, i.e., both at over- and under-load regimes. One strategy to address this challenge for wind turbine blades, and obtain a more consistent efficiency over a full or wide load range, is by controlling the pitch. This is a cumbersome intervention because it is costly - adding complexity and energy investment to the system operation. A better alternative would be varying the blade geometry passively with a predictable morphing of wind turbine blade in reaction to wind load conditions. This concept, introduced recently, is derived from fish locomotion, as from spoilers and ailerons. In this work, we employ a fully coupled technique on CFD and FEM models to introduce continuous morphing to desired and predetermined NACA 4412 profile. Then, we assess the aerodynamic behaviour of a morphing wind turbine airfoil using a two-dimensional computation. The computational results suggest that the morphing blade has superior part-load efficiency over the rigid NACA blade.

Biography :

Asfaw Beyene graduated with PhD from Warsaw University of Tech., Warsaw. He is a Fellow member of ASME, and currently serves as Director of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at SDSU. His research integrates analytical, computational, and experimental techniques to address fundamental and practical problems of energy conversion. He has developed novel methods for wind and wave energy conversion. Over the years, he has attracted several millions of dollars in funding from NSF, DOE, US Navy, CEC, and others. He is the recipient of many research and teaching awards. He has authored significant number of refereed journal articles, conference proceedings, and technical reports.

Email: abeyene@mail.sdsu.edu