Two sensors per blade makes turbine safer

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: The pitch control system is among the most important on a wind turbine, say engineers at German turbine manufacturer Vensys Energy AG. The control measures, monitors, and adjusts the working angle of the rotor blades on a wind turbine, which can change its power output. The control also …

Can an air leak let turbines capture more energy?

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: An idea originally developed to increase the lift of slow moving aircraft wings and simplify helicopter rotors may soon improve the efficiency of wind turbine rotors and possibly reduce their manufacture costs. The aerodynamic idea of “circulation control” releases compressed air fro …

Sign the blade: GE sends wind blade on tour

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: GE recently kicked off a 28-day multi-state wind blade tour to emphasize the role renewable energy will have on America’s clean energy future. The tour will showcase one of GE’s 131-foot advanced technology wind turbine blades that will serve as a traveling petition signed by the public. The …

Building a better turbine blade

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Craig Collier/President, Collier Research Corp./Hampton Roads, Va./ hypersizer.com A first objective on most any large design project is to get to the lightest weight possible. At NASA Langley Research Center, where I helped develop the code that later became HyperSizer, designs for space …

Can intelligent blades sense the wind and adapt?

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: The question is one to be answered by an independent manufacturer of wind turbine blades as it enters a three-year research project supported by the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation to develop laser-based wind sensory systems as an integrated part of future wind turbines. The proje …

Tough crane provides a gentle touch for turbine equipment

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: The ISL Model gantry crane is a heavy duty model engineered for higher duty cycles due to increased hoisting drum speeds, as well as increased ground speeds. The cranes, from Shuttlelift, Sturgeon Bay, Wisc, have fully traversing hooks, those that move the entire width of the crane for easy l …

Free equipment for manufacturing composite blades

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: The manufacturer of large-scale and mobile fabric impregnators is looking for a turbine blade-manufacturing company interested in using, at no obligation, a fabric impregnator engineered to manufacture the blades. The equipment, from Magnum Venus Plastech, Kent, Wash., has been used to make larg …

Research center for carbon fiber blades

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Low-cost carbon fiber for industrial applications, including advanced wind turbine blades, is the goal for an expanding chemical company. Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich., says it will expand its renewable and alternative energy reach in the state thanks to more than $108 million in business tax cre …

Developer says 20% blade weight reduction possible

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Increasing rotor blade length increases its swept area, thereby increasing the amount of captured energy. But larger blades add significant weight to a turbine. So reducing wind-structure weights through composite materials is essential to improving overall efficiency. HyperSizer Structural Sizi …

Can an air leak give turbine rotors an efficiency boost?

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: An idea originally developed to increase lift in slow moving aircraft wings and simplify helicopter rotors may soon improve the efficiency of wind turbine rotors and possibly reduce their cost of manufacturing. This "circulation control" aerodynamic technology could let wind turbines produce signifi …