Wind-adjusting wind turbine

What is the difference between upwind and downwind turbines?

Upwind turbines—like the one shown here—face into the wind while downwind turbines face away. Most utility-scale land-based wind turbines are upwind turbines. The wind vane measures wind direction and communicates with the yaw drive to orient the turbine properly with respect to the wind.

How can a new wind turbine model help a wind farm?

For example, operators of wind farms must constantly adjust a variety of parameters, including the orientation of each turbine as well as its rotation speed and the angle of its blades, in order to maximize power output while maintaining safety margins. The new model can provide a simple, speedy way of optimizing those factors in real time.

Could a new rotor model improve wind turbine design?

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. A new model accurately represents the airflow around rotors, even under extreme conditions. Developed by MIT engineers, the model could improve the way turbine blades and wind farms are designed.

How can a wind turbine increase power output?

According to their research, there are two key strategies for enhancing power generation—increasing the axial velocity or reducing the blade tip losses. In the former case, boosting the axial velocity of the incoming wind allows the turbine to capture more kinetic energy. This increase in velocity contributes to improved power output.

How does adjusting an upwind turbine's angle affect a misaligned turbine?

So, the team focused specifically on developing improved models for how adjusting an upwind turbine's angle affects both the downwind turbines and also the performance of the misaligned turbine itself. Importantly, the performance of the misaligned turbine depends on the incident atmospheric wind conditions that flow into the farm.

Can misaligning wind turbines improve power output?

In fact, in an earlier paper in 2022, Howland and his team found that deliberately misaligning some turbines slightly relative to the incoming airflow within a wind farm significantly improves the overall power output of the wind farm by reducing wake disturbances to the downstream turbines.