Performance Enhancement of Wind Turbine Blades

Miki Amitay
Professor of Aerospace Engineering, and Director, Center for Flow Physics and Control (CeFPaC)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY

Flow Control
Flow control: Any mechanism or process through which the flow is caused to behave differently than it normally would.

Flow control mechanisms

passive
baseline

Turbulators / surface roughness

w/control

active

Synthetic jets

Unsteady blowing Oscillating ribbon or flap Internal and external acoustic excitations Oscillating surface
(fact ~ 10.fnatural)

fact ~ fnatural ( fshed)

Applications
Aerodynamic performance (circulation, separation, drag) Internal flows (separation, head losses) Heat transfer control (electronic/film cooling) Mixing enhancement (combustion, noise) Structural vibrations control Virtual shaping of building; wind channeling Building integrated wind
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Active Flow Control Triad

Flow Phenomena (Physics and modeling) Flow separation Fluid/Structure interactions (structural vibration) Sectional Lift Spanwise flows Noise sources Laminar/turbulent flows Devices Controls Flow Phenomena TE Flaps Neural Networks Microtabs Adaptive Active Synthetic Jets Physical Model-Based Flow Active Flexible Wall Dynamic System-Based Control Optimal Control Theory Actuators Triad Piezoelectric Sensors Motors Conventional MEMS Optical Fluidics MEMS
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Motivation and Objectives

Motivation
As wind energy production increases using large wind turbine rotor diameters, the blades become more susceptible to atmospheric phenomena that places higher fatigue loads and thus structural vibrations, which directly impact the operating life of the wind turbine.
Thus, turbine manufacturers seek to implement techniques to reduce these loads and high amplitude vibrations.

Objectives
Reduce the amplitude of blade structural vibrations using synthetic jet based active flow control techniques. Reduce blade vibrations by selectively reattaching the flow along the blade span, thereby manipulating the aerodynamic load along the span.

Performance Enhancement using Flow Control

Extend the range of usable wind Unforced

Forced Reduce blades structural stress Blade tip deflection

Time

Synthetic Jets

Synthetic Jet Actuator

(fact ~ 10.fnatural)

Piezoelectric disk

Zero-net-mass-flux (ZNMF) Allows momentum transfer to the flow Diaphragm and cavity are driven near resonance Small electric power input (~1Watt per actuator) No plumbing or any mechanical complexity is needed Low cost ($0.50 to $200)
Glezer & Amitay, Synthetic Jets, Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech., 34, 2002 Amitay & Cannelle, Evolution of Finite Span Synthetic Jets , Physics of Fluids, 18, 5, 2006

Wind Turbine Model

6-components load cell

S809 Airfoil Blade Span - b = 450mm Root chord - cr = 203mm Taper ratio ct/cr = 0.68 Aspect ratio of 2.63

Root jets Strain gauge Accelerometer Dynamic pressure Synthetic jet orifices

Middle jets Tip jets

Array of synthetic jets (LE &TE): LE at x/c = 0.25, TE at x/c = 0.9

Active Gurney Flaps

Momentum coefficient:

C
9x10-4 <

1 2

2 U j j Aj U 2 Aw

C < 1x10-2
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Vibration Control: Tip Deflection & PSD

0 -0.5

Test Conditions: C = 2.24x10-3,

(a)
Baseline Forcing - Sine wave

= 16 , and ReU = 1.6x105

-1

-1.5 -2

-2.5 -3 -3.5 0.2 0.4 t [sec] 0.6 0.8

Without control, the blade oscillates at its structural mode with an amplitude of ~1mm Tip deflection is significantly reduced when AFC is applied The power spectrum shows that the turbulent kinetic energy is significantly reduced
8 7 6

Tip Deflection [mm]

103

Structural

102

(b)
PSD at fstruc

101

5 4 3 2 1

PSD

100

Flow (shedding)

10-1

10-2

10-3 100

10

10

Frequency [Hz]

0 0

0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.006

Velocity Vector Field at y/b = 0.33

Test Conditions: ReU = 1.6x105, = 16

0.2

0.2

z/clocal

-0.2

-0.2

Baseline
-0.4 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0

Sinusoidal actuation
-1 -0.8 -0.6

-0.4

x/clocal

x/clocal

-0.4

-0.2

The baseline flow is fully separated. Sinusoidal actuation results in almost complete flow reattachment.
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Closed-Loop Control System

18

Synthetic Jets Strain gauge

Pitch rate
15

12

1 deg/s 2 deg/s 4 deg/s 8 deg/s

Encoder

DC Motor
6

Signal Conditioner

Servo Amplifier

Signal Amplifier

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

AOA Root Strain Signal

xPC Target Control Computer

Motor Command

t [sec] Dynamic pitch waveforms

Waveform Generator

Ethernet

Matlab / Simulink PC

To simulate a sudden change in wind direction or wind gust

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Closed-Loop Control of Structural Vibrations

Baseline Forced AOA

ReU = 1.6x105

Tip deflection amplitude [mm]

1 deg/s
0.2 0.20 18 0.2
0.16

2 deg/s
18 0.2 15 15

4 deg/s
18 15

0.16
0.12

0.16

0.16

12 0.12 0.08 9
0.04 0.08 0

12 0.12 9 0.08 0.08 6 0.04 0.04 0.12

12

0.04

10

t [sec]

20

30

12

15

0 18

0 12

Without flow control, the deflection amplitude is near zero for 0 < < 15, followed by a rapid increase (due to flow separation). Then, the vibrations amplitude decreases back (with hysteresis) to zero following the pitch down motion. Using closed-loop control: the increase in the amplitude was detected; the jets were activated, resulting in a significantly lower vibrations (due to flow reattachment) for all ramp rates.

[deg]

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Pitching/Flapping Wind Tunnel Model

S809 Airfoil Finite Span Blade Span - b = 419 mm Chord - c = 127 mm Aspect ratio of 3.3 Two Jet Arrays Forward array at xj/c = 0.1 Rear array at xj/c = 0.2

Instrumentation Laser Vibrometer Measurement Six Component Load Cell Labview for motion control and Data Acquisition
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Dynamic Pitch
14o
Dynamic Pitch parameters
A

5.5o 4.8 *10

4

kf

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Dynamic Pitch
14o
Dynamic Pitch parameters
A

5.5o 4.8 *10

3

kf

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PIV Data during Dynamic Motion

14 Degrees Dynamic Pitching up Jets off Total Velocity (m/sec) 14 Degrees Dynamic Pitching up Jets on

14 Degrees Dynamic Pitching down Jets off Total Velocity (m/sec)

14 Degrees Dynamic Pitching down Vtotal [m/sec] Jets on

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Hysteresis Reduction

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Passive and Active Control

The synthetic jet orifice (open but not actuated) results in reduction in hysteresis - strategic placement of the jet orifice can be used as a passive device.

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Comparing Partial to Full Loop

Dynamic Pitch parameters
Jets Start at = 14o

14o

5.5o

kf

4.8 *10

Activation of the flow control for only a portion of the dynamic pitch cycle results in the same performance as a full cycle actuation, but without the loss at low pitch angles, and with less input power!

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Pulse Modulation vs. Full Loop

Dynamic Pitch parameters
Jets modulated at 260 Hz (F+ of 1)

14o

5.5o

kf

4.8 *10

Using pulse modulation, where the jets are activated for only a portion of the time, results in a significant reduction of the hysteresis with a fraction of the input power.

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Summary

Active flow control, using synthetic jet actuators, has been shown to be a viable means to enhance turbine blades performance Using synthetic jets, the blades structural vibrations are significantly reduced during static conditions

The effect of the synthetic jet was also explored during dynamic motion of the blade, where hysteresis and structural were significantly reduced
The combination of these effects could lead to reduced maintenance cost and improved power output

Thanks to
Grad students: Keith Taylor (PhD student). Victor Maldonado (MS student) Undergrad students: Marianne Monastero, Clay Harp, Hannah Sheldon Research Engineer: Dr. Chia Leong In parallel to the experiments, we conduct numerical study, led by Prof. Onkar Sahni.

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Tip Vibrations,
Baseline

= 18o, Rec = 220,000

Actuated

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Tip Vibrations,

= 18o, Rec = 220,000

Primary structural frequency

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Typical Power Curve of Commercial Wind Turbines

Region I: the wind speed is too low for the turbine to generate power
Region II: (sub-rated power region): between the cut-in speed and rated speed. Here the generator operates at below rated power (power is proportional to the cube of wind speed)

Region III: power output is limited by the turbine; this occurs when the wind is sufficient for the turbine to reach its rated output power
Region IV: period of stronger winds, where the power in the wind is so great that it could be detrimental to the turbine, so the turbine shuts down.

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Energy Optimization and Load Control

Most large turbines (O(MWs) in rated power) use variable-speed rotors combined with active collective blade pitch to optimize energy yield and control loads.

In Region II, turbines tend to operate at a fixed pitch using variable rotor speed to maintain an optimal tip-speed ratio and maximize energy capture.
In Region III, the rotor operates at near constant speed and the blades are pitched to maintain the torque within acceptable limits. Difficulties arise in turbulent winds when excessive loading (both extreme and fatigue loads) occurs. Using current technology, it is difficult to mitigate these loads; pitching of the entire blade is too slow and variable rotor speed allows shedding for some of the high loads, but not all. The need to mitigate excessive loads has led to investigations of new methods of control. Variable-speed rotors and collective pitch are not capable of handling oscillatory or fatigue loads. These loads occur as a result of rotor yaw errors, wind shear, wind upflow, shaft tilt, wind gusts, and turbulence in the wind flow. The traditional method of pitch control uses a collective mode, in which all blades are adjusted simultaneously. Advanced methods of pitch control (cyclic pitch and individual pitch) are being investigated.

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Cyclic Pitch and Individual Pitch Control

Cyclic pitch control varies the blade pitch angles to alleviate the load variations caused by rotor tilt and yaw errors to keep the power at a desired level Individual pitch control adjusts the pitch angle of each individual blade independently to minimize loads without affecting the power output. The goal is to create two load-reducing systems (collective pitch and individual pitch) that are independent.

There are two major concerns when considering individual pitch control: 1. The entire blade still must be pitched. The flow conditions along a long blade are not uniform and therefore pitching the entire blade may not be ideal. 2. The pitching mechanism may be unable to act fast enough to relieve the oscillating loads due to wind gusts (gusts have rise times on the order of seconds and last for 5 to 10 seconds)

Challenges:
1. Response time requirements to counter load perturbations 2. Larger pitch motors 3. Power required to operate the system

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