• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.211-217
• /
• 2020

Vibrations of a wind turbine blade have a negative impact on its performance and result in failure of the blade, therefore an approach to effectively control vibration in turbine blades are sought by wind industry. The small domestic horizontal axis wind turbine blades induce flap wise (out-of-plane) vibration, due to varying wind speeds. These flap wise vibrations are transferred to the structure, which even causes catastrophic failure of the system. Shape memory alloys which possess physical property of variable stiffness across different phases are embedded into the composite blades for active vibration control. Previously Shape memory alloys have been used as actuators to change their angles and orientations in fighter jet blades but not used for active vibration control for wind turbine blades. In this work a GFRP blade embedded with Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) and tested for its vibrational and material damping characteristics, under martensitic and austenite conditions. The embedment portrays 47% reduction in displacement of blade, with respect to the conventional blade. An analytical model for the actuated smart blade is also proposed, which validates the harmonic response of the smart blade.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
• /
• 2004.03a
• /
• pp.401-407
• /
• 2004

This study proposes a interim development result for the l-㎾ class small wind turbine system, which is applicable to relatively low wind speed regions like Korea and has the variable pitch control mechanism. In the aerodynamic design of the wind turbine blade, parametric studies were carried out to determine an optimum aerodynamic configuration which is not only more efficient at low wind speed but whose diameter is not much larger than similar class other blades. A light composite structure, which can endure effectively various loads, was newly designed. In order to evaluate the structural design of the composite blade, the structural analysis was performed by the finite element method. Moreover both structural safety and stability were verified through the full-scale structural test.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.11-16
• /
• 2007

This paper describes the cycloidal wind turbine, which is a straight blade vertical axis wind turbine using the cycloidal blade system. Cycloidal blade system consists of several blades rotating about an axis in parallel direction. Each blade changes its pitch angle periodically. Cycloidal wind turbine is different from the previous turbines. The wind turbine operates with optimum rotating forces through active control of the blade to change pitch angle and phase angle according to the changes of wind direction and wind speed. Various numerical experiments were conducted to develop a small vertical axis wind turbine of 1 kW class. For this numerical analysis, the rotor system equips four blades consisting of a symmetric airfoil NACA0018 of 1.0m in span, 0.22m in chord and 1.0m in radius. A general purpose commercial CFD program, STAR-CD, was used for numerical analysis. PCL of MSC/PATRAN was used for efficient parametric auto mesh generation. Variables of wind speed, pitch angle, phase angle and rotating speed were set in the numerical experiments. The generated power was obtained according to the various combinations of these variables. Optimal pitch angle and phase angle of cycloidal blade system were obtained according to the change of the wind direction and the wind speed. Based on data obtained from the above analysis, control device was designed. The wind direction and the wind speed were sensed by a wind indicator and an anemometer. Each blades were actuated to optimal performance values by servo motors.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.5-11
• /
• 2012

This study is to develop a 1kW-class horizontal axis wind turbine(HAWT) rotor blade which will be applicable to relatively low wind speed regions in southwest islands in Korea. Shape design of 1kW-class small wind turbine rotor blade is carried out using a blade profile with relatively high lift to drag ratio by blade element momentum theory(BEMT). Aerodynamic analysis on the newly designed rotor blade is performed with the variation of tip speed ratio. Power coefficient and pressure coefficient of the designed rotor blade are investigated according to tip speed ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2012

A Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor imbedded small wind turbine blade was manufactured to experimentally investigate the feasibility to embed FBG sensors between layers of glass fiber to monitor dynamic strains of the wind turbine blade. The blade which is similar to a commercial 300 W wind turbine blade was manufactured with glass fiber as a reinforcement and epoxy resin as base material. A total of five FBG sensors including one temperature sensor were imbedded in the blade to sense mechanical strain and temperature. While manufacturing the blade, residual strain and temperature that occurred in the small wind turbine blade were monitored using the imbedded FBG sensor array. To examine the sensor performance, an impact test was carried out. The experimental results from the FBG sensors were close to those from electrical strain gages mounted on the blade root surface. The mode shapes of the blade were analyzed also using a commercial Ansys simulation with a model obtained from a three dimensional laser scanning of the blade.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.40-47
• /
• 2013

An aerodynamic design tool was developed for small wind turbine blades based on the blade element momentum theory. The lift and drag coefficients of blades that are needed for aerodynamic blade design were obtained in real time from the Xfoil program developed at University of Illinois. While running, the developed tool automatically accesses the Xfoil program, runs it with proper aerodynamic and airfoil properties, and finally obtains lift and drag coefficients. The obtained aerodynamic coefficients are then used to find out optimal twist angles and chord lengths of the airfoils. The developed tool was used to design a wind turbine blade using low Reynolds number airfoils, SG6040 and SG6043 to have its maximum power coefficient at a specified tip speed ratio. The performance of the blade was verified by a commercial code well known for its prediction accuracies.

• Journal of Wind Energy
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.33-42
• /
• 2014

The new aerofoil, KA2 was designed to apply to the wind turbine blade. For the aerofoil, numerical analysis was performed to review aerodynamic characteristics like lift and drag coefficient. And they are verified with test data using the digital wind tunnel and test samples from 3D printer. The digital wind tunnel was developed to test wing in the small laboratory, and verified with test of NACA0012 airfoil. KA2 aerofoil is asymmetric, and has the thickness ratio of 14%, and 12 degree of AOA at the maximum lift coefficient of 1.3. In this paper, aerodynamic characteristics from numerical and test approaches will be proposed with AOA in detail. Therefore, this aerofoil will be used for the design of wind turbine blade.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.236-245
• /
• 2017

Purpose: There is no established inspection system for composite wind blade during the fabrication stage even though the blades are one of the most important part at wind generation system, but phased array ultrasonic testing method has been continuously studied about wind turbine blade with composite. When wind turbine blade with complex shape by phased array probe is inspected, it is necessary to study for system keeping constant pressure using pressure device. Methods: In this paper, we propose constant pressure device for inspecting wind turbine blade by phased array ultrasonic test method. Design of the device controller is based on Hunt-Crossley model. We evaluate reliability of phased array ultrasonic inspection result that applicated constant pressure device. Result: Defect indication is precise and its error is small when constant pressure mechanism based on Hunt-Crossley model was used. Conclusion: When inspection is progressed using constant pressure mechanism, the reliability of composite wind blade inspection can be improved.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2009.11a
• /
• pp.422-422
• /
• 2009

This paper describes the structural design of small wind turbine blade by using design of experiments. Blade structure consists of skin, spar and foam. The materials for skin and spar are a kind of Glass/Epoxy and form is polyurethane. It has 7 lay-ups with different ply angle. A factorial design is applied to design the ply angles considering manufacturing constraints and to investigate the safety factor which is calculated by structural analysis. In order to perform the structural analysis, the commercial software ABAQUS is used. Tsai-Wu failure criterion is chosen to compute safety factor. The determination of the significance of effects in the experiments is made through the analysis of variance. The results show that ply angle at skin affects the safety factor of wind turbine blade. And from this result, optimal ply angles of composite blade are achieved.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.64-68
• /
• 2014

This paper is intended to provide experimental data for the design of the small VAWT(vertical axis wind turbine). Three types(lift, drag, and hybrid) of the blade of VAWT are tested with digital wind tunnel in this study. From the test, the relation of power coefficient and tip speed ratio for the blades are evaluated and compared each other depending on the blade type. Especially, the characteristics of hybrid blade which is shown to be expanded in the market without any logical data is proposed in the relation of power coefficient and tip speed ratio. It is shown that the hybrid blade can be used to make higher starting torque with trade off of degradation of power coefficient.