Pitch Angle Variation Research Articles

Enhanced Power Extraction via Hybrid Pitching Motion in an Oscillating Wing Energy Harvester with Leading Flap

This study applied a hybrid pitching motion for an oscillating wing with a leading flap aimed at enhancing energy extraction efficiency. In the first half of the cycle, the hybrid pitching motion begins with a non-sinusoidal pitching motion for 0.0 ≤ t/T ≤ 0.25, transitioning to a sinusoidal pitching motion for 0.25 < t/T ≤ 0.50. The latter half of the motion mirrors the first one but moves toward the reverse direction. Hybrid motions combine the benefits of non-sinusoidal and sinusoidal pitching motions, enhancing the optimization of pitch angle variation. The findings show that hybrid motions for the wing fitted with an attached leading flap outperform both the single plate and the wing with an attached flap using sinusoidal pitching motion. The simulation was conducted with flap lengths ranging from 30% to 45% of the chord length and examined maximum pitching angles of the wing and the attached leading flap between 80° to 95° and 25° to 60°, respectively. By setting the pitch angles of the wing and leading flap to 85° and 45°, respectively, with the wing comprising 65% of the total length and the leading flap 35%, the proposed hybrid pitching motion with the leading flap generates a maximum power output of 1.276 that surpasses that of a sinusoidal pitching motion of 0.963 on an oscillating flat plate by 32.50%. This combination of hybrid pitching motion and a wing flap configuration is effective in improving the performance.

Design of an Active Axis Wind Turbine (AAWT) That Can Balance Centrifugal and Aerodynamic Forces to Reduce Support Infrastructure While Maintaining a Stable Flight Path

This study introduces a novel approach to wind energy by investigating a novel Active Axis Wind Turbine design. The turbine is neither a horizontal nor vertical axis wind turbine but has an axis of operation that can actively change during operation. The design features a rotor with a single blade capable of dynamic pitch and tilt control during a single rotor rotation. This study examines the potential to balance the centrifugal and aerodynamic lift forces acting on the rotor blade assembly, significantly reducing blade, tower, foundation and infrastructure costs in larger-scale devices and decreasing the levelised cost of energy for wind energy. The design of a laboratory prototype rotor assembly is optimised by varying the masses and lengths in a lumped mass model to achieve equilibrium between centrifugal and lift forces acting on the turbine’s rotor assembly. The method involves an investigation of the variation of blade pitch angle to provide a balance between centrifugal and aerodynamic forces, thereby facilitating the cost advantages and opening the opportunity to improve the turbine efficiency across a range of operation conditions. The implication of this study extends to different applications of wind turbines, both onshore and offshore, introducing insight into innovation for sustainable energy and cost-effective solutions.

Monitoring the Wake of Low Reynolds Number Airfoils for Their Aerodynamic Loads Assessment

Experimental investigations are carried out to explore the aerodynamic performance and vortex shedding characteristics of S5010 and E214 airfoil-based wings to provide guidance for the design of MAVs and other low-speed vehicles. Force and wake shedding frequency measurements are carried out in a subsonic wind tunnel in the Reynolds number (Re) range of 4 × 104 - 1 × 105. The measurements with increasing Re show that the slope of the lift curve in the linear region increases by 14% for S5010, while this increment is 11% for E214. The peak lift coefficient of both airfoils reduces with reducing Re. For lower pitch angles, the influence of Re on drag coefficients is less significant, but at higher angles, the drag increases as the Re drops. Unlike pre-stall mountings, the pitch-down propensity of the airfoil enhances in the post-stall region for high Re flows. Moreover, the frequency of shed vortices reduces with rising angle of attack at a given Re. In contrast, the Strouhal number almost remains constant with varying Re at a fixed angle of attack. For S5010 and E214 airfoils, the Strouhal number is noticed to vary between 0.68 - 0.36 and 0.58 - 0.36, respectively, for pitch angle variation of 12°- 28°. The airfoils show a higher Strouhal number than the bluff body wakes, but this difference decreases for high angles of attack mountings. This finding reveals that the wake structure of the airfoil at a high post-stall angle behaves as bluff body wakes.

Rotor solidity and blade pitch influence on horizontal axis small wind turbine performance – Experimental study

The urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has accelerated the adoption of renewable energy sources such as wind power. In this context, small wind turbines (SWTs) have emerged as a viable solution for decentralized electricity generation. This paper investigates the combined influence of rotor solidity and pitch angle variation on the performance of a small horizontal axis wind turbine through experimental analysis conducted in a wind tunnel. Results show that increasing rotor solidity generally improves Cpmax, particularly for shorter chord blades, with up to a 25–35 % increase observed by increasing the number of blades and a 10–15 % increase by employing longer chord blades compared to benchmark designs. Additionally, the study highlights the significant sensitivity of turbine performance to slight changes in pitch angle resulting in a 4–8 % rise in Cpmax. Higher solidity rotors exhibit reduced sensitivity to pitch angle changes and reference velocity variations, contributing to improved stability in varying environmental conditions. The study highlights the influence of aerofoil Reynolds number on turbine performance, underscoring the importance of careful aerodynamic design considerations. It provides valuable insights for SWT design to enhance energy efficiency and promote the widespread adoption of wind energy technology.

The Influence of Structural Parameters on the Ultimate Strength Capacity of a Designed Vertical Axis Turbine Blade for Ocean Current Power Generators

An ocean current power generator is a power plant that uses kinetic energy from ocean currents to generate electricity. Considering that the blade is the component that receives the biggest load from seawater currents, its structural design should be strong enough to sustain the applied load. Therefore, this research seeks a suitable design and material for turbine blades using the finite element method (FEM). A NACA 0021 blade with a total length of 3600 mm is used for the base geometry. A parametric study was conducted by varying the spacing between the supports, the pitch angle, the material, and the frame model. Considering a high load, the suitable amount of space between the stiffeners was 2200 mm. It was found that a pitch angle variation between −20° and +20° did not significantly affect the strength of the blade structure. The frame geometry variation caused the rigidity and cross-section area of the blade to differ. Therefore, web-shaped or bar-shaped frames are preferable because they have optimal maximum load-to-weight ratios. The material variation analysis resulted in CFRP material being chosen because it had a high maximum load/weight ratio and a high maximum stress.

Local Transition of Electron Pitch Angle Distribution within Flux Pileup Region behind Dipolarization Front

Dipolarization fronts (DFs), earthward-propagating magnetic transients with a strong magnetic field, are important regions favorable for energetic electron acceleration in the magnetotail. The DF-driven electron acceleration usually generates coherent pitch angle distributions (PADs) inside flux pileup regions (FPRs), i.e., strong magnetic field regions behind the DFs, such as pancake, butterfly, and cigar distributions, which dominate at different tail regions and often occur separately. Here we present unique observations of electron PAD evolution inside the FPR, showing that electron PAD underwent local transition from cigar distribution, to butterfly distribution, then toward pancake distribution, forming a U-shaped distribution. During the local transition, electron perpendicular flux (relative to the local magnetic field) is anticorrelated with magnetic field strength, contrary to traditional expectation. The unexpected feature of the electron U-shaped distribution is associated with multiple physical processes at different scales, including local expansion of flux tubes and pitch angle variation near the neutral sheet. These atypical observations can advance our current understanding of electron acceleration and transport in the magnetosphere.

Bio-Inspired Helicoidal Composite Structure Featuring Graded Variable Ply Pitch under Transverse Tensile Loading

Biostructures found in nature exhibit remarkable strength, toughness, and damage resistance, achieved over millions of years. Observing nature closely might help develop laminates that resemble natural structures more closely, potentially improving strength and mimicking natural principles. Bio-inspired Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) investigated thus far exhibit consistent pitch angles between layers, whereas natural structures display gradual variations in pitch angle rather than consistency. Therefore, this study explores helicoidal CFRP laminates, focusing on the Non-Linear Rotation Angle (NLRA) or gradual variation to enhance composite material performance. In addition, it compares the strength and failure mechanisms of the gradual configuration with conventional helicoidal and unidirectional (UD) laminates, serving as references while conducting transverse tensile tests (out-of-plane tensile). The findings highlight the potential of conventional and gradual helicoidal structures in reinforcing CFRP laminates, increasing the failure load compared to unidirectional CFRP laminate by about 5% and 17%, respectively. In addition, utilizing bio-inspired configurations has shown promising improvements in toughness compared to traditional unidirectional laminates, as evidenced by the increased displacement at failure. The numerical and experimental analyses revealed a shift in crack path when utilizing the bio-inspired helicoidal stacking sequence. Validated by experimental data, this alteration demonstrates longer and more intricate crack propagation, ultimately leading to increased transverse strength.

Power Extraction Performance by a Hybrid Non-Sinusoidal Pitching Motion of an Oscillating Energy Harvester

This study proposes a hybrid pitching motion for oscillating flat plates aimed at augmenting the energy extraction efficiency of an energy harvester. The proposed hybrid pitching motion, within the first half cycle, integrates a non-sinusoidal movement starting at t/T = 0 and progressing to t/T = 0.25, with a sinusoidal movement initiating after t/T > 0.25 and continuing to t/T = 0.5. The second half of the cycle is symmetric to the first half but in the opposite direction. The calculated results show that the proposed hybrid pitching motion outperforms both the sinusoidal and the non-sinusoidal motions. The hybrid pitching motion merges the merits of both the sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal motions to optimize pitch angle variation. This integration is pivotal for enhancing the overall power output performance of an oscillating energy harvester characterized by momentum change that enhances the orientation of the heaving movement, smoother motion transitions, and consistent energy harvesting. The power generation is obtained at wing pitch angles of 55°, 65°, 70°, 75°, and 80° during a hybrid pitching motion. The proposed hybrid pitching motion, set at a pitch angle of 70°, achieves a maximum power output that exceeds the oscillating flat plate using a sinusoidal pitching motion by 16.0% at the same angle.

Optimizing terrestrial locomotion of undulating-fin amphibious robots: Asynchronous control and phase-difference optimization

This paper presents an asynchronous motion-control approach for undulating-fin amphibious robots, with emphasis on optimizing the phase differences of bilateral fin-surface waves to mitigate the pitch-angle instability typically observed in synchronous control. A comprehensive ground dynamics model is used in this study, which facilitates the meticulous analysis of pitch-angle variations. Using simulation software, a virtual prototype is developed to validate the control stability. This approach is further substantiated via experimental tests conducted on a physical prototype in diverse terrestrial environments. Simulation and experimental results indicate that asynchronous motion control methods significantly enhancing postural stability undulating-fin robots during terrestrial locomotion. Experimental findings demonstrate that adopting asynchronous motion control reduces the maximum range of pitch angles by 38.9%–42.3%. This method significantly enhancing postural stability of robot terrestrial locomotion. This study provides new insights for the design of undulating-fin amphibious robots.

Analysis of Catapult-Assisted Takeoff of Carrier-Based Aircraft Based on Finite Element Method and Multibody Dynamics Coupling Method

Catapult-assisted takeoff is the initiation of flight missions for carrier-based aircrafts. Ensuring the safety of aircrafts during catapult-assisted takeoff requires a thorough analysis of their motion characteristics. In this paper, a rigid–flexible coupling model using the Finite Element Method and Multibody Dynamics (FEM-MBD) approach is developed to simulate the aircraft catapult process. This model encompasses the aircraft frame, landing gear, carrier deck, and catapult launch system. Firstly, reasonable assumptions were made for the dynamic modeling of catapult-assisted takeoff. An enhanced plasticity algorithm that includes transverse shear effects was employed to simulate the tensioning and release processes of the holdback system. Additionally, the forces applied by the launch bar and holdback bar, nonlinear aerodynamics loads, shock absorbers, and tires were introduced. Finally, a comparative analysis was conducted to assess the influence of different launch bar angles and holdback bar fracture stain on the aircraft’s attitude and landing gear dynamics during the catapult process. The proposed rigid–flexible coupling dynamics model enables an effective analysis of the dynamic behavior throughout the entire catapult process, including both the holdback bar tensioning and release, takeoff taxing, and extension of the nose landing gear phases. The results show that higher launch bar angle increase the load and extension of the nose landing gear and cause pronounced fluctuations in the aircraft’s pitch attitude. Additionally, the holdback bar fracture strain has a significant impact on the pitch angle during the first second of the aircraft catapult process, with greater holdback bar fracture strain resulting in larger pitch angle variations.

Unsteady investigation on parallel separation for spiked two-stage reusable launch vehicle

Two stage to orbit vehicles can reduce weight and improve propulsion efficiency, reducing launch cycle costs. For the safety of two-stage parallel separation, a spiked Two-Stage-To-Orbit (TSTO) configuration for parallel separation was proposed, which is consisted of a waverider liked booster and a wing-body configuration. An aerospike was placed at the head of the second stage. The unsteady simulation of the TSTO interstage separation at Mach 6 was investigated using the self-developed code, CMA. The pressure contours, pitch angle and displacement variation of the two models were compared. Under the interference of the aerospike, the flow field of the blunt body exhibited significant asymmetry at the angle of attack. The oblique shock wave on the leeward side was weaker than that on the windward side, and the area affected by the shock wave on the windward side gradually moved toward the stagnation point as the angle of attack increased, thereby improving the safety of the separation process of the two stages that originally collided by changing the flow field structure. In addition, the aerospike reduces the aerodynamic interference between the two stages without changing the aerodynamic shape of the aircraft, thereby reducing the drag.

Reward adaptive wind power tracking control based on deep deterministic policy gradient

Wind power efficiency is an essential factor affecting wind power development, and efficient wind power control methods are the key to improving wind power efficiency. Previous wind power control methods require high internal system expertise in internal systems and struggled to balance the accuracy of the maximum power control and the output stability under high wind speed. Therefore, this paper proposes a reward-adaptive control method for wind power tracking based on Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG). The method can use one controller to simultaneously control the generator torque and pitch angle in various operating conditions following the system state and the designed flag of operating conditions, thus enabling efficient tracking of the maximum power generation, and stabilizing the output power under high wind speed. Moreover, this paper proposes an internal and external reward algorithm that integrates the Intrinsic Curiosity Module (ICM) and the Actor–Critic (AC) architecture, which can adaptively calculate the reward of DDPG, thereby effectively resolving the sparse reward problem, accelerating the convergence of neural network, and improving the learning effect. From the simulation, the control method proposed in this paper can effectively improve the power generation efficiency under turbulent wind speed, reduce the pitch angle variation by about 30%, and improve the power tracking accuracy by more than 70%.

Influence of thermocouple angles and wire distance on temperature measurement

When a thermocouple is used to measure gas temperature, the measured temperature, i.e., the thermocouple bead temperature, is not equal to the gas temperature. The bead temperature results from the bead energy balance. The positioning angles such as the pitch angle and the roll angle and the wire distance of the thermocouple will influence the convection heat transfer of the thermocouple, causing the bead temperature variation. Two S type thermocouples are used to measure the temperature of the H2/air Hencken flame with the equivalence ratio 0.7. The maximum measurement temperature changes are 52 K and 79 K for the pitch angle variation and the roll angle variation, respectively. CFD simulations are carried out to simulate the experimental phenomena. The differences between the simulated and measured bead temperatures are less than 20.4 K. With 90° roll angle, the bead temperature increases first then decreases with the pitch angle. With 90° pitch angle, the bead temperature increases first then decreases with the roll angle. With 0° pitch angle, the bead temperature increases monotonically with the wire distance. The background physical mechanisms of the phenomena are analyzed with the detailed CFD results.

On the cavity flow of a cylinder exiting water obliquely

The water exit of a high-speed cavitation vehicle is a highly complex problem. Especially when the vehicle exits the water at different angles, the cavity shape and motion stability are affected by the air-water interface, resulting in significant changes in the mechanical environment and dynamics of the vehicle during the water exit. To solve this problem, a CFD method based on VOF multiphase flow interface-capturing technique and overset mesh technique is adopted to numerically calculate the interaction of vapor-liquid-air multiphase flow during the oblique water exit of a high-speed cylinder. Based on the verification of the computational model by mesh convergence and water-entry experiment, the cavitation evolution and flow distribution characteristics of the high-speed cylinder during oblique water exit is analyzed. Moreover, the effects of water-exit angles on the surface pressure distribution and drag characteristics of the cylinder are studied. The results show that the fluid at the end of the cavity impacts the shoulder of the cylinder during oblique water exit, resulting in the pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the cylinder, which may finally leads to motion deviation. With the decreasing water-exit angle, the negative peak drag coefficient decreases while the peak lateral force coefficient increases, and there is a critical range of water-exit angel for lateral force and pitch angle variation.

Numerical Analysis on Dynamic Behavior Characteristics of an Amphibious Assault Vehicle during Water Entry

In the present study, the dynamic behavior characteristics of an amphibious assault vehicle during water entry were analyzed using STAR-CCM+, a commercial computational fluid dynamics(CFD) code. All computations were performed using an overset mesh system and a RANS based flow-solver coupled with dynamic fluid-body interaction(DFBI) solver for simulating three degrees of freedom motion. For numerical validation of the solver, a water entry simulation of inclined circular cylinder was conducted and it was compared between an existing experiment data and CFD results. The pitch angle variation and the trajectory of the circular cylinder during water entry shows good agreement with previous experimental and numerical studies. For the water entry simulations of the amphibious assault vehicle, the analysis of dynamic behaviors of the amphibious assault vehicle with different slope angles, submerged depths and initial velocities were conducted. It is confirmed that the steep slope angle increases the submerged volume of the amphibious assault vehicle, so the buoyancy acting on the vehicle is increased and the moved distance for the re-flotation is decreased. It is also revealed that the submerged volume is increased, bow-up phenomenon occur earlier.

Implementation and Evaluation of a Low Speed and Self-Regulating Small Wind Turbine for Urban Areas in South Africa

A low-cost small 500W wind generator was used as a basis for the prototype development. The research was primarily focused on the determination of the type of aerofoil for improved rotor blades and pitch angle, and for adapting the number of blades in order to optimize the power output from the prototype, for low wind-speed inland conditions in Soweto. NACA-4412 type aerofoil was chosen as a departure point for the blade design, and a variation of the maximum pitch angle of 6°, 10°, and 12° at an optimum angle of attack of 5°, 7°, and 9° were implemented respectively for Designs 1, 2 and 3. With the Soweto area having an average wind speed of 2.3m/s (8.28km/h), 3-, 5-, and 7-blade sets were subsequently developed, implemented, and tested. Prototype 1 produced a maximum output power of 8.2W at 4.2km/h wind speed. Prototype 2 yielded a maximum output power of 12.5W at 4.2km/h, and Prototype 3, generated a very useful power output of 39.5W during testing. The maximum power output was achieved at an average wind speed of 1.17m/s (4.2km/h). Moreover, the developed prototype designs were also tested for self-regulation in case of high-speed gust conditions. Prototype 3, with a 12° maximum pitch angle during operation in high gust conditions, had its blades control high speed. A drawback pressure occurred on the back side of the blades and tangent drag was developed normally to the blade rotation direction, consequently limiting the maximum speed of the rotor and acting as a self-regulation mechanism with regard to maximum achievable speed. The other two designs suffered from over-speeding tendencies in high gust speed conditions, also causing noise and turbulence.

A unified optimization control of wind farms considering wake effect for grid frequency support

This paper proposed a unified active power optimization control of wind farms under wake effect. It takes the sum of the kinetic energy variation and pitch angle variation as the optimization objective and used the particle swarm algorithm to achieve the optimization results. The main feature of the proposed method is that it unifies the kinetic energy optimization under a low wind speed area, the pitch angle and kinetic energy trade-off optimization under a medium wind speed area, and the pitch angle optimization under a high wind speed area. Combined with the de-loaded power constraint, it can flexibly reach various optimal operating states of the wind farm. The simulation results show that the proposed method optimizes the rotor speed and pitch angle in different wind speed areas, and releases kinetic energy and/or increases the output power of the wind farm to provide frequency support by switching the operating states.

Comparison of Power Coefficients in Wind Turbines Considering the Tip Speed Ratio and Blade Pitch Angle

This paper presents a review of the power and torque coefficients of various wind generation systems, which involve the real characteristics of the wind turbine as a function of the generated power. The coefficients are described by mathematical functions that depend on the trip speed ratio and blade pitch angle of the wind turbines. These mathematical functions are based on polynomial, sinusoidal, and exponential equations. Once the mathematical functions have been described, an analysis of the grouped coefficients according to their function is performed with the purpose of considering the variations in the trip speed ratio for all the coefficients based on sinusoidal and exponential functions, and with the variations in the blade pitch angle. This analysis allows us to determine the different coefficients of power and torque used in wind generation systems, with the objective of developing algorithms for searching for the point of maximum power generated and for the active control of wind turbines with variations in the blade pitch angle.

Prediction on The Maximum Lift Force of Twisted Clark Y Wind Turbine Blade With 30° Winglet Tip in Various Pitch Angles Using CFD Method

The wind energy is one of the renewable energy which is extracted the most amongst other resources. However, the performance still required to be improved by modifying the wind turbine blade. In this study, the modification is employed at the tip of the blade using 30° winglet. The aim of this paper is to investigate numerically the lift of force of the modified Clark Y foil in various pitch angles and predict the pitch angle at which the maximum lift is found to be maximum. There are five pitch angle variations, and they are 0°, 12°, 22°, 32°, and 42°. 3D CFD models are used using OpenFOAM 8. From the results, it can be seen that the maximum lift force was achieved at the pitch angle variation of 32° with the value of 1.245 and the maximum drag force was achieved at the pitch angle variation of 22° with the value of 1.325. While the maximum C l /C d that represents aerodynamic efficiency was achieved at the variation of 12° with the value of 2.915.

Pitch angle sliding variance test method based on Mahony filter for zero-velocity detection

The threshold judgment method is a comparatively simple and classic zero-velocity detection (ZVDT) method for zero-velocity update. To solve the problem with the existing threshold judgment method, where the ZVDT effect is critically diminished by sensor noise, motion state changes, and other factors, this paper proposes a pitch angle sliding variance test (PSVT) method based on Mahony filtering. First, a Mahony filtering algorithm is designed to merge and de-noise the original foot acceleration and angular velocity information to provide high-precision pitch angle information. Subsequently, based on the significant periodicity, isolation, and characteristics of foot pitch angle variation during pedestrian movement, a PSVT method is proposed for pedestrian ZVDT. Experimental results show that for the motions of different pedestrians in different scenes, the average single-step misjudgment rate in the zero-velocity interval of the proposed method is less than 10% overall. When compared with the generalized likelihood ratio test, the ZVDT effect is improved by approximately 30%. The method effectively improves the applicability and accuracy of ZVDT for pedestrian movement, and will be significant in improving the applicability, navigational accuracy, and practical use of pedestrian autonomous navigation systems.