Turbine Tip Speed Ratio Research Articles

CFD Validation of Moment Balancing Method on Drag-Dominant Tidal Turbines (DDTTs)

Current performance analysis processes for drag-dominant tidal turbines are unsuitable as disk actuator theory lacks support for varying swept blockage area, bypass flow downstream interaction, and parasitic rotor drag, whereas blade element momentum theory is computably effective for three-blade lift-dominated aerofoil. This study proposes a novel technique to calculate the optimal turbine tip speed ratio (TSR) with a cost-effective and user-friendly moment balancing algorithm. A reliable dynamic TSR matrix was developed with varying rotational speeds and fluid velocities, unlike previous works simulated at a fixed fluid velocity. Thrust and idle moments are introduced as functions of inlet fluid velocity and rotational speed, respectively. The quadratic relationships are verified through regression analysis, and net moment equations are established. Rotational speed was a reliable predictor for Pinwheel’s idle moment, while inlet velocity was a reliable predictor for thrust moment for both models. The optimal (Cp, TSR) values for Pinwheel and Savonius turbines were (0.223, 2.37) and (0.63, 0.29), respectively, within an acceptable error range for experimental validation. This study aims to improve prevailing industry practices by enhancing an engineer’s understanding of optimal blade design by adjusting the rotor speed to suit the inlet flow case compared to ‘trial and error’ with cost-intensive simulations.

Parametric Study of Magnus Wind Turbine with Spiral Fins using BEM Approach

The aim of this work is to carry out an aerodynamic analysis to assess the power and identify the characteristics of the horizontal axis Magnus type wind turbine with spiral fins. A parametric study is achieved to analyze the effects of the different influence parameters such as the turbine tip speed ratio, the cylinder spinning ratio, the blade aspect ratio and the cylinder hub-tip ratio. The analysis approach adopted in this study is the Blade Element Momentum BEM using the experimental lift coefficient data for the configuration of spinning cylinders with spiral fins. In this analysis, losses are not taken in consideration. Both axial and angular interference coefficients are evaluated for this type of wind turbine. The former is assessed by solving a quadratic equation and the latter is calculated from a classic formulation including the term of spinning. An iterative process is followed to achieve this task. Concerning the obtained results, the aerodynamic characteristics of the Magnus wind turbine, analyzed in this study, provide some elucidation to lead a successful preliminary design of this novel type of machine.

Design and Performance Analysis of Distributed Equal Angle Spiral Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Background: The wind turbine is divided into a horizontal axis and a vertical axis depending on the relative positions of the rotating shaft and the ground. The advantage of the choke wind turbine is that the starting torque is large and the starting performance is good. The disadvantage is that the rotation resistance is large, the rotation speed is low, the asymmetric flow occurs when the wind wheel rotates, the lateral thrust is generated, and the wind energy utilization rate is lowered. How to improve the wind energy utilization rate of the resistance wind turbine is an important issue to be solved by the wind power technology. Objective: The nautilus isometric spiral wind turbines studied in this paper have been introduced and analyzed in detail, preparing for the further flow analysis and layout of wind turbines, improving the wind energy utilization rate of wind turbines, introducing patents of other structures and output characteristics of its generator set. Methods: Combined with the flow field analysis of ANSYS CFX software, the numerical simulation of the new wind turbine was carried out, and the aerodynamic performance of the new vertical axis wind turbine was analyzed. The mathematical model and control model of the generator were established by the maximum power control method, and the accuracy of the simulation results was verified by the measured data. Results: The basic parameters of the new wind turbine tip speed ratio, torque coefficient and wind energy utilization coefficient are analyzed. Changes in wind speed, pressure and eddy viscosity were investigated. Three-dimensional distribution results of wake parameters such as wind speed and pressure are obtained. By simulating the natural wind speed, the speed and output current of the generator during normal operation are obtained. Conclusion: By analyzing the wind performance and power generation characteristics of the new wind turbine, the feasibility of the new wind turbine is determined, which provides reference and reference for the optimal design and development of the wind turbine structure.

A frequency response strategy for variable speed wind turbine based on a dynamic inertial response and tip-speed ratio control

Participation of the wind turbine generators (WTGs) in the frequency regulation service is an appealing issue in order to consider the safe increasing of the wind power generation. The droop and virtual inertia control are the most popular approaches that facilitate the WTGs to provide frequency regulation. However, the intermittent nature of the wind complicates the implementation of these methods and has impacts on the wind turbine stability and may cause violation of the allowed power reserve and minimum turbine rotor speed. Therefore, in this paper, a control approach based on the dynamic de-loading technique is proposed, where the wind turbine operating curve is dynamically adjusted in the response of the frequency deviation throughout controlling the turbine tip-speed ratio which helps the turbine provide steady-state power sharing within the reserved power as well as the transient response within its stability criteria. In addition, the inertial response based on a dynamic gain is suggested. The inertial weighting gain has been formulated where it is continuously regulated in the response of rotor speed and reflects the amount of available kinetic energy in the rotating mass. The effectiveness of the proposed control approaches is verified throughout the comparisons of the results with the fixed inertial gain control and the droop control. The simulation results confirm that the combined control of the proposed tip-speed ratio and dynamic inertia control improve the overall system dynamic behavior in terms of frequency response and turbine stability.

Dynamic control strategy for the participation of variable speed wind turbine generators in primary frequency regulation

This paper introduces a novel strategy for the participation of variable speed wind turbine generators in primary frequency regulation. The proposed strategy is based on modifying the droop and inertia emulation control loops in such a way to help the wind turbine provide a secure frequency response throughout the dynamic control of the turbine tip-speed ratio and de-loading percentage. The proposed control does not directly act on the active power reference such as classical droop and inertia controls but on adjusting the rotor speed set-point and the pitch angle directly in response to the frequency deviation. The wind turbine is assumed to operate at 10% de-loading percentage under normal conditions. The over-speed, pitch control, and de-rated control are combined together to provide a power reserve. The control strategy is valid for all the wind speed ranges and does not require any direct wind measurements as a control input. The simulation results confirm that the proposed frequency response strategy improves effectively the frequency stabilization of the power system and has the ability to provide transient and steady-state power-sharing within the stable and secure limits.

Adaptive neuro-fuzzy algorithm to estimate effective wind speed and optimal rotor speed for variable-speed wind turbine

The precise measurement of effective wind speed is a crucial task and has huge impact on wind turbine output power, safety and control performance. In this study, a hybrid intelligent learning based adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is proposed for online estimation of effective wind speed from instantaneous values of wind turbine tip speed ratio (TSR), rotor speed and mechanical power. The artificial neural network (ANN) adjusts the parameters of fuzzy membership functions (MFs) using hybrid optimization method. The estimated value of effective wind speed is further utilized to design the optimal rotor speed estimator for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of variable-speed wind turbine (VSWT). Both estimators are implemented in MATLAB and their performance is investigated for national renewable energy laboratory (NREL) offshore 5 MW baseline wind turbine. The simulation results show the effectiveness of proposed method. The proposed scheme is computationally intelligent, easy to implement and more reliable for fast estimation of effective wind speed and optimal rotor speed.

A Magnus Wind Turbine Power Model Based on Direct Solutions Using the Blade Element Momentum Theory and Symbolic Regression

A model of the power coefficient of a mid-scale Magnus wind turbine using numerical solutions of the Blade Element Momentum Theory and symbolic regression is presented. A direct method is proposed for solving the nonlinear system of equations which govern the phenomena under study. The influence of the tip-speed ratio and the number, aspect ratio, and the angular speed of the cylinders on the turbine performance is obtained. Results show that the maximum power coefficient is on the order of 0.2, which is obtained with two low aspect ratio cylinders, a dimensionless cylinder speed ratio of 2, and a turbine tip-speed ratio between 2 and 3. The predicted power coefficient at low tip-speed ratio suggests that a Magnus turbine may be adequate in the urban environment.

Performance characteristics of a horizontal axis turbine with fusion winglet

Any technique or method that can improve the efficiency in exploiting renewable wind or marine current energy has got a great significance today. It has been reported that adding a winglet at the tip of the rotor blades on a horizontal axis wind turbine can increase its power performance. The purpose of this paper is to adopt a numerical method to investigate the effects of different winglet configurations on turbine performance, especially focusing on the direction for the winglet tip to point towards (the suction side, pressure side or both sides of the main blade). The results show that the new design of an integrated fusion winglet proposed in this paper can generally improve the main blade's power producing ability, which is further enhanced with the increase of turbine's tip speed ratio with a maximum power augmentation of about 3.96%. No matter which direction the winglet tip faces, the installation angle of the winglet should match well with the real angle of incoming flow. As a whole, the turbine with winglet of two tips facing to both sides of the main blade can produce much more power than the one of winglet configuration whose tip faces only one side for different blade hub pitch angles and vast majority of tip speed ratios. The working principle behind the winglet in improving turbine performance may be that it can block the downwash fluid easily flowing around the tip section of the main blade from the pressure side to suction side, and hence diffuse and spread out the tip vortex. As a result, it finally decreases the energy loss. Besides, the relative projected rotor area in incoming flow direction will also be reduced due to the addition of the winglet, which is also helpful to turbine's power coefficient.

Experimental testing of axial induction based control strategies for wake control and wind farm optimization

In state-of-the-art wind farms each turbine is controlled individually aiming for optimum turbine power not considering wake effects on downstream turbines. Wind farm control concepts aim for optimizing the overall power output of the farm taking wake interactions between the individual turbines into account. This experimental wind tunnel study investigates axial induction based control concepts. It is examined how the total array efficiency of two in-line model turbines is affected when the upstream turbine's tip speed ratio (λcontrol) or blade pitch angle (β-control) is modified. The focus is particularly directed on how the wake flow behind the upstream rotor is affected when its axial induction is reduced in order to leave more kinetic energy in the wake to be recovered by a downstream turbine. It is shown that the radial distribution of kinetic energy in the wake area can be controlled by modifying the upstream turbine's tip speed ratio. By pitching out the upstream turbine's blades, however, the available kinetic energy in the wake is increased at an equal rate over the entire blade span. Furthermore, the total array efficiency of the two turbine setup is mapped depending on the upstream turbines tip speed ratio and pitch angle. For a small turbine separation distance of x/D=3 the downstream turbine is able to recover the major part of the power lost on the upstream turbine. However, no significant increase in the two-turbine array efficiency is achieved by altering the upstream turbine's operation point away from its optimum.

Effect of Upstream Turbine Tip Speed Variations on Downstream Turbine Performance

A wake study and combined power output analysis of an array of two model wind turbines is presented. In a wind farm arrangement wakes behind the upstream turbines directly affect the performance and structural loads of the downstream turbines. In this analysis the characteristics of the mean and turbulent wake flow behind an upstream model turbine is directly related to the performance characteristics of a downstream rotor located at three different downstream locations. First the influence of the upstream turbine's tip speed ratio variation from design conditions on the wake flow and the downstream turbine performance is analyzed. Thereafter, also the turbulence intensity level at the wind tunnel inlet is varied from low (laboratory conditions, TI=0.23%) to high (atmospheric conditions, TI=10.0%). Finally, the combined power output of the two turbine array is evaluated for a matrix of the different scenarios.A significant influence of the background turbulence level on the wake recovery is observed, especially for the intermediate separation distance of x/D=5. Controlling the upstream turbine's tip speed ratio away from its design point does not result in a significant increase in combined power output. Only for the case of low turbine separation distance (x/D=3) and low background turbulence the added kinetic energy in the wake can be recovered by the downstream turbine. For higher turbine separation distances and higher background turbulence, the added kinetic energy diffuses into the freestream flow and cannot be recovered anymore. In average, the combined efficiency is observed to increase by about 2.5% with every additional rotor diameter of turbine separation distance. Thus, this analysis suggests an accurate management of the upstream turbine tip speed ratio in dependence of background turbulence and turbine separation distance when optimizing the power output of a wind farm.

CFD modelling of a tidal stream turbine subjected to profiled flow and surface gravity waves

This study used computational fluid dynamics to investigate the effect of waves and a velocity profile on the performance of a tidal stream turbine (TST). A full scale TST was transiently modelled operating near its maximum power point, and then subjected to waves both in and out of phase with its period of rotation. A profile was then added to one of the wave models. For this set of conditions it was found that the longer period and in-phase wave had a significant effect on the power range fluctuations, with more modest variations for thrust and the average values, although this is dependent on the turbine tip speed ratio. The addition of the profile had a strong effect on the bending moment. It has been concluded that a naturally varying sea state may yield a smoothing effect in this turbine response, but that with further structural investigation it may be that some measuring and mitigation techniques are required in the event of a predominantly single long period, in-phase wave.

Investigation on Darrieus type straight blade vertical axis wind turbine with flexible blade

In this study, a three-dimensional VAWT with a spanwise passively deformable flexible blade has been modelled. The study mainly focuses on the analysis of blade structure characteristics associated with the bending and twist deflection. Two types of flexible blade material and two strut locations supporting H-type blades are being investigated. The unsteady external loads and energy efficiency of VAWT with such designed flexible blade are also being analysed. The simulation results show that the bending and twist deflection peak is positively correlated with the turbine tip speed ratio λ. For a flexible blade, an unevenly distributed structural stress along the blade with a high stress regime in the vicinity of strut location has also been observed. Due to the rotational motion of a VAWT, the centrifugal force acting on VAWT blade plays an important role on the blade structure characteristics. Reduction of the blade stiffness results in an increase of the blade stress. Changing the strut location from middle to tip will cause a large area under high stress. The results also indicate that the VAWT with a highly flexible blade is not an efficient energy extraction device when it is compared to a less flexible or a rigid blade.

A comparison of wake measurements in motor-driven and flow-driven turbine experiments

We present experimental data to compare and contrast the wake characteristics of a turbine whose rotation is either driven by the oncoming flow or prescribed by a motor. Velocity measurements are collected using two-dimensional particle image velocimetry in the near-wake region of a lift-based, vertical-axis turbine. The wake of this turbine is characterized by a spanwise asymmetric velocity profile which is found to be strongly dependent on the turbine tip speed ratio (TSR), while only weakly dependent on Reynolds number (Re). For a given Re, the TSR is controlled either passively by a mechanical brake or actively by a DC motor. We find that there exists a finite region in TSR versus Re space where the wakes of the motor-driven turbine and flow-driven turbine are indistinguishable to within experimental precision. Outside of this region, the sign of the net circulation in the wake changes as TSR is increased by the motor. Shaft torque measurements show a corresponding sign change above this TSR threshold set by circulation, indicating a transition from net torque due to lift to net torque due to drag produced by the turbine blades, the latter of which can give wake measurements that are inconsistent with a flow-driven turbine. The results support the claim that the turbine kinematics and aerodynamic properties are the sole factors that govern the dynamics of its wake, irrespective of the means to move the turbine blades. This has significance for both experimental and computational studies where it may be necessary, or perhaps more economical, to prescribe the turbine kinematics in order to analyze its aerodynamic characteristics.

Characteristic Analysis of Three-Bladed Darrieus Wind Turbine Based on the Multiple Streamtube Model

The paper analyzes the effect of airfoil thickness, camber and blade pitch angle on the performance of the three-bladed Darrieus wind turbines. The research results show that the increase of airfoil thickness, camber and pitch angle of blade, can improve power coefficient when the wind turbine tip speed ratio between zero and four. The increase of thickness and camber of the airfoil leads to running tip speed ratio range of wind turbine get narrowed, and reduces the power coefficient when wind turbine runs in high tip speed ratio range. When the pitch angle of blade is 1˚, power coefficient reaches the maximum value. Negative pitch angle has a bad impact on power coefficient and even creates negative power coefficients.

High-Order Sliding-Mode Control of Variable-Speed Wind Turbines

This paper deals with the power generation control in variable-speed wind turbines. These systems have two operation regions which depend on wind turbine tip speed ratio. A high-order sliding-mode control strategy is then proposed to ensure stability in both operation regions and to impose the ideal feedback control solution in spite of model uncertainties. This control strategy presents attractive features such as robustness to parametric uncertainties of the turbine. The proposed sliding-mode control approach has been validated on a 1.5-MW three-blade wind turbine using the national renewable energy laboratory wind turbine simulator FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence) code. Validation results show that the proposed control strategy is effective in terms of power regulation. Moreover, the sliding-mode approach is arranged so as to produce no chattering in the generated torque that could lead to increased mechanical stress because of strong torque variations.

Sliding Mode Power Control of Variable-Speed Wind Energy Conversion Systems

This paper addresses the problem of controlling power generation in variable-speed wind energy conversion systems (VS-WECS). These systems have two operation regions depending on the wind turbine tip-speed ratio. They are distinguished by minimum phase behavior in one of these regions and a nonminimum phase in the other one. A sliding mode control strategy is then proposed to ensure stability in both operation regions and to impose the ideal feedback control solution despite model uncertainties. The proposed sliding mode control strategy presents attractive features such as robustness to parametric uncertainties of the turbine and the generator as well as to electric grid disturbances. The proposed sliding mode control approach has been simulated on a 1.5-MW three-blade wind turbine to evaluate its consistency and performance. The next step was the validation using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) wind turbine simulator called the fatigue, aerodynamics, structures, and turbulence code (FAST). Both simulation and validation results show that the proposed control strategy is effective in terms of power regulation. Moreover, the sliding mode approach is arranged so as to produce no chattering in the generated torque that could lead to increased mechanical stress because of strong torque variations.

Practical Implementation of Hysteresis Control for Maximum Power Point Tracking of a Permanent Magnet Generator Wind Turbine

A permanent magnet wind turbine is to track a dynamically changing wind from measurements of the wind speed and the rotor speed. Issues of determining the effective wind speed at the turbine rotor are investigated as well as the optimum control strategy to maintain operation at the maximum power point. This is implemented using a hysteresis control system based on the turbine tip speed ratio and then tested on a permanent magnet generator wind turbine in a dynamic wind environment. This showed a small increase in the energy output using the controller. Methods to increase the energy output further are investigated by simulation.