Biomimicry, or the art of applying principles from nature to human challenges, opens a new chapter for wind energy generation.
Once again, science and technology are inspired by nature to develop innovative designs. Solar Wind Generator
Engineers from the University of Alberta, in Canada, are designing wind turbines based on the wings of the heaviest bird in the world: the Andean condor, capable of flying more than 200 km in a single plane, taking advantage of the upward currents caused by the orography.
The new design focuses on a particular detail: the winglets, a type of wing tip that is refined and curved upwards. Winglets can be frequently seen on airplanes and gliders, and serve to optimize flight performance, because they help to travel greater distances consuming less energy.
Alberta engineers, in partnership with the company Biome Renewables, propose to place these C-shaped winglets on the wind turbine blades.
They argue that, by reducing the resistance, it increases the efficiency of the turbine by up to 10%. The researchers simulated the rotation of the turbine blades using computational fluid dynamics.
"This incorporation aims to increase the energy production of a wind turbine and requires only a modest capital investment. The results indicate that the addition of this design leads to a 9.69% increase in energy production," they write in the study they published in the journal Science Direct.
Designed as a modernization of existing turbines, the wing could reduce the price of electricity for the inhabitants of Alberta and at the same time reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.
"This will make a difference. It could make some of our wind farms more economically viable on days when there is not much wind," said Brian Fleck, an expert in fluid dynamics and research leader.
The wings of an aircraft generate lift due to the pressure difference between the lower and upper parts (inputs and outputs, respectively).
The wing profile of an aircraft is designed to accelerate the airflow at the top and slow it down at the bottom. This creates less pressure at the top and more pressure at the bottom, which generates an upward force called lift. This principle is based on Bernoulli's law and the principle of conservation of the moment.
When the air flow moves along the wing of the plane, it tends to form swirls at the tips, known as vortexes. These vortexes create additional aerodynamic resistance, which can reduce the efficiency and stability of the flight.
Winglets are vertical extensions at the tips of the wings that help reduce the formation of vortexes by changing the distribution of airflow around the ends. This decreases the induced resistance. Thus, winglets reduce aerodynamic resistance and improve flight performance. Something that the condor has known for thousands of years.
Wind Turbine Blades Khashayar RahnamayBahambary, Mohammad Reza Kavian-Nezhad, Alexandra Komrakova, Brian A. Fleck. A numerical study of bio-inspired wingtip modifications of modern wind turbines. Energy, Volume 292, 2024.