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Mastering the Wind
| Article
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16593 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1989 |
2,117 Words |
| Author
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Darrell Dodge
Darrell Dodge is the wind energy program leader at the Solar
Energy Research Institute (SERI) in Golden, Colorado. |
In an energy hungry world increasingly aware of the possible long-term environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels, renewable energy resources suddenly look more attractive than ever before.
After sunlight, probably the most ubiquitous renewable resource is moving air--the wind. Harnessing the wind to produce electricity is a fascinating quest with a long history, and it promises to relieve some of the environmental stress produced by other forms of power generation.
A small community of designers, developers, and researchers is dedicated to making wind turbines a significant power source. They are exactly at the interface of human technology and the natural environment. The wind is a tough and fickle medium. It drives wind turbines with rapidly fluctuating forces that have compelled designers to sacrifice maximum efficiency for strength and durability. The frontiers of wind turbine research today lie in improving operational efficiency without sacrificing system reliability and longevity.
Seeking answers to basic questions
On a hot, windy afternoon this past July, an ordinary looking wind turbine rotor began to turn in the midst of a huge array of wind machines near Interstate 10 just northeast of Palm Springs, California. While virtually identical in appearance to hundreds of others surrounding it, this rotor has blades that incorporate the first airfoil designed specifically for wind turbines. Proponets claim that if every wind turbine in the array of 1,700 machines were fitted with similar blades, annual energy output of this "wind farm" would increase by over 15 percent--enough to power 7,000 additional homes.
This project is only one of many reflecting the increasing sophistication of wind energy technology. In contrast, the first major developers of wind power did not realize the importance of maximizing performance and were working with an inadequate model of wind--one that assumed that capricious variations in wind speed and direction (turbulence) were not important to wind turbine rotor life.
It used to be thought that the wind's brute force was mostly responsible for the deterioration and breakdown of turbine parts. But within the past eight years, researchers have found that fluctuations in wind speed and direction are far more destructive. Turbulent flows and eddies wreak havoc with wind turbine
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