{"48976":{"#nid":"48976","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Grant Aims to Reduce Cost of Wind Turbines for Generating Electricity","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA technology originally developed to increase lift in aircraft wings and simplify helicopter rotors may soon help reduce the cost of manufacturing and operating wind turbines used for generating electricity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis \u201ccirculation control\u201d aerodynamic technology could allow the wind turbines to produce significantly more power than current devices at the same wind speed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch aimed at adapting circulation control technology to wind turbine blades will be conducted by a California company, PAX Streamline, in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology. The two-year project, which will lead to construction of a demonstration pneumatic wind turbine, will be supported by a $3 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy -- the federal energy research and development organization also known as ARPA-E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur goal will be to make generation of electricity from wind turbines less expensive by eliminating the need for the complex blade shapes and mechanical control systems used in current turbines,\u201d said Robert J. Englar, principal research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). \u201cBecause these new blades would operate effectively at lower wind speeds, we could potentially open up new geographic areas to wind turbine use. Together, these advances could significantly expand the generation of electricity from wind power in the United States.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECirculation control techniques use compressed air blown from slots on the trailing edges of wings or hollow blades to change the aerodynamic properties of those wings or blades. In aircraft, circulation control wings improve lift, allowing aircraft to fly at much lower speeds \u2013 and take off and land in much shorter distances. In helicopter rotor blades, the technique -- also known as the \u201ccirculation control rotor\u201d -- both simplifies the rotor and its control system and produces more lift.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe ARPA-E project will apply the technique to controlling the aerodynamic properties of wind turbine blades, which now must be made in complicated shapes and controlled by complex control mechanisms to extract optimal power from the wind.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe speed at which these turbines would begin to operate will be much lower than with existing blades,\u201d said Englar. \u201cPlaces that wind maps have previously indicated would not be suitable locations for wind turbines may now be useful. The blown technology should also allow safe operation at higher wind speeds and in wind gusts that would cause existing turbines to be shut down to prevent damage.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBecause they would produce more aerodynamic force, torque and power than comparable blades, these blown structures being developed by Georgia Tech and PAX could also allow a reduction in the size of the wind turbines.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf you need a specific amount of wind force and torque generated by the wind turbine to generate electricity, we could get that force and torque from a smaller blade area because we\u2019d have more powerful lifting surfaces,\u201d Englar explained.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA major question awaiting study is how much energy will be required to produce the compressed air the blown blades need to operate. Preliminary studies done by Professor Lakshmi Sankar in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Aerospace Engineering suggest that wind turbines with the blown blades could produce 30 to 40 percent more power than conventional turbines at the same wind speed -- even when the energy required to produce the compressed air is subtracted from the total energy production.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new turbine blades will be developed at GTRI\u2019s low-speed wind tunnel research facility located in Cobb County, north of Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOfficials of PAX Streamline see the circulation control technology as key to the development of a new generation of turbines that could significantly lower the cost of producing electricity from the wind.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is a significant validation of our established turbine R\u0026amp;D,\u201d said PAX CEO John Webley. \u201cWith this grant, we can rapidly accelerate our research program and, within the next two years, deploy a prototype wind turbine which demonstrates our game-changing technology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E Georgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E 75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003E Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Assistance\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or Kirk Englehardt (404-407-7280) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ekirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA technology originally developed to increase lift in aircraft wings and simplify helicopter rotors may soon help reduce the cost of manufacturing and operating wind turbines used for generating electricity.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Technology may reduce cost of building and operating wind turbin"}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2010-01-13 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:04:08","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-01-13T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-01-13T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"48977":{"id":"48977","type":"image","title":"Wind turbine farm","body":null,"created":"1449175408","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:43:28","changed":"1475894463","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:03","alt":"Wind turbine farm","file":{"fid":"101300","name":"tqq35072.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tqq35072_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tqq35072_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":45669,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tqq35072_0.jpg?itok=5F8zUeLa"}}},"media_ids":["48977"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"8249","name":"circulation-control"},{"id":"213","name":"energy"},{"id":"8248","name":"turbine"},{"id":"2329","name":"wind"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}