An advanced flight technology used to improve the aerodynamics of helicopter blades and aircraft wings could dramatically remake the wind turbine industry, increasing energy generation by as much as 40 percent.
A compressed air technology use to increase lift in helicopters could generate 40% more electricity from wind turbines
The technology, being explored by California based PAX Streamline and the Georgia Institute of Technology, could open vast expanses of the United States thought to be too windless to wind farm development,
Existing turbines could generate substantially more electricity than they do today at lower costs.
The technology – called circulation control – blows compressed air from the trailing edge of blades and wings to add more lift. The added lift lets blades operate effectively at slower speeds and winged craft to take off and land in shorter distances.
Wind turbines using circulation control are anticipated to generate power in winds too light to be harvested today and operate more effectively in high wind conditions that might normally shut down a turbine.
ARPA-E, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, awarded $3 million for a two-year demonstration project. Scientists expect the blades they develop to be smaller and less complicated than those used with the present generation of wind turbines.
Yet to be determined is the amount of power necessary to compress the required air and distribute it to turbine towers. According to an early estimate, the towers will produce 30 percent to 40 percent more electricity even after factoring in the compressed air.
[...] New Areodynamic Technology Could Remake Wind Turbine Industry … [...]