Retrofit winglets for wind turbines
Citation
Miller, L. Scott; Matheswaran, Vijay, inventors. Wichita State University (Wichita, KS), assignee. Retrofit winglets for wind turbines. United States patent U.S. 11,215,161. 2022, January 04.
Abstract
A winglet is provided for retrofitting to a wind turbine. Aerodynamic and centrifugal forces for winglets having a range of configurations including winglet height, taper ratio, twist, and cant angle are modeled, wherein the winglet height, taper ratio, twist, and cant angle are used to define a grid in a Vector Lattice. An increase in a coefficient of power C.sub.p of each winglet design when applied to a predetermined main blade of the wind turbine can be determined. A winglet configuration can then be selected wherein the coefficient of power C.sub.p of the main blade and winglet is at least 2% greater than the coefficient of power C.sub.p of the main blade alone, and wherein a ratio of normal aerodynamic force generated by the winglet to centrifugal force generated by the winglet during rotation at a nominal rated speed is in a range between 0.75 and 2.
Description
WSU inventors: L. Scott Miller, Vijay Matheswaran, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering
Application No. 16/186,876 filed November 12, 2018. Patent No: U.S. 11,215,161 granted January 4, 2022
URI
https://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11,215,161.PN.&OS=PN/11,215,161&RS=PN/11,215,161https://soar.wichita.edu/handle/10057/23662