This paper presents the aerodynamic design of low noise wind turbine blades using Betz and Joukowski concepts. The aerodynamic model is based on Blade Element Momentum theory whereas the aeroacoustic prediction model is based on the BPM model. The investigation is started with a 3MW baseline/reference turbine rotor with a diameter of 80 m. To reduce the noise emission from the baseline rotor, t...

Two different inverse design approaches are proposed for developing wind turbine blades for sub-scale wake testing. In the first approach, dimensionless circulation is matched for full scale and sub-scale wind turbine blades for equal shed vorticity in the wake. In the second approach, the normalized normal and tangential force distributions are matched for large scale and small scale wind turb...

The design of physical (plant) and control aspects of a dynamic system have traditionally been treated as two separate problems, often solved in sequence. Optimizing plant and control design disciplines separately results in sub-optimal system designs that do not capitalize on the synergistic coupling between these disciplines. This coupling is inherent in most actively controlled dynamic syste...

Conventional gas turbine generator sets consist of a high speed turbine coupled to a low speed alternator through a speed reduction gearbox. This is required to maintain the alternator output frequency at 50 Hz or 60Hz, as output frequency is directly proportional to speed. Since power is also directly proportional to speed, the conventional system is bulky and possesses a very large footprint....

With many Tidal Energy Conversion (TEC) devices at full scale prototype stage there are two distinct design groups for Horizontal Axis Tidal Turbines (HATTs). Devices with a yaw mechanism allowing the turbine to always face into the flow, and devices with blades that can rotate through 180 to harness a strongly bi-directional flow. As marine turbine technology verges on the realm of economic vi...

Individual wind turbines in a wind farm typically operate to maximize their performance with no consideration of the impact of wake effects on downstream turbines. There is potential to increase power and reduce structural loads within a wind farm by properly coordinating the turbines. To effectively design and analyze coordinated wind turbine controllers requires control-oriented turbine wake ...

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has commissioned a highly modified Westinghouse 600 kW wind turbine as its Controls Advanced Research Turbine (CART). The capabilities of the original turbine have been increased through the installation of a high-speed data-acquisition and control system, a widebandwidth variable-speed generation system, and a high-speed independent blade pitch s...

Variable-speed, horizontal axis wind turbines use bladepitch control to meet specified objectives for three regions of operation. This paper focuses on controller design for the constant power production regime. A simple, rigid, non-linear turbine model was used to systematically perform trade-off studies between two performance metrics. Minimization of both the deviation of the rotor speed fro...

Traditional wind turbine control algorithms attempt to maximize power capture at low speeds and maintain rated power at high wind speeds. Active power control refers to a mode of operation where the turbine tracks a desired power reference command. Active power control enables wind farms to perform frequency regulation and to provide ancillary services in the energy markets. This paper presents...