General Electric Company

Vestas Wind Systems A/s

Anurag Gupta

Seyed Gholamali Saddoughi

Matthew Patrick Boespflug

Trevor Howard Wood

Stephen Bertram Johnson

Peggy Lynn Baehmann

Grover Andrew Bennett, Jr

Philip Roger Gliebe

Thierry Pascal Maeder

Philippe Giguere

Ludwig Christian Haber

Arathi Kamath Gopinath

Daniel Jason Erno

Stefan Herr

Aspi Rustom Wadia

Wendy Wen-Ling Lin

Fulton Jose Lopez

Kevin Richard Kirtley

Andreas Herrig

Brian Chandler Barr

Robert Michael Zirin

Jixian Yao

Robert Carl Murray

Scott Michael Miller

Bruce J Badding

Paolo Graziosi

Ramani Mani

Corneliu Barbu

Grover Andrew Bennett

Peter Bjørn Andersen

Dmytro Floriyovych Opaits

Henrik Kudsk

Shailesh Singh Bhaisora

Dmitry Opaits

Mark Edward Braaten

Jonas Lerche Schomacker

Anna Tam

Narasimha Shastri

Thierry Maeder

Jr Grover Andrew Bennett

Bruce John Badding

Phillip Roger Gliebe

A multirotor wind turbine () comprising a tower structure () and at least one load carrying structure (), each load carrying structure () being arranged for carrying two or more energy generating units () comprising a rotor (). At least two of the rotors are upwind or downwind rotors (), the energy generating units () comprising upwind or downwind rotors () being arranged with their centres of gravity at a first distance behind the tower structure () along a direction of the incoming wind, substantially at the same vertical level, and at opposite sides of the tower structure () at substantially the same second distance to the tower structure () along a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of the incoming wind. The multirotor wind turbine () is self-yawing, even under turbulent wind conditions.

Multirotor wind turbine

A deployable aerodynamic component configured to be mounted to a wind turbine. The wind turbine includes at least one rotor blade. The deployable aerodynamic component configured to be positioned in front of an inner portion of the at least one rotor blade, and is structurally configured to cover a substantial portion of the inner portion of the at least one rotor blade in a wind direction during deployment of the deployable aerodynamic component and to allow the passage therethrough of an incoming wind when non-deployed. Further described is a wind turbine including the above-described deployable aerodynamic component and method for aerodynamic performance enhancement of an existing wind turbine, wherein the method includes mounting the above-described deployable aerodynamic component to a wind turbine.

Apparatus and method for aerodynamic performance enhancement of a wind turbine

A wind turbine blade is provided. The wind turbine blade includes a first section and a second section adjacent the first section. At least one of the first section and the second section includes a skin segment and a network of support members disposed within the skin segment. The network of support members is configured for expansion.

Wind turbine blade and method of assembling the same

A wind turbine blade is provided. The wind turbine blade includes a root region, a tip region, and a body extending from the root region to the tip region. The tip region includes a first winglet and a second winglet that extend arcuately away from one another.

Wind turbine blade and method of fabricating the same

Active Circulation Control (ACC) of aerodynamic structures, such as a turbine blade, uses unsteady or oscillatory flow from either synthetic jets or pulsed jets to modify a velocity profile of the blade. The blade includes an opening disposed in a surface of the blade at a location proximate to a trailing edge, a leading edge, or both the trailing edge and the leading edge of the blade. An active flow control device in fluid communication with the opening produces a wall-jet of pulsed fluid that flows over the trailing edge, the leading edge, or both the trailing and leading edges of the blade and modify the velocity profile of the blade.

Active circulation control of aerodynamic structures

A wind turbine blade includes a root portion, a tip and a body extending between the root portion and the tip. The body has a pressure side and a suction side. The body further has at least one winglet. Each winglet has a spanwise extension towards the root portion of the rotor blade and that ends at the tip to form a winglet having a substantially C-shaped or substantially open P-shaped geometry.

Enhanced wind turbine blade

A wind turbine blade includes a root region. A first extension (LEX) is attached to the leading edge side of the root region while a trailing edge strake (TES) is attached to the trailing edge side of the root region. The LEX and TES each include an outer profile that becomes more pronounced relative to their respective locations in the root region as the root region of the wind turbine blade morphs from a substantially cylindrical shape to a substantially airfoil shape. The LEX provides both optimal angle of attack and lift generation in the root region, while the TES mitigates airflow separation and enhances airfoil lift in the root region.

System and method for root loss reduction in wind turbine blades

A high pressure turbine (HPT) blade includes a substantially arcuate trailing edge including one or more fluid injection elements disposed therein. Each fluid injection element injects a fluid such as air into a desired trailing edge region of the HPT blade or vane to enhance mixing out of the wakes generated via the HPT blade or vane. The enhanced mixing out reduces HPT/LPT interaction losses and/or the axial gap between the HPT and LPT components in a gas turbine engine. The interaction losses include unsteady thermal wake segregation effects that lead to unexpected heat-up of endwalls (planforms and blade/vane-tips) of downstream blades/vanes, and further include aerodynamic losses, both transonic and subsonic.

System and method for enhanced turbine wake mixing via fluidic-generated vortices

A fluid dynamic structure includes a surface and a microstructure mounted on the surface. The microstructure is defined by a plurality of peaks and valleys (i.e., riblets) and includes a transition region in which each peak and valley changes from a first profile to a second profile along a chord length of the structure. The peaks and/or valleys may have a variable dimension along the length of the microstructure. The peaks and valleys can be non-linear along the chord length and have a smooth transition from the first profile to the second profile. The different profiles of the microstructure are optimized to reduce noise generated by turbulent fluid flow across the structure.

Microstructures for reducing noise of a fluid dynamic structure

An airfoil of varying span-wise thickness comprising a suction side and a pressure side coupled together at a leading edge and a trailing edge, with the trailing edge comprising a plurality of spaced-apart wave-shaped projections. Exemplary embodiments provide airfoil geometry and/or trailing edge features to influence downstream wake flow. Methods of fabricating an airfoil for improved wake flow are also provided.

Airfoil having reduced wake

An air distribution system for manipulating a boundary layer of air across a wind turbine rotor blade. The wind turbine rotor blade includes at least one sidewall that defines a cavity therein. The sidewall extends between a leading edge and an axially-spaced trailing edge, and defines a chordwise axis between the leading edge and the trailing edge. The air distribution system includes a plurality of bleed flow assemblies that are positioned within the rotor blade and are configured to discharge air into the boundary layer to reduce a separation of the boundary layer from the rotor blade. Each bleed flow assembly of the plurality of bleed flow assemblies includes a bleed flow conduit that is coupled to an inner surface of the sidewall and is oriented with respect to the chordwise axis between the leading edge and the trailing edge. The bleed flow conduit is configured to channel air through the rotor blade. An inlet aperture is defined through the bleed flow conduit and through the sidewall to channel air into the bleed flow conduit. An outlet aperture is defined through the bleed flow conduit and through the sidewall to discharge air from the bleed flow conduit and into the boundary layer.

System and method of manipulating a boundary layer across a rotor blade of a wind turbine

An airfoil includes a plasma actuation surface integrated onto the airfoil surface. On the airfoil, the plasma actuation surface is configured to provide high-frequency plasma actuation along the plasma actuation surface such that excitation of the vortex flow or shear flow mitigates the vortex flow or the shear flow associated with the airfoil.

Reduction of tip vortex and wake interaction effects in energy and propulsion systems

An engine stage includes a row of airfoils joined to corresponding platforms to define flow passages therebetween. Each airfoil includes opposite pressure and suction sides and extends in chord between opposite leading and trailing edges. Extending from a surface of the platforms is a trailing edge ridge structure which adjoins the pressure sides, suction sides, and trailing edges of the airfoils with their respective platforms.

Scalloped surface turbine stage with trailing edge ridges

A micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) based aerodynamic actuator is configured to modify a shockwave boundary layer interaction and limit incident boundary layer growth caused by a reflected shockwave.

Control of shockwave-boundarylayer-interaction using MEMS plasma devices

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Clifton Park, NY, United States of America

Anurag Gupta