Effect of Leading-Edge Tubercles on Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Performance

What is it about?

Vertical axis wind turbines are able to extract energy from the wind in any direction without a yaw system. This makes them suitable for urban areas and remote communities. Tubercles are a bio-inspired leading-edge modification, originally found on the flipper of humpback whales. When applied to wings and wind turbine blades, they improve aerodynamic performance at high angles of attack. This paper shows significant power output improvements when using tubercles on vertical axis wind turbine blades and determines sources of this improvement.

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Photo by Bastian Pudill on Unsplash

Photo by Bastian Pudill on Unsplash

Why is it important?

With the substantial increase in power output from leading-edge tubercles, the cost per unit of power produced would subsequently decrease. The paper also found that some tubercle shapes reduce the maximum force experienced by the turbine blades, while still producing more power. This indicates that tubercle-bladed vertical axis wind turbines would have a longer life. Overall, this shows that tubercles should make vertical axis wind turbines a more affordable clean energy solution.