Wind Energy Harnessing System for Low and High Wind Speeds

Abstract

This work presents the design and analysis of a novel wind energy harnessing system that makes use of wind defecting structures to increase the ambient wind speed at geographic locations with relatively low wind speed. The system however reacts to highspeed wind conditions by altering the profile of the wind defecting structure in order to eliminate wind speed amplification attribute of the system, thereby protecting the wind turbine assembly at high speed wind conditions. Although increasing the wind speed is advantageous at geographic locations that the wind speed is typically low; however, from times to time, there could be sustained high-speed wind conditions at the same locations that may damage the wind turbine systems that take advantage of the wind defecting structures. The present work disclosed a wind deflecting structure formed by at least two sail-like partial cylindrical structures that are supported atop of a tower-like foundation in a symmetric arrangement, where one or more wind turbines can be installed in the space between the two partial cylinders. The two partial cylinders, each substantially in form a quarter cylinder is made of plurality of parallel ribbed-like bars, hereafter referred to as “bars” with a flexible thin material that are mechanically supported by the bars. The bars are oriented in a direction perpendicular to the ground; allowing the wing deflecting structures to accept horizonal axis or vertical axis turbines in the space between them. The function of the bars is to allow the thin material, attached to them, to assume a curved configuration substantially in the form of a quarter cylinder. The apparatus is equipped with wind speed monitoring devices, and power source and power transmission means, such as cable-pulleys, chain-sprockets, gears, or mechanical linkages that all work in concert to deploy or stow the thin material along the vertical rods depending to the magnitude of the prevailing wind speed. Preliminary computational fluid dynamics analyses have shown that the wind deflecting structure proposed here in amplifies the wind speed by a factor of 1.65.