Award Number
“ENERGY” Award 1609524
Lab Supervisor or Director
Mosfequr Rahman
Principal Investigator
Valentin Soloiu
Document Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Presentation Year
2019
Abstract
Wind energy is the fastest growing form of renewable energy, with a multitude of possibilities for expansion. This, as well as other forms of renewable energy, will facilitate understanding of the growing concerns regarding global warming by decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels. Wind energy requires wind speeds of at least six miles per hour; therefore, only certain geographical areas are suitable for the use of this technology. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether the orientation of an array of wind turbines increases or decreases energy production and efficiency. In this study, various arrays consisting of five wind turbines were tested. The total energy output of each array was tested using a wind tunnel from the wind energy lab at Georgia Southern University, INA219 current sensors, custom software written by Matthew Kiernan, and five “Cutting Edge Power” wind turbines. The most efficient array in terms of voltage, power and current was the 2-1-2 array, with average outputs of: voltage at 3.98 V, current at 440.73 mA, and power at 900.92 mW. The efficiency was determined through the power coefficient, which was 32.64%. The next most efficient array was the Left-Right Staggered array, with averages of: voltage at 3.90 V, current at 208.47 mA, and power at 838.08 mW. The efficiency was determined through the power coefficient, which was 32.13%.
The Diagonal array was the third most efficient in overall energy output, with averages of: voltage at 3.75 V, current at 200.66 mA, and power at 789.07 mW. The efficiency was determined through the power coefficient, which was 29.54. The least efficient array array for energy output was Single File, with averages of: voltage at 2.79 V, current at 137.69 mA, and power at 451.05 mW. The efficiency was determined through the power coefficient, which was 18.31%.
The results demonstrated that the close proximity of turbines negatively affects energy output, as observed through the turbulence that was produced. Possible errors observed were due to turbine models that did not perform as expected as well as the breadboard configuration.
Academic Unit
College of Engineering and Computing
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Final Report
Copy of Wind Poster .pdf (267 kB)
Poster- Analysis of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Array Optimization
RET Lesson Plan-Real .docx.pdf (169 kB)
Lesson Plan: Energy
Mitchem.Backward Design.5 Day Lesson Plan(1).pdf (375 kB)
Lesson Plan: Wind Energy- Data, Statistics, Equations (GMAS Review)
Backward Design Lesson Plan.docx(1).pdf (167 kB)
Lesson Plan: Forces, Motion, Energy, Electricity & Magnetism
Keywords
RET, NSF, Energy, Award 1609524, Wind energy, Wind turbine, Array, Optimization, Horizontal axis
Analysis of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Array Optimization
Wind energy is the fastest growing form of renewable energy, with a multitude of possibilities for expansion. This, as well as other forms of renewable energy, will facilitate understanding of the growing concerns regarding global warming by decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels. Wind energy requires wind speeds of at least six miles per hour; therefore, only certain geographical areas are suitable for the use of this technology. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether the orientation of an array of wind turbines increases or decreases energy production and efficiency. In this study, various arrays consisting of five wind turbines were tested. The total energy output of each array was tested using a wind tunnel from the wind energy lab at Georgia Southern University, INA219 current sensors, custom software written by Matthew Kiernan, and five “Cutting Edge Power” wind turbines. The most efficient array in terms of voltage, power and current was the 2-1-2 array, with average outputs of: voltage at 3.98 V, current at 440.73 mA, and power at 900.92 mW. The efficiency was determined through the power coefficient, which was 32.64%. The next most efficient array was the Left-Right Staggered array, with averages of: voltage at 3.90 V, current at 208.47 mA, and power at 838.08 mW. The efficiency was determined through the power coefficient, which was 32.13%.
The Diagonal array was the third most efficient in overall energy output, with averages of: voltage at 3.75 V, current at 200.66 mA, and power at 789.07 mW. The efficiency was determined through the power coefficient, which was 29.54. The least efficient array array for energy output was Single File, with averages of: voltage at 2.79 V, current at 137.69 mA, and power at 451.05 mW. The efficiency was determined through the power coefficient, which was 18.31%.
The results demonstrated that the close proximity of turbines negatively affects energy output, as observed through the turbulence that was produced. Possible errors observed were due to turbine models that did not perform as expected as well as the breadboard configuration.
Comments
This research was supported by NSF RET Award: 1609524