CATCHING MORE WIND
Wind turbine system recycles 'spillage' to improve energy efficiency
Scott Shrage, September 17, 2015 (PhysOrg)
“...[A prototype system showed wind turbine efficiency can be improved more than 18 times the estimated monthly energy use of the average American household by capturing and storing surplus energy for later use as electricity [according to a new paper by University of Nebraska-Lincoln doctoral candidate Jie Cheng]…The system would also marginally cut total energy costs while significantly reducing fluctuations in power generation…Physicists have shown that only 59.3 percent of the kinetic energy from wind can be captured by a rotor, with modern wind turbines designed to approach this limit…[but when wind exceeds their] speed threshold, turbines adjust their blade angles to maintain a constant energy output and prevent potential mechanical damage. The resulting ‘mechanical spillage’ means that turbines fall well short of utilizing their full capacity…[Cheng's system directs] the spillage to an air compression tank, where the excess energy remains until wind speeds dip enough to pull the turbine back beneath its optimal capacity. At that point, the tank kicks in to regenerate the electricity…” click here for more
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