By Irene Klotz
Klotz Communications
ORLANDO — A paper on the record-setting performance of WindTamer Corporation turbines was formally presented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Aerospace Sciences meeting on January 7. The paper’s author, Ken Visser, associate professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at Clarkson University and a former NASA engineer, also used the presentation as a learning experience for his students and spoke of the possible future of wind power and WindTamer.
One of Visser’s students, Michael Moeller, presented the paper and spoke of WindTamer’s “excellent results.’ Moeller helped test one of WindTamer’s innovative wind turbines, which the Geneseo, N.Y.-based company donated to Clarkson University. Moeller said it not only gave him an opportunity to get some hands-on engineering experience, but that Windtamer’s design will be the subject of the senior honors student’s upcoming thesis.
For WindTamer, having Visser and his students analyze its turbine design resulted in verification that its patented technology surpasses the energy output theoretically possible from an open rotor system. That limit, calculated by German physicist Albert Betz in 1919 and popularly referred to as the “Betz Limit,’ is 59.3 percent of the kinetic energy in wind.
WindTamer’s turbine was able to surpass the theoretical limit by adding a shroud and a bypass, which create vacuums in the wind flow that effectively pull the wind through the blades, thereby adding to the power production.
“The effect of the shroud and the bypass is to increase the mass flow to get much more power out of the wind,’ Moeller said during the presentation.
WindTamer’s original turbine, analyzed with a wind speed of 5 meters per second, was not remarkable at first, Moeller said. But a redesign that tapered and twisted the turbine’s blades resulted in total energy outputs — taking into account power needed to run the system — that reached 80 percent of the wind’s kinetic energy, well beyond the 59.3 percent Betz Limit.
“This is producing power coefficients that are excellent,’ Moeller said.
Also surprising was the realization that the system is self-regulating, meaning that the turbine does not have to be furled out of the wind to avoid overtaxing its generator. In addition, the WindTamer turbine’s very low-noise level makes the system suitable for residential use, Moeller added.
Visser called the collaboration with WindTamer “a win-win for everybody.’ The donation of the machine and a tower for testing allowed students to learn and interact with researchers, plus WindTamer gained improvements to its design.
“I think there’s a huge market for small wind turbines,’ Visser said. “Most people currently can’t afford small wind turbines because they’re expensive. If we can make them more efficient so people can get a return on their investment faster, that would promote people adopting small wind turbines.’
“I philosophically really support wind energy,’ Visser added. ’Hopefully, WindTamer can make a real go of it. It’d be great to have wind turbine manufacturing in the state of New York. This technology could really take off.’
Visser sees the growing interest in electric cars as one potential boon for wind energy. “People might say ‘Well, how am I going to charge my electric vehicle?’ I could plug it into the grid or have it charged by a wind turbine. For all I know — I’m not a business person — maybe WindTamer should team up with Prius — and say, ‘Hey you get a Prius and you get a WindTamer turbine with it that we’ll install at your house.’’
