Segmented Shroud Wind Turbine with Radial Gaps for Downstream Pressure Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional wind turbines are inefficient, costly, and environmentally impactful due to their large size and limited ability to convert wind kinetic energy into usable electrical power, making it difficult to develop new wind farms and causing objections from property owners due to noise and visual obstruction.
Innovation Solution
A compact wind turbine design featuring a plurality of blades mounted on a rotating hub surrounded by a shroud with radially spaced plates that create gaps to mix and exit airflow, reducing downstream air pressure and increasing efficiency, allowing the turbine to align with wind direction and improve power extraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If traditional wind turbines use large blades and tall towers to access higher wind speeds, then power generation capability is improved, but construction cost and environmental impact increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the airflow path by introducing a shroud with multiple openings that divide the single large rotor into multiple smaller rotors. This segmentation allows the system to capture wind energy effectively while reducing the need for a single large tower and extensive land use, thereby lowering construction costs and environmental impact.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs a nested structure where multiple smaller rotors are positioned within a shroud that surrounds them. This nested arrangement allows the smaller rotors to benefit from the wind flow channeled by the shroud, achieving efficient power generation with a compact structure that reduces construction complexity and environmental footprint compared to traditional large-scale turbines.
2Device complexity
If smaller wind turbines are used to reduce construction cost and environmental impact, then ease of deployment is improved, but energy conversion efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The shroud acts as an intermediary structure that channels and concentrates wind flow toward multiple smaller rotors. This intermediary element enhances the wind speed and flow consistency experienced by each rotor, thereby improving energy conversion efficiency without requiring the rotors to be large, thus maintaining ease of deployment and reduced construction costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines multiple smaller rotors within a single shroud structure, merging their individual power outputs to achieve the total energy generation capacity of a single large turbine. This combining approach improves energy conversion efficiency by utilizing coordinated rotation of multiple rotors while maintaining the advantages of smaller, more deployable components.
3Power
If a shroud is added to small wind turbines to improve power extraction, then energy conversion efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The shroud is segmented with multiple openings rather than being a solid structure, which simplifies the overall design by reducing material requirements and manufacturing complexity. The segmented shroud still effectively channels wind flow to the rotors while being easier to construct and maintain compared to a solid shroud design.
Data Source
AI summary
A wind turbine is provided with turbine blades mounted for axial rotation about an axis. The blades are surrounded by a shroud to define an axial air passage. Plates are attached to the shroud at a position radially outward from the shroud forming an air passage between the shroud and the plates. The plates have gaps between the adjacent plates so that air exiting the downstream opening of the shroud and air moving through the axial air passage between the shroud and the plates are mixed and a portion of the mixed air exits through the gaps.