Chinese scientists have found a way to improve the efficiency of wind turbines and act as a wind power generator, by designing blades that look like a gull’s wing and contain a design known as the “Gurney flap”.
The opening improves the lift force of the propeller and reduces the likelihood of flow stall on the turbine blades, the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy reports.
The efficiency of obtaining electricity from the energy of the wind flow directly depends on the design of wind turbines, the blades of which resemble aircraft wings.
The Gurney flap is a small plate that protrudes from the wing’s trailing edge to improve performance. Its use is especially effective at low angles of attack, which is the angle between the line passing through the center of the wing of the aircraft and the oncoming airflow.
To overcome this limitation, scientists have resorted to bionic flow control – simulating the flight of birds and insects. Computational and experimental studies show that flaps in the form of bionic feathers can increase lift. So the researchers tried an approach that combined Gurney’s flaps with bionic feathers.
The scientists simulated the aerodynamic characteristics of the new turbines in various situations and concluded that the method improves the lift force of the propeller and reduces the likelihood of flow stall on the turbine blades.win