Prototypes of wind turbines inspired by insect wings are 35% more efficient
Scientists create wind turbines inspired by insect wings. They are more flexible and allow air to enter
In order to improve the production of wind energy, scientists carry out several tests... And some of them are even inspired by insect wings. A study by the University of Paris-Sorbonne, France, surprised by showing that increasing the efficiency of a turbine is not a matter of making the rotors turn as fast as possible. If this happens, failures are more prone and the turbines become less efficient at high speed because they become a wall, blocking the wind from passing through the rotating blades. In order for energy to be produced more efficiently, the wind must only reach its blades at the "slope angle".
Insect wing-inspired wind turbines don't have this problem because they're flexible - bee and dragonfly wings are capable of directing the aerodynamic load in the direction of their flight.
To see if the flexibility of insect wings would improve the efficiency of wind turbines, scientists built small-scale turbine prototypes with three different types of rotors. One completely rigid, one a little flexible and the last one very flexible. In tests, the more flexible blades didn't produce as much energy as the other turbines, but the slightly flexible blades outperformed the completely rigid ones, producing 35% more energy - capable of operating efficiently in a wider range of wind conditions.
Scientists now plan to build larger turbine prototypes with slightly flexible blades to operate in the same way as the small-scale one.
Source: Science
