Wind turbines are emissions-free and wind is renewable and cost-free; however, the amount of electricity generated and obtained by wind energy conversion systems is unsteady, relatively expensive, and difficult to integrate into traditional electricity systems because of the variation in wind source and unresolved energy storage issues. Furthermore, the vast majority of available wind is too slow, which makes collecting wind power more difficult, and the easy-to-collect wind energy is primarily confined to remote locations, which makes electricity distribution difficult. In order to achieve economic feasibility in enhancing the power in medium- to low-wind areas, significant advances in turbine design are necessary for increased power collection.
This project investigates a blade breakage self-repair system with an innovative self-healing approach. The proposed project builds upon the PI?s experimental research of an innovative, power-efficient wind turbine blade to improve wind turbine performance, reduce noise radiation, and to implement a self-repair mechanism to correct wind turbine failure during operation. The task will be achieved by introducing a polymer-based self-healing concept to repair the wind turbine blades. The proposed research will be conducted in the Energy Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). Along with the Center?s partner companies, the PI will create a test bed and experimental datasets for wind turbine diagnosis and prognosis research that can be used by other researchers in this field.
The composite blades are manufactured using a laborious, hand lay-up technique with glass fiber reinforcements. The use of fiber-reinforced composite materials has grown rapidly and such composites are often used in aerospace and other applications; however, concerns remain about the structural integrity of composite materials following impact loading, as they are susceptible to cracks or delaminations that form deep within the structure. With the success of the self-healing technology for wind turbine blades, any cracked parts in wind turbine blades can be healed during operation without any system shutting down. Therefore, this research will shed light on the existing wind turbine failure prevention methods, and provide new concepts and approaches for new materials of turbine blades suitable for the 21st century wind energy era.
This project will be fully integrated with the curriculum currently being developed by the Southeast Wisconsin Wind Energy Educational Collaborative program, a joint project with Milwaukee Area Technical College that is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. This curriculum will complement existing wind energy courses at UWM, reach undergraduate and graduate students, and increase the supply of engineers in the workforce. In addition, the PI will work with minority and female students through the UWM "College for Kids/Teens" summer program to provide research opportunities to pre-college students. The research findings will be disseminated at an international workshop organized by the PI and his collaborators in Sweden, where participants, including young faculty, underrepresented groups and women, and graduate students will be invited.
