With mankind facing the crucial challenge to make the transition to a sustainable resilient society by developing and exploiting alternative resources of energy this course provide the essential insights into the design process of wind turbines and wind farms. An area of high practical relevance in view of the rapidly increasing importance of wind energy, the size of wind turbines in terms of e.g. blade length and generated power, and the increasing economical competitiveness relative to traditional fossil fuel based methods. Introduces students into the science behind wind energy conversion systems, the relevant aspects for design and evaluating designs, as well as to non-technical issues related to wind energy.
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In this course attention is focused on the description of the methods that are used in the design process of a wind turbine and of wind farms. In particular the following six topics are treated.
- Characteristics of the wind and statistical methods to describe the wind
- Fundamentals of energy extraction and aerodynamics of wind turbine blades
- Dynamics of wind turbines
- Economics of wind energy
- Wakes and wind farm aerodynamics
- Presentation of the results of your research on a topic of choice
For each of the topics in the list there is a corresponding assignment. These six assignments are executed and reported by groups of 3 or 4 students. A presentation on the last assignment is given at the mini conference at the end of the course. Besides the lecturers there is also a practicum in the wind tunnel, where force measurements for an aerodynamic profile are carried out. The results of the experiment are reported and contribute to the overall grade. The grading of this course will be based upon the reports, the presentation, and the behavior of the group during the presentations of other groups.
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