In this study, a new bowl-shaped floating vertical axis wind turbine is invented
and investigated. The new wind turbine uses the bow-shaped floating foundation to
replace the tower structure of the currently used wind turbines. The total vertical load
of the wind power generator is carried by the liquid through the bowl-shaped
foundation instead of bearing as in the current wind power turbine. It can overcome
the limitations of the currently used wind power generation system and produce very
large wind turbine.
The breakthroughs of newly invented thin-wall bowl-shaped floating vertical axis
wind turbine are summarized as the following:
1. It has completely changed the structural form of the traditional wind turbine
and eliminated the tower construction. The new wind turbine ma...[
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In this study, a new bowl-shaped floating vertical axis wind turbine is invented
and investigated. The new wind turbine uses the bow-shaped floating foundation to
replace the tower structure of the currently used wind turbines. The total vertical load
of the wind power generator is carried by the liquid through the bowl-shaped
foundation instead of bearing as in the current wind power turbine. It can overcome
the limitations of the currently used wind power generation system and produce very
large wind turbine.
The breakthroughs of newly invented thin-wall bowl-shaped floating vertical axis
wind turbine are summarized as the following:
1. It has completely changed the structural form of the traditional wind turbine
and eliminated the tower construction. The new wind turbine mainly consists
of bowl-shaped shell type floating foundation and upper structure with blade.
Such structural form has overcome problem of ‘the heavy head and light foot’
for mass distribution in current wind turbine.
2. The new structural form of the new wind turbine is easy to be constructed and maintained as there is no need for the powerful tall crane to lift the wind blade
and power generators to the top of the tall tower as required by the current
wind turbine.
3. The new system utilizes the liquid to carry out the weight of the whole system.
Theoretically, there is no any limitation on the loading carrying capability and
hence there is no any size limitation for new wind generation system.
Therefore, this invention provides a feasible technical approach for the
manufacture of large size vertical axis wind turbine. The installed capacity of
10 MW or 100 MW can be easily achieved for the thin-wall bowl-shaped shell
floating vertical axis wind power generation system;
4. The new system has lower friction during the rotating as compared to the
current wind power generation system. Hence, it can increase the power
generating efficiency. The experiments has demonstrated that the thin-wall
bowl-shaped floating vertical axis wind power generation system starts to
rotate with wind speed of 3m/s-5m/s (Grade 3 wind), and works with wind
speed at 7m/s-9m/s (Grade 5-6 wind). Moreover, the viscous resistance is
increasing with the wind speed which can perform as a brake automatically
when a strong wind is blowing. Thus, the new system completely eliminates
the inefficient mode of traditional system as “does not run when the wind is
small, brake when the wind is too strong”;
5. The gravity centroid of new wind turbine is much lower than the current
tower-type wind turbine. Hence, the system gets rid of the stability problem of
tower structure and makes the whole system much stable under the strong
winds;
6. The new system rotates in liquid, which is smooth and quiet. It eliminates the
noisy problem of the traditional wind power generation system and hence is
environmentally friendly;
7. The new system can be built up with concrete reinforced with fiber reinforced
plastic. It can greatly reduce the initial cost of the wind power generator and
subsequently it can make the electricity generation price much lower;
8. The concrete structure of thin-wall bowl-shaped shell floating vertical axis
wind power generation system has excellent durability which greatly reduces
the maintenance cost. It has no complicated mechanical structure either and
can achieve long service life.
9. There is a big potential for such new wind turbine system to be applied in:
a.) 1 KW to 5 KW distributed wind turbine for individual family;
b.) 5 KW to 20 KW distributed wind turbine installed on the roof of tall
buildings;
c.) 50 KW to 1 MW wind turbine for isolated islands application;
d.) 1 MW to 10 MW ocean-sited wind turbine. Such turbine does not need the
deep foundation, but fixed their position by anchorage. Also, its structure
is more stable due to its heavy foot and light head structural form;
e.) Mobile wind turbine. The bowl-shaped floating vertical axis wind turbine
can be built up on a ferry on the land first, then be towed to the ocean for
energy harvesting. After harvesting, the ferry can send the energy storage
device back to the island for its utilization.
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