| NSF Org: |
TI Translational Impacts |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 21, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 21, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1622031 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Rajesh Mehta
rmehta@nsf.gov (703)292-2174 TI Translational Impacts TIP Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2017 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $225,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $225,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1938 HARNEY STREET LARAMIE WY US 82072-3037 (307)343-3993 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1938 Harney Street Laramie WY US 82072-3037 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | SBIR Phase I |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.084 |
ABSTRACT
This SBIR Phase I project seeks to reduce the capital cost of wind turbines by an astounding 15x. Its patented, remarkably simple design also reduces transportation, maintenance, and land costs, and provides greater location and altitude flexibility. It uses the same aerodynamics as today's dominant wind technology, the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), but with innovations based on recent research into airborne wind energy generation. Multiple, 6-meter airfoils (they look like model airplanes) behave exactly like the outer tips of a conventional wind turbine blade, which is where most of the power is generated in a HAWT. The airfoils run along a rail- as if you captured kites and put them on short leashes - and a linear generator makes the power. The proposed research is based on a proof-of-concept demonstrating that these principles are scientifically sound. If successful, the project would drastically reduce the cost of wind-generated electricity, making it competitive with fossil fuels. It would thus be a completely self-sustaining commercially viable entity, creating jobs and generating tax revenues. By out-competing fossil fuels, it would use market forces to encourage renewable energy development, thus reducing energy-related emissions and improving national health, prosperity, and welfare. The project's light weight, low profile, and easy, flexible set-up may also have military applications that would help secure the national defense.
The proposed technology captures energy through translational rather than rotational motion in the tips of the airfoils as they run along a rail tethered by bridles. Its major innovation is a patented bridling system that handles downwind forces (aerodynamic tip-over forces), which are the primary cause of the HAWT's mass and cost. Another major innovation is to run airfoils in an oval rather than a circle. This alters the math behind swept area, the key input for generation capacity. Because the oval's swept area is a function of length and height, rather than radius squared, this project can add capacity in many different ways, escaping the tyranny of building ever-bigger and -taller circles. The first objective is to design, test, build, measure, and refine a 100 kilowatt (kW) alpha device. A meaningful-scale alpha device will demonstrate the project's ability to meet performance, weight, and cost targets, while facilitating decisions about how to build far larger devices, and modeling their costs. The methods and approaches will conquer challenges in five subsystems: structures, aerodynamics, power generation, control, and grid integration. The team, which includes leading experts in both academia and industry, will design subsystem options. It will convene to find the best system-wide design and construct the device, with many refinements along the way.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The AirLoom, an innovative design to capture wind energy, reduces the capital cost of utility-scale wind turbines by nearly 80 percent. Compared to the three blades of a traditional horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT), the AirLoom runs multiple small airframes on a slender oval track, with downwind forces supported by a patented bridling system.
This National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (NSF SBIR) Phase I involved rigorous engineering analyses of the AirLoom’s structures, aerodynamics, power takeoff, and wind resource availability. The work included finite element analysis (FEA) studies in Ansys Mechanical, Maxwell, and Fluent, as well as piecewise linear electrical circuit simulation (PLECS). The result: A comprehensive optimization model for the AirLoom fully accounts for tower height, wind resource at heights above ground level, and wind resource at various offset angles (the AirLoom cannot yaw), while control algorithms for each state of the AirLoom (wind speed/direction) account for airfoil pitch, translation speed, generator configuration, and other variables. These studies confirmed the technical feasibility of this technical innovation.
Phase I also involved building a prototype, 13 meters tall by 80 meters wide, with a single two-meter blade. The prototype, which withstood 60+ mph Wyoming winds, demonstrated the real-world feasibility of the modeled design. For example, the device successfully handles stresses with tension rather than compression.
The AirLoom design eliminates 90% of the weight of a HAWT, while providing options to easily increase swept area, the key input in capacity. Modeling shows the result will produce power for 2.8 cents per kWh at a 7 m/sec site. That’s less than half the cost of most wind energy today, and is achieved without assuming scale production, supply chain optimization, or tax subsidy.
The lower cost of energy will save consumers money, with associated societal benefits, and accelerate the adoption of clean energy, with associated environmental benefits. The AirLoom’s configurability will provide location, altitude, and visual signature flexibility. It will have a smaller lifetime environmental footprint than the HAWT, and will encourage low-visual-impact development of lower-wind sites closer to load centers.
Development of the AirLoom will thus have significant commercial impact on renewable energy generation. In addition to creating a profitable company, it will create hundreds or even thousands of jobs.
Last Modified: 02/27/2017
Modified by: Robert Lumley
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