General Description
Wind turbine blades often under-perform or exhibit aerodynamic performance degradation effects due to environmental conditions (dirt, salt crust e.t.c) or manufacturing surface irregularities.
SMART BLADE has extensive experience in the identification of such aerodynamic deficiencies and has developed several "curing" solutions. One such solution is the application of custom Vortex Generators in order to avoid flow separation and delay stall. Another very effective supplementary solution is the use of Gurney Flaps.
- Rough surface at the leading edge of a wind turbine blade
The principle of Gurney flaps was probably accidentally discovered (and forgotten) in the early days of aviation and later re-discovered by Dan Gurney in the 60s. It has been (and still is) extensively used at the tail wings of helicopters as well as at the wings of many Formula One cars.
- Comparative lift coefficient curves extracted during a wind tunnel test for an airfoil equipped with a Gurney Flap. The addition of the Gurney Flap leads to a significant lift increase throughout the operational angle of attack range
When properly sized, the Gurney Flap increases the total performance of the airfoil. SMART BLADE has performed several wind tunnel investigations and many types of custom Gurney flap designs have been developed for various airfoil sections.
Custom Gurney Flaps are offered by SMART BLADE as retrofit or production solutions for the performance boost and performance tuning of wind turbine blades. For custom designs and pricing information please contact us at: info[at]smart-blade.com
