Updating and Optimization of a Coning Rotor Concept

The work detailed in this paper is focused on updating and refining a coning rotor wind turbine concept. The coning rotor combines the load shedding properties of flapping hinges with gross change in rotor area, via large coning angles, to affect increased energy capture at nominally constant system cost. Previous studies have indicated that the large cost of energy reductions is possible, compared to the state-of-the-art machines then, particularly for abundant but presently uneconomic low-wind sites. Almost ten years later, the fundamentals of the design remain sound, but bear reevaluation relative to current machines, both exploiting modern power electronics and control technology. The coning rotor was never optimized in its own right, so an integrated design tool suitable for human and computer refinement of the design has been developed. Incorporated into the tool is a corrected blade element momentum method that more properly accounts for coned rotor aerodynamics. A discussion of the development of coning rotors is presented, along with a comparison to present operational strategies. Results obtained for nondimensionalized rotors and specific machine optimization studies are presented, followed by a discussion of further issues to be addressed.