Vortex-assisted figure-eight wing power system

Labrecque, David; Wheeler, Dan; Katsman, Eugene

doi:doi:10.1063/1.3683527

Feedback | Help | View MyArticles

Volume/Page
Keyword
DOI
Citation
Advanced

Volume: Page/Article:

Search Content Type

article doi:

Citation:

Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy / Volume 4 / Issue 1 / REGULAR ARTICLES

Previous Article | Next Article

LOG IN or SELECT A PURCHASE OPTION:

Buy PDF

Rent Article

Permissions / Reprints

J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 4, 013111 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3683527 (10 pages)

Vortex-assisted figure-eight wing power system

David Labrecque¹, Dan Wheeler², and Eugene Katsman³

¹Department of Chemistry, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
²Department of Physics, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
³Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA

View Map

(Received 23 October 2011; accepted 2 January 2012; published online 10 February 2012)

Alerts
- Alert Me When Cited
- Alert Me When Corrected
Tools
Share
- Email Abstract
- Connotea
- CiteULike
- del.icio.us
- BibSonomy
- Tweet this Article
- Add to Facebook

Abstract

References (17)

Citing Articles (9)

Article Objects (10)

Related Content

Due to the rising demand for low-cost clean energy, the development of efficient wind and water energy-generating systems is one of the major goals of this century. A novel approach for extracting energy efficiently from wind and water currents utilizes a tail-weighted wing following a figure-eight trajectory. Our prototype consists of a vertical ribbon-type wing suspended at its endpoints by swivel bearings. Energy is extracted from the longitudinal pumping motion that occurs at the endpoints of this flexing wing. Since the forces in these wings are in tension like a suspension bridge, the design can potentially be scaled up to much larger sizes than current systems and sweep across enormous areas of moving fluid with a relatively small amount of material. High-speed photography is used to map out the trajectory of a prototype wing and to monitor water flow around the wing. These observations along with data from an interactive computer simulation program are used to study the vortices and hydrodynamic forces that propel the wing along the figure-eight trajectory. Our prototype is low-cost, simple to fabricate and extracts a high amount, 30%, of the total energy in the water that flows through it.

Article Outline

INTRODUCTION
FIGURE-EIGHT WING POWER SYSTEM
1. Wing construction
2. Experimental setup
INTERACTIVE SMOOTH PARTICLE HYDRODYNAMICS (SPH) SIMULATION
RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS
COMPUTER SIMULATION RESULTS
CONCLUSIONS

RELATED DATABASES

To view database links for this article, you need to log in.

KEYWORDS, PACS, and IPC

Keywords

hydrodynamics, photography, pumps, vortices, wind power plants

PACS

88.50.Mp

Electricity generation, grid integration from wind
47.32.-y

Vortex dynamics; rotating fluids
47.85.Dh

Hydrodynamics, hydraulics, hydrostatics

International Patent Classification (IPC)

F15D
Fluid dynamics, i.e. methods or means for influencing the flow of gases or liquids
F04
Positive-displacement machines for liquids; Pumps for liquids or elastic fluids

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3683527

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1941-7012 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef

American Institute of Physics

For access to fully linked references, you need to log in.

View in Separate Window/Tab pop up window icon

For access to citing articles, you need to log in.

Figures (8) Tables (2)

Access to article objects (figures, tables, multimedia) requires a subscription; log in to view available files.
(Access to supplementary files, where available, is free for this journal.)