forums energies: society, ecology and clean technologies

A little known fact (except airmen), the fouling of the blades of wind turbines (leading edge) by insects ... dropping production quite considerably!

According to: http://www.enerzine.com/3/13776+decouvr ... ctes+.html

"We realized quite recently that the fouling of the leading edges of the blades of these turbines by insects on a wind turbine installed in the countryside when it is running on a beautiful summer evening will pick up a considerable number of insects So we could say to ourselves that the impact is only aesthetic, at a pinch, but, in fact, not at all. We realized that the impact in terms of production loss was around 20%, 30% or even 40% in the worst case. This means that the economic and industrial stakes are considerable in controlling the impact of roughness and the surface condition of these machines. "

Presentation of research by MINES ParisTech on the subject: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpvopn ... riale_tech

In dry weather. Obviously.
When it rains there is no karcher effect with the speed of penetration into the air and softening of the bonded organic matter.

Edit: it's like the windshield of cars.

You don't ride a motorcycle !!

A simple rinse is not enough to take off the insects ...

With the back of the leather glove from left to right. And I don't ride 200 in the rain
I stopped this

A small wind turbine.
The precautions for use are to dismantle everything once a year.
Mine has dried blood and stains on the blades

On my field of PV panels is like a gray film (dew point that fixes the dust and cirocco when rain from the south.) Even the cat walks on the legs full of earth. I hate him

I am, you are, he hates! Bad!

no problem a little bit of karcher from time to time

to plan for the design of a good wind turbine: lift nacelle outside the mast

put a vertical blade just in front of the mast ... use the variable pitch to put the side to wash on the side of the nacelle

it will therefore be necessary to provide a variable pitch that can rotate 360 ​​° and not just the angle necessary for normal operation

this note on insects and cleaning comes at the right time because I hesitated for a variable step between a lever control so limited angle and a gear control, so can rotate as much as you want

cleaning from the mat is the decisive argument for the variable gear step

Being a follower of the pruning saw, or even of the chainsaw, tinkered, at the end of an extension rod 4m long, I think, that we can tinker too, a cleaning machine, small motor brush and water, or extended Karcher lance, at the end of a light pole 4 to 8 m long, to avoid going upstairs clean !!

There are wind turbines on mast with hinge that folds down, even hydraulic.
By recovering a garage door automation system, we must be able to tinker with it, if not too much effort ????

yeah, it's possible ...

Insects stuck on the blades can create turbulence which unhook the flow (like a wing which unhooks) and seriously deteriorate its lift ...

However, it is this lift that turns the wind turbine.

For the proportions, I wouldn't go any further ... it still seems high (30%!) ... but mecaflux is a science full of surprises (non-linear ...) that must be approached with humility.

Certain glider wings or very efficient wind turbines with a fineness of 50 for example, certainly, very quickly lose their exceptional performance, at the slightest junk, as insects which sometimes cover our windshields, and which create excess vortices, which destroy the finesse, it based on the absence of vortices.
In this case 30% is very possible.
But on less efficient or in swirling wind, it must be much less than the effect of swirls, huge on the wings or blades with great finesse.