Wind turbine blades can measure up to 60 meters long, and in strong wind gusts will flex five meters or more. Because wind gusts can be very localized, though, long turbine blades sometimes experience loads of very different amounts along those 60 meters. Researchers at the Riso National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy at the Technical University of Denmark have created a maneuverable elastic flap that could attach to the blades and help control those loads to increase output.

(Credit: Riso National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy)

By moving the flap in relation to the turbine blade using a pneumatic control system and sensors to determine wind speed and direction, the loads along the length of the blade can be balanced. Aside from the simple variability of wind speed there are also localized effects at wind farms due to turbulence from surrounding turbines. "It is these local influences which we hope our design will help mitigate," said Helge Aagaard Madsen, one of the project’s researchers.

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