Biome Renewables recently announced the results of wind tunnel test measurements carried out on the FeatherEdge® trailing edge serration technology, reporting a promising noise reduction of 8 dB off a baseline Risø B1-18 airfoil operating under similar conditions. The testing took place January 2023 in the Poul la Cour Tunnel (PLCT) at DTU Wind Energy, Risø Campus, Roskilde, Denmark.
“Noise emissions from wind turbines are largely caused through the formation of a turbulent boundary layer at the trailing edge of the airfoil in the outer sections of a turbine blade,” said Ryan Church, Biome CEO and CTO. “To combat this, FeatherEdge design focused in on the specific morphology that enables an owl’s silent flight.”
To validate the technology, Biome entrusted DTU and their wind tunnel to complete a measurement campaign of aerodynamic coefficients and noise measurements. The PLCT uses a closed loop airline with a volume inside the airline of about 3,875 cubic meters. It is one of the largest university owned wind tunnels, with a test section of 2 x 3 meters and 9 meters long, and achievable flow speeds of 105 m/s (378 km/h). With turbulence intensity < 0.1 % and very low background noise, it is the ideal location to complete wind tunnel validation testing.
“The noise emission of wind turbines is one of the main obstacles for the increase of onshore wind installations all over the world,” said Christian Bak, professor in rotor aerodynamics for wind turbines at DTU Wind and Energy Systems. “Trailing edge serrations have been commercially applied to reduce the noise emission of wind turbines, but it is believed that even more noise reduction can be achieved with optimized serration designs.
In this context, the Poul la Cour Tunnel has shown its efficiency and value by validating the FeatherEdge design at airfoils with the representative flow speeds and dimensions.”
FeatherEdge is the latest in a series of technical solutions for the wind industry that Biome designs using a biologically-inspired approach to engineering and innovation.
More info www.biome-renewables.com/featheredge
