Advanced wind turbine with lift-destroying aileron for shutdown

摘要

An advanced aileron configuration for wind turbine rotors featuring an aileron with a bottom surface that slopes upwardly at an angle toward the nose region of the aileron. The aileron rotates about a center of rotation which is located within the envelope of the aileron, but does not protrude substantially into the air flowing past the aileron while the aileron is deflected to angles within a control range of angles. This allows for strong positive control of the rotation of the rotor. When the aileron is rotated to angles within a shutdown range of deflection angles, lift-destroying, turbulence-producing cross-flow of air through a flow gap, and turbulence created by the aileron, create sufficient drag to stop rotation of the rotor assembly. The profile of the aileron further allows the center of rotation to be located within the envelope of the aileron, at or near the centers of pressure and mass of the aileron. The location of the center of rotation optimizes aerodynamically and gyroscopically induced hinge moments and provides a fail safe configuration.