Industry Representatives: Kim Schlunke and Jonathon Whale

SIFTE Pty Ltd and Murdoch School of Engineering and Energy have been working on an Active Axis Wind Turbine with a single long blade that is restrained at one end to the vertical shaft of a ground mounted vertical generator by a horizontal pivot pin. This leaves the outer end of the blades free to move according to the forces acting on it. These forces include lift forces that are controlled by pitching the blade and centrifugal forces that vary with the radius and rotational velocity of the blade.

It has been shown that varying the instantaneous axis of rotation of the blade motion has significant advantages in optimising the torque curve produced during each rotation. The problem is to mathematically describe the motion produced by the forces acting on the blade and the torque produced during a single rotation.

The result: a Wind Turbine that has no tower and much lower foundation and blade cost, enabling increased deployment in offshore and floating offshore applications and significantly lowering the Levelised Cost Of Energy from this renewable energy source.