Design of a family of new advanced airfoils for low wind class turbines

In order to maximize the ratio of energy capture and reduce the cost of energy, the selection of the airfoils to be used along the blade plays a crucial role. Despite the general usage of existing airfoils, more and more, families of airfoils specially tailored for specific applications are developed. The present research is focused on the design of a new family of airfoils to be used for the blade of one megawatt wind turbine working in low wind conditions. A hybrid optimization scheme has been implemented, combining together genetic and gradient based algorithms. Large part of the work is dedicated to present and discuss the requirements that needed to be satisfied in order to have a consistent family of geometries with high efficiency, high lift and good structural characteristics. For each airfoil, these characteristics are presented and compared to the ones of existing airfoils. Finally, the aerodynamic design of a new blade for low wind class turbine is illustrated and compared to a reference shape developed by using existing geometries. Due to higher lift performance, the results show a sensitive saving in chords, wetted area and so in loads in idling position.