SBIR Phase I: Capacitive Machines for Direct Drive Wind Turbines

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目调查了一种用于风能领域的新型电容发电机设计的优点。一般设计利用电场对机械系统施加力，这一概念在微机电系统（MEMS）规模上是常规的，但在大多数工业电源应用的宏观规模上是不存在的。该技术综合了电气、机械和化学组件的多学科方法，为风力涡轮机、电动机和发电机提供了一种新颖的方法，但理论上它比任何现有的机器都能承受更高的绝对应力和更低的功率损失。在这个项目中，这些不同的组件和最终的机器将被原型化，测试，并与竞争的，目前最先进的风力涡轮发电机技术进行评估。与化石燃料和目前的风力发电方法相比，该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是降低风力发电的能源成本，同时为全球工业提供一套全新类型的电动机、发电机和执行器。在商业上，该项目所产生的技术将在更小、更轻的设备上提供更低的扭矩成本，而不是竞争技术，通过利用静电和电磁力。此外，固有的高扭矩能力通过消除齿轮箱和他们的维护提高了系统的可靠性。风能是一个巨大的、全球性的、高增长的产业，特别是在美国。大的风吗?市场细分（100千瓦）。在气候变化的压力下，对风能等可再生能源的需求和投资将继续增加。此外，风力发电最常见于农村地区；因此，它为农村人口提供了新的收入来源，增加了对农村地区的投资，同时尽量减少有害的生态影响。从技术角度来看，所提出的电容式机械具有高扭矩和低速的特点，非常适合风力以外的直接驱动应用，即作为大型泵送、钻井或采矿装置的原动机。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project investigates the merit of a novel capacitive generator design for use in the wind energy sector. The general design utilizes electric fields to exert forces on mechanical systems, a concept that is routine on the Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) scale but is nonexistent at the macro scale common to most industrial power applications. The technology is synthesized from a multidisciplinary approach of electrical, mechanical and chemical components which provides a novel approach for wind turbines, electric motors, and generators, yet which is theoretically capable of higher sheer stress and lower power loss than any currently available machine. In this project, these various components and the resulting machine will be prototyped, tested, and evaluated against competing, current state-of-the-art wind turbine generator technology.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to decrease the levelized cost of energy for wind power generation compared to fossil fuels and current methods of wind power generation, while simultaneously enabling a suite of fundamentally new types of motors, generators and actuators for use in global industry. Commercially, the technology resulting from this project will offer a lower cost of torque in a smaller and lighter unit than competing technologies by leveraging electrostatic versus electromagnetic forces. Furthermore, the inherent high torque capability increases system reliability by eliminating gearboxes and their maintenance. Wind energy is a large, global, and high-growth industry, particularly in the ?large wind? market segment (100 kW). Under the increasing pressures of climatic change, demand for and investment in renewable energies such as wind will continue to increase. Additionally, wind power is most commonly farmed in rural areas; therefore it offers new revenue streams for rural populations and increased investment in rural areas while minimizing detrimental ecological impacts. From a technical perspective, the proposed capacitive machinery is naturally high-torque and low-speed, making it ideal for direct drive applications outside of wind as well, namely as a prime mover for large pumping, drilling, or mining installations.