SBIR Phase I: Capacitive Machines for Direct Drive Wind Turbines

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目调查了一种新型电容式发电机设计用于风能领域的优点。一般设计利用电场对机械系统施加力，这是微机电系统（MEMS）规模上的常规概念，但在大多数工业电力应用中常见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的方法，但理论上能够比任何现有机器具有更高的剪切应力和更低的功率损耗。在该项目中，这些不同的部件和最终的机器将进行原型制作、测试和评估，以对抗竞争对手、当前最先进的风力涡轮机发电机技术。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是与化石燃料和当前的风力发电方法相比，降低风力发电的平均能源成本。同时使一套全新类型的电动机、发电机和执行器能够在全球工业中使用。在商业上，该项目产生的技术将通过利用静电力与电磁力，在更小更轻的单元中提供比竞争技术更低的扭矩成本。此外，固有的高扭矩能力通过消除齿轮箱及其维护来提高系统可靠性。风能是一个巨大的，全球性的，高增长的行业，特别是在？大风？市场细分（100千瓦）。在气候变化的压力越来越大的情况下，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，同时最大限度地减少了有害的生态影响。从技术角度来看，所提出的电容式机械自然具有高扭矩和低速度，使其也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.