PFI-TT: Development of A New Class of Low-Power, Plasma-Based Wind Turbine Icing Protection Systems

该创新-技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是通过开发新型风力涡轮机防冰系统（WTIPS）来解决价值数十亿美元的可再生能源相关问题。风力涡轮机结冰是寒冷气候下对涡轮机效率和结构完整性的最大威胁。随着全球风力发电总装机容量接近1,000 GW，仅美国就有120 GW，风力涡轮机结冰被发现会导致显著的功率损失和额外的维护运营成本，在快速增长的风能市场上价值高达数十亿美元。一个突出风力涡轮机防冰重要性的显著例子是2021年2月德克萨斯州遭受严重风暴袭击后，大规模涡轮机关闭。该项目主要旨在开发一种新型WTIPS，以确保风力涡轮机在寒冷气候下更安全，更有效地运行。该计划的主要教育成果是培养未来的创业领袖，能够领导强大而多样化的团队通过商业化对社会产生影响。该计划还包括各种活动，以确保女学生和来自代表性不足的少数群体（URM）的学生广泛参与领导力发展和创业教育。拟议项目旨在开发新型等离子体WTIPS，该WTIPS适当整合了介质阻挡放电（DBD）等离子体驱动和“最先进的”疏水/防冰涂层，以有效防止风力涡轮机结冰。虽然DBD等离子体致动器将用于主动地排斥临界区域中的积冰（例如，靠近叶片前缘），具有超低冰粘附强度的疏水/疏冰表面/涂层将被用来有效地防止叶片表面上的积冰和水回流。将进行全面的结冰风洞测试活动，以检查在代表风力涡轮机结冰包络线的各种结冰条件下DBD等离子体激励的防冰/除冰性能。还将系统地评估疏水性/疏冰性涂层的机械耐久性，以抵抗由于“雨水侵蚀”效应引起的机械磨损和由于长时间暴露于UV光发射引起的性能退化。除了进行实验室实验外，还计划进行原型开发和现场实验，以提高拟议的基于等离子体的WTIPS的技术准备水平（TRL），以加速技术商业化。该项目的成功将导致一类新的低功率、基于等离子体的WTIPS，以低得多的功率成本（即， 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to address a multi-billion dollar-valued, renewable energy related problem via developing a new class of wind turbine icing protection systems (WTIPS). Wind turbine icing represents the most significant threat to turbine efficiency and structural integrity in cold climates. With total installed wind power capacity approaching 1,000 GW globally and 120 GW in USA alone, wind turbine icing is found to cause significant power loss and additional maintenance & operational costs, valued up to billions of dollars on the fast-growing wind energy market. One notable example to highlight the importance of wind turbine icing protection is the massive turbine shutdown after a severe storm blasted Texas in February 2021. This project is primarily intended to develop a novel WTIPS to ensure safer and more efficient operation of wind turbines in cold climates. The primary educational outcome of this program is to cultivate future entrepreneurial leaders that are capable of leading strong and diverse teams toward societal impact through commercialization. The program also includes various activities to ensure broad participation of female students and those from under-represented minority (URM) groups in the leadership development and entrepreneurial education.The proposed project aims to develop novel, plasma-based WTIPS that properly integrates Dielectric-Barrier-Discharge (DBD) plasma actuation and “state-of-the-art” hydro-/ice-phobic coatings for effective wind turbine icing protection. While DBD plasma actuators will be used to actively repel ice accretion in the critical regions (e.g., near blade leading edges), the hydro-/ice-phobic surfaces/coatings with ultra-low ice adhesion strength will be leveraged to efficiently prevent ice accretion and water runback over blade surfaces. A comprehensive icing tunnel testing campaign will be conducted to examine the anti-/de-icing performance of DBD plasma actuations under various icing conditions representative of wind turbine icing envelope. The mechanical durability of the hydro-/ice-phobic coatings to resist mechanical wearing due to “rain erosion” effects and performance degradation due to long-time exposure to UV light emission will also be evaluated systematically. In addition to conducting lab experiments, prototype development and field experiments are also planned to improve the technology readiness level (TRL) of the proposed plasma based WTIPS for accelerated technology commercialization. The success of this project would lead to a new class of low-power, plasma-based WTIPS to effectively repel ice accretion over turbine blade surfaces at much lower power costs (i.e., 80% in energy saving) than the current WTIPS designs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.