Wind Energy Generation by Forced Vortex Shedding

Abstract

Alternating slot-blowing (ASB) on a circular cylinder is used to generate energy from the wind by directly exciting or forcing the vortex shedding instability. Low amplitude excitation produces energetic peaks near the natural vortex shedding frequency, while high amplitude forcing relies on circulation control associated the unsteady Coandă effect to produce energy over a large low-frequency bandwidth. The ASB system produces 3.8 times higher net peak power with a 7.3 times greater bandwidth than a conventional VIV energy harvester, and is potentially a technological game-changer.