Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Civil/Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering
Rudy Salomon - Texas A&M University Corpus Christi
In today’s society, it’s essential to have an alternative energy to the current use of fossil fuels. Wind energy is very important due to the continual rise of global CO2 emissions. This research is to identify a wind-farm layout that will produce the most amount of alternative energy while using the same amount of wind turbines in the same amount of space. It is important to understand the fundamentals of a wind farm layout. There are many factors to consider during the layout design of a wind-farm. The formation of a wind turbine farm is essential in energy optimization because it can reduce what is called a ‘wake-effect’. There are many types of formations to consider in a wind farm layout. Using MATLAB software, a simulation of wind farm layout formations will justify which formation will best work for energy optimization. There are many theories on how to measure the amount of energy each wind farm is producing. In this research, I will demonstrate that the use of genetic algorithms in MATLAB will produce a wind farm layout that will produce a maximum power output of energy over time. With the use of this research, performance in wind turbines can reduce the use of oil and gas for energy. In MATLAB programming, A wind farm layout plotted with a space of 500 meters. The software was able to show how the use of Genetic Algorithms in MATLAB coding can produce a layout of a windfarm that will produce the most efficient amount of energy. In my experimental setting it was concluded that only 3 wind turbines would produce an average of 11.2v at wind speeds of 7.0 m/s descending to wind speeds of 1.3 m/s and 0.3 m/s where there is no activity due to the cause of the wake effect. In order to get all 4 wind turbines to produce energy, other methods of layouts were tested. With fans of choice and area of experiment, wind turbines were put half a meter apart in distance. In the future, it is recommended to make time for testing wind turbines performance in water to test environment energy output differences, if any. For future experiments, purchase more wind turbines to perform more wind farm layout simulations.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Research Experience for Undergraduates Integrating Research in Sustainable Energy and the Environment across Disciplines. Thanks to Faculty and Hua Li.
Faculty Advisor: Hua Li, Hua.Li@tamuk.edu
Role: For my research, I performed all the research. Simulation coding through MATLAB, Turbine base construction with the use of on campus machine shop. There was assistance through the help of my faculty advisor, Hua Li & Mentor Francisco Haces.