Molteno, T.C.A. Nature’s Wind Turbines: The Measured Aerodynamic Efficiency of Spinning Seeds Approaches Theoretical Limits. Biomimetics2022, 7, 161.
Molteno, T.C.A. Nature’s Wind Turbines: The Measured Aerodynamic Efficiency of Spinning Seeds Approaches Theoretical Limits. Biomimetics 2022, 7, 161.
Molteno, T.C.A. Nature’s Wind Turbines: The Measured Aerodynamic Efficiency of Spinning Seeds Approaches Theoretical Limits. Biomimetics2022, 7, 161.
Molteno, T.C.A. Nature’s Wind Turbines: The Measured Aerodynamic Efficiency of Spinning Seeds Approaches Theoretical Limits. Biomimetics 2022, 7, 161.
Abstract
This paper describe a procedure to measure experimentally the power coefficient, Cp, of winged seeds, and apply this technique to seeds from the Norway maple (Acer platanoides). We measure Cp=56.9±2% at a tip speed ratio of 3.21±0.06. Our results are in agreement with previously published CFD simulations that indicate that these seeds – operating in low-Reynolds number conditions – approach the Betz limit (Cp=59.3%) the maximum possible efficiency for a wind turbine. In addition, this result is not consistent with the recent theoretical work of Okulov & Sørensen, which suggests that a single-bladed turbine with a tip-speed ratio of 3.2 can achieve a power efficiency of no more than 30%.
Keywords
Betz Limit; Aerodynamic Efficiency; Biomimicry
Subject
Physical Sciences, Applied Physics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
