Experimental Research on Combined Methods against Icing of Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract

The dynamic development and enhancement of the efficiency and safety of power engineering in the Arctic and remote Siberian regions of Russia are promising and relevant. The aim of this work is search for scientifically based approaches and methods against icing, which is one of the main problems hindering efficient use of wind turbines for autonomous power supply to remote settlements in the Far North. The necessity in the research and its relevance are confirmed by the growing interest in the development of the Arctic region by the leading world countries. The presented research strives for an optimal strategy against icing of wind turbine blades in climatic conditions typical of the Arctic coast of Russia. The efficiency of combined anti-icing methods relying on the use of aerodynamically transparent substrates, hierarchical superhydrophobic (HSH) coatings, and materials based on polytetrafluoroethylene fiber for wind turbine blades in Arctic climatic conditions was experimentally studied. It is a fundamentally new approach, which has no world analogues. For verification of the efficiency of the de-icing systems and identification of the most efficient protection methods or combination of them, an experimental comparison was made for the efficiency of superhydrophobic coatings when used separately and together with various traditional de-icing methods based on heaters and ultrasonic and vibration devices. It has been shown that the integral use of the proposed methods and approaches successfully solves the problem of developing a general anti-icing strategy.