Design and Implementation of an Experimental Test Bench for the Study of Active Flow Control in Scale Wind Turbines

Abstract Advancements in wind turbine technology are critical for the global renewable energy landscape. The continuous growth of wind turbine capacities has presented various challenges for flow and power control strategies. New smart systems are mandatory to monitor and control loads and power effectively to guarantee optimal operation in current wind generation systems. While several methods have been proposed, experimental validation remains challenging due to operation costs, size, and time required to fabricate a fully scaled wind turbine prototype. Concerning this, the implementation of reduced-scaled wind turbine test benches offers an alternative to validate new flow control strategies for optimizing the efficiency of wind turbines. This paper presents the design and implementation of a wind turbine test bench for active flow control systems in small-scale wind turbines. The system includes a multidegree mounting system, a dynamic torque sensor, a permanent magnet generator, a pitch control system, and a configurable hub for different wind rotor designs. The design includes a finite element method (FEM) analysis to evaluate the different configurations of the proposed system. As a result, the implementation of the complete functional structure, dynamic sensors, and complementary elements is presented. Finally, an approach to the scaling methodology is revealed based on the mathematical criteria of similarity conditions between a lab-scale wind turbine model and a reference prototype, providing useful information on scaling techniques for wind turbines.