Thermal Cycling in Converter IGBT Modules with Different Cooling Systems in Pitch- and Active Stall-Controlled Tidal Turbines

This paper compares active and passive cooling systems in tidal turbine power electronic converters. The comparison is based on the lifetime of the IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) power modules, calculated from the accumulated fatigue due to thermal cycling. The lifetime analysis accounts for the influence of site conditions, namely turbulence and surface waves. Results indicate that active cooling results in a significant improvement in IGBT lifetime over passive cooling. However, since passive cooling systems are inherently more reliable than active systems, passive systems can present a better solution overall, provided adequate lifetime values are achieved. On another note, the influence of pitch control and active speed stall control on the IGBT lifetime was also investigated. It is shown that the IGBT modules in pitch-controlled turbines are likely to have longer lifetimes than their counterparts in active stall-controlled turbines for the same power rating. Overall, it is demonstrated that passive cooling systems can provide adequate cooling in tidal turbine converters to last longer than the typical lifetime of tidal turbines (>25 years), both for pitch-controlled and active speed stall-controlled turbines.

Dynamic stall control over a rotor airfoil based on AC DBD plasma actuation

At present, the control capability of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuation covers the flow velocity range of helicopter’s retreating blades, so it is necessary to extend it to the dynamic stall control of rotor airfoils. A DBD plasma actuator was adopted to control the dynamic stall of an oscillating CRA309 airfoil in this paper. The effectiveness of alternating current (AC) DBD plasma actuation on reducing the area of lift hysteresis loop of the oscillating airfoil was verified through pressure measurements at a Reynolds number of 5.2 × 105. The influence of actuation parameters on the airfoil’s lift and moment coefficients was studied. Both steady and unsteady actuation could effectively reduce the hysteresis loop area of the lift coefficients. The flow control effect of dynamic stall was strongly dependent on the history of angle of attack. Compared with the steady actuation, unsteady actuation had more obvious advantages in dynamic stall control, with reducing the area of lift hysteresis loop by more than 30%. The effects of plasma actuation on the airfoil’s flow field at both upward and downward stages were discussed at last.

Investigation of the tip injection for stall control in a transonic compressor with inlet distortion

Experimental studies have shown that tip injection upstream of the rotor can extend its operational range when subjected to circumferential inlet distortion. Typically, injectors are placed uniformly around the annulus. However, such arrangement consumes a large amount of high-pressure air and decreases the overall efficiency of the compression system. The aim of this paper is to minimise the amount of the injected air by determining the most effective circumferential location for the injector. In this study, NASA stage 35 was used as the test case. The experiment was conducted with a circumferential total pressure distortion of 120 degrees. In the first part of this paper, numerical simulations were compared against the experimental data and good match was obtained. In the second part, tip injection at three different positions were tested: the clean flow region (Position 1), the distorted region (Position 2) and the border between the clean and distorted regions (Position 3). It was found that a mild injection (0.66% of the main flow) at Position 2 and Position 3 can extend the stall margin by 1.8% and 2.7%, respectively. No obvious improvement was observed for the injection at Position 1. With a larger injection of 1.5% of main flow at Position 3, the stall margin improved further with no efficiency loss.

Study on Dynamic Stall Control of Rotor Airfoil Based on Coflow Jet

In this study, a dynamic stall control strategy, called the co-flow jet (CFJ), is applied to the rotor airfoil. The effect of the CFJ on the unsteady dynamic stall characteristics of the rotor airfoil is numerically investigated via numerical simulations of the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations coupled with the Spalart-Allmaras (S-A) turbulence model. The numerical methods are validated by a NACA0012 pitching airfoil case and a NACA6415 airfoil case based on the CFJ, and good agreement with experiments is found. Via the study of the typical conditions of CFJ control to suppress the dynamic stall of the OA212 rotor airfoil, it is verified that this method has a good effect on dynamic stall suppression. The diffusion and blending of the turbulent shear layer between the CFJ injection jet and the main flow excite the main flow and enhance its ability to resist the reverse pressure gradient; this suppresses the generation and development of the separation vortex, thereby enhancing the aerodynamic characteristics, improving the hysteresis effect, and increasing the system stability. On this basis, the control parameters of the CFJ are further studied, including the influences of the jet momentum coefficient and the positions and sizes of the injection and suction slots on suppressing the dynamic stall of the rotor airfoil. It is found that there is a jet momentum coefficient that optimizes the suppression effect of the dynamic stall of the rotor airfoil. Moreover, the position of the injection slot is found to have a greater effect on the dynamic stall suppression, while the size of the injection slot and the position and size of the suction slot have little effect.