'Self-adaptive' wind turbine patent granted to UAEU inventors

UAE engineer says tip-sweep wind turbine could be game-changer

Inventor Zishan Akhter has high hopes for his wind turbine blade patent that he says will improve the efficiency of wind power. Photo: Zishan Akhter

A UAE resident with an aerospace engineering background is applying his skills to improve the tried and tested wind turbine.

"When you look at an aircraft, the wings are swept back usually," said Zishan Akhter, 33, who recently finished his PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering from United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain.

"This is done for the purposes of enhancing the aerodynamics of the wing and I saw an opportunity that I could use this design for wind turbine blades."

Those efforts have resulted in a patent granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office, explaining UAEU's "wind turbine blade with a self-adaptive tip sweep".

Mr Akhter noted that traditional wind turbines, while simple and effective in most cases, have limitations, particularly when it comes to extremely high or low wind speeds.

The addition of a tip sweep to turbine blades, he said, helps to improve efficiency for areas where wind speeds might vary.

"When you give a sweep to the blade, it enhances the aerodynamics by reducing the tip vortices and it also makes the boundary layers of the blade more stable," he said.

Mr Akhter, who currently works as a researcher at Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute, said the design, while simple looking, took a few attempts and six months of research to ensure that any changes to the turbine blades would not add complexity and energy.

"Basically, you have to make it a passive mechanism ... that was the real challenge," he said.

As the main applicant listed on the patent, UAEU now has the potential to commercialise the invention, Mr Akhter said.

"It's an active area, which the university research office is pursuing," he said.

Also listed as an inventor on the patent is Farag Omar, a UAEU associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

The UAE has been positioning itself at the centre of ample wind energy developments.

In October, the country announced its first wind farm programme as part of efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The programme is expected to eventually power more than 23,000 homes a year, while Abu Dhabi clean energy company Masdar says it will help to displace 120,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Towards the end of 2023, in a first for Dubai, a vertical axis wind turbine was installed on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s branch in the emirate.

The installation of the 10-kilowatt turbine was the result of a collaboration between RIT Dubai and Italy-based Ecolibri, a renewables company with a focus on wind energy.

Vertical axis wind turbines, unlike the conventional horizontal axis versions, have the ability to capture wind from any direction.

Although not connected to the UAE power grid, RIT’s structure is used to partially power the campus’s sustainability park.

While they might appear to be relatively simple, wind turbines are not without criticism and not without occasional technical problems.

Last year, shaky components on wind turbines from Siemens Energy prompted repairs that cost the company more than $1 billion to fix.

In some instances, onshore wind farms can be noisy, potentially creating problems if near residential areas.

Mr Akhter said the well-documented problems and shortcomings of existing wind turbines make the sector ripe for new solutions. He said he was still in the process of filing patents that seek to address potential noise, and wear-and-tear issues.

"Wind is going to play a significant role in the energy mix," he said. "So it will be nice to see more advanced wind turbine blades that are more efficient, produce more power, are quieter and more reliable."