Wind Energy: A New Approach for Capturing an Untapped Energy Source

This event will be available live at SEMI, as well as over Zoom. Get to SEMI by 6:30pm to network – and enjoy great pizza and refreshments! All attendees MUST register using the Eventbrite form (see link).
Although it is very eco-friendly, growth in the wind turbine industry is slowing down. Today’s wind farms generally employ Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs), but their construction involves the major logistical feat of transporting huge blades (as long as 118 meters) to locations that are often remote. However, as HAWTs cannot handle the most turbulent air, they must be placed high above the ground and far apart from one another.
Promising research out of CalTech, Stanford, and other universities predicts that Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs), which are placed less than 100 feet above the ground in wind farms under existing HAWTs, will create synergies such that the overall energy output from their simultaneous operation is greater than what each would produce on its own.
Our speaker Kevin Wolf co-founded Wind Harvest International, a new company intending to introduce VAWTs. Their latest prototype has been able to operate in turbulent conditions at the UL test facility in Texas and achieve Technology Readiness Level 7. Core to this turbine’s success is its use of a VAWT aeroelastic engineering model validated using an earlier prototype’s field data. Out of this earlier experience, the engineering team came up with nine new inventions, including an innovative hinge design that is critical for the 70-year predicted fatigue life life based on a typical 15 million rotations per year.
Come to this event and learn about this innovative technology that could revive the wind turbine industry.
Speaker(s): Kevin Wolf,
567 Yosemite Dr, Milpitas, California, United States, 95035, Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/424098