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arXiv · 1212.5271

Towards the Evolution of Novel Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines

Richard J. Preen·Larry Bull
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Abstract

Renewable and sustainable energy is one of the most important challenges currently facing mankind. Wind has made an increasing contribution to the world's energy supply mix, but still remains a long way from reaching its full potential. In this paper, we investigate the use of artificial evolution to design vertical-axis wind turbine prototypes that are physically instantiated and evaluated under approximated wind tunnel conditions. An artificial neural network is used as a surrogate model to assist learning and found to reduce the number of fabrications required to reach a higher aerodynamic efficiency, resulting in an important cost reduction. Unlike in other approaches, such as computational fluid dynamics simulations, no mathematical formulations are used and no model assumptions are made.

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Richard J. Preen, Larry Bull. 2012-12-20. Towards the Evolution of Novel Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines. https://doi.org/10.1109/ukci.2013.6651290

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