by Rebecca Walker — September 5, 2008—If wind turbines clatter and whistle too loudly, they are only permitted to operate under partial load to protect the local residents but this also means a lower electricity output. An active damping system cancels out the noise by producing counter-vibrations.
However, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Dresden, in a joint project with colleagues from Schirmer GmbH, ESM Energie- and Schwingungstechnik Mitsch GmbH, have developed an active damping system for wind turbines. The project is being funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt.
The systems react autonomously to any change in frequency and damp the noise, a researcher explained. The key components of this system are piezo actuators that convert electric current into mechanical motion and generate “negative vibrations,” or a kind of anti-noise that precisely counteracts the vibrations of the wind turbine and cancels them out.
For more information, see the IWU Web site.
