A next-generation wind turbine technology company and leading manufacturer of permanent magnet direct-drive wind turbines, has further expanded its product offerings with two new turbine models specifically designed for low wind sites. Both the NPS 60-23 and the NPS 100-24 are based on the proven NPS 100-21 platform, but leverage product features that produce higher energy capture in low winds while reducing the noise profile of the turbine, enabling more siting opportunities for the owner. The Company has successfully deployed more than 20 of these turbines in the United States, United Kingdom and Italy during 2012 and 2013, demonstrating the success of the design.
"NPS is committed to delivering enhanced offerings that lower costs and increase performance for turbine owners. We are increasing the value proposition of our already highly-capable NPS turbines through an integrated road-map of expanded product and services offerings, of which our proven low wind enhancements are just one example," stated Troy Patton, President and CEO, Northern Power Systems.
The NPS Low Wind turbine fleet has surpassed 50,000 operational hours with availability in excess of 97%, and has generated more than 1,500 MWh of clean, renewable energy, enough to power more than 150 US (or 450 UK) homes for an entire year. These improved models are optimized for low wind and yield comparatively more energy in low wind regimes.
The NPS 100-24 is based on the proven platform of the NPS 100-21 which was originally designed to service remote areas such as Alaska, where regular maintenance is not an option. The NPS 100 is a highly reliable turbine that utilizes permanent magnet direct-drive technology and has fewer moving parts than a conventional gear-box based wind turbine. The larger rotor diameter, lower rpm and tip speed of the NPS 100-24 and 60-23 makes for quieter operation, while the longer blades capture more energy at lower wind speeds. The NPS 60 model generates 59.9kW rated power and is utilized in areas where grid connection capacity is a constraint.
Scottish farmer Mervyn Wallace recently installed an NPS 60 at his farm, his second Northern Power Systems wind turbine. "I'm excited that Northern Power came out with a new turbine that is designed specifically for lower wind speeds. I am very pleased with the revenue that both of my Northern Power turbines are now earning for me. NPS turbines are an excellent return on capital invested."
With over 2.5 million run time hours across its fleet, Northern Power turbines provide customers with clean, cost effective renewable energy. The quiet, low profile turbines with multiple tower and rotor options fit perfectly in remote locations as well as in agricultural and industrial areas. Northern Power turbines' reliable, safe and simple operation gives owners peace of mind while delivering the highest potential opportunity for customers to maximize their returns.
Northern Power Systems has over 30 years of experience in developing advanced, innovative wind turbines. The Company's proven, next generation permanent magnet direct drive (PM/DD) wind turbine technology is based on a vastly simplified architecture that utilizes a unique combination of a permanent magnet generator and direct-drive design. This proven approach uses fewer moving parts, delivers higher energy capture, and provides increased reliability due to reduced maintenance and downtime.
Northern Power Systems is a fully integrated company that designs, manufactures, and sells wind turbines into the global marketplace from its headquarters in Vermont, USA, with European headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland and a strong presence in the United Kingdom and Italy.
2013年5月6日 星期一
2013年5月2日 星期四
Tiny fly-inspired RoboBee takes flight at Harvard
A quartet of Harvard University reseachers have designed,
manufactured, and flown a tiny, fly-inspired aerial robot that could be
the forerunner of swarms of drosophilistic drones.
To put their achievement in boffinary terms, as did the authors in the abstract of their paper, published in the latest issue of the jounal Science, "We developed high-power-density piezoelectric flight muscles and a manufacturing methodology capable of rapidly prototyping articulated, flexure-based sub-millimeter mechanisms."
And it took them a dozen years to do it. "This is what I have been trying to do for literally the last 12 years," one of the paper's authors, engineering and applied science professor Robert Wood, said in an announcement by Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, where the work was done.
You might reasonably ask why it took so long. Simple: there are no off-the-shelf parts you can use to build what the paper describes as "an 80-milligram, insect-scale, flapping-wing robot modeled loosely on the morphology of flies." Or, as one of Wood's fellow authors Pakpong Chirarattananon, calls it, the RoboBee.
"We had to develop solutions from scratch, for everything," Wood said. "We would get one component working, but when we moved onto the next, five new problems would arise. It was a moving target."
Two of the innovations the team came up with were a piezoelectric wing actuator and a method of laser-cutting the RoboBee's carbon fiber and polymer film body material in such a way that it naturally transforms from 2D to 3D much like structures in a kid's pop-up book.
"It's really only because of this lab's recent breakthroughs in manufacturing, materials, and design that we have even been able to try this," Wood said. "And it just worked, spectacularly well."
As might be guessed, tolerances at this tiny level were a bear to work out – the slightest deviations would cause prototypes to go haywire. One of the coauthors, Kevin Ma, told ScienceNow that even if the RoboBee's wings were the tiniest bit asymmetrical, the flying bug couldn't be controlled. But when he finally got it right, "It was an amazing feeling of having all of this hard work suddenly bear fruit," he said.
The team still has a good deal of work to do before swarms of these little fellows can autonomously roam the skies. For example, they still require tethering for power and control, a limitation that may not be easily overcome.
After that, the next steps will involve integrating the parallel work of many different research teams who are working on the brain, the colony coordination behavior, the power source, and so on, until the robotic insects are fully autonomous and wireless.
The prototypes are still tethered by a very thin power cable because there are no off-the-shelf solutions for energy storage that are small enough to be mounted on the robot's body. High energy-density fuel cells must be developed before the RoboBees will be able to fly with much independence.
"Flies perform some of the most amazing aerobatics in nature using only tiny brains," notes coauthor Sawyer B. Fuller, a postdoctoral researcher on Wood's team who essentially studies how fruit flies cope with windy days. "Their capabilities exceed what we can do with our robot, so we would like to understand their biology better and apply it to our own work."
The milestone of this first controlled flight represents a validation of the power of ambitious dreams—especially for Wood, who was in graduate school when he set this goal.
To put their achievement in boffinary terms, as did the authors in the abstract of their paper, published in the latest issue of the jounal Science, "We developed high-power-density piezoelectric flight muscles and a manufacturing methodology capable of rapidly prototyping articulated, flexure-based sub-millimeter mechanisms."
And it took them a dozen years to do it. "This is what I have been trying to do for literally the last 12 years," one of the paper's authors, engineering and applied science professor Robert Wood, said in an announcement by Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, where the work was done.
You might reasonably ask why it took so long. Simple: there are no off-the-shelf parts you can use to build what the paper describes as "an 80-milligram, insect-scale, flapping-wing robot modeled loosely on the morphology of flies." Or, as one of Wood's fellow authors Pakpong Chirarattananon, calls it, the RoboBee.
"We had to develop solutions from scratch, for everything," Wood said. "We would get one component working, but when we moved onto the next, five new problems would arise. It was a moving target."
Two of the innovations the team came up with were a piezoelectric wing actuator and a method of laser-cutting the RoboBee's carbon fiber and polymer film body material in such a way that it naturally transforms from 2D to 3D much like structures in a kid's pop-up book.
"It's really only because of this lab's recent breakthroughs in manufacturing, materials, and design that we have even been able to try this," Wood said. "And it just worked, spectacularly well."
As might be guessed, tolerances at this tiny level were a bear to work out – the slightest deviations would cause prototypes to go haywire. One of the coauthors, Kevin Ma, told ScienceNow that even if the RoboBee's wings were the tiniest bit asymmetrical, the flying bug couldn't be controlled. But when he finally got it right, "It was an amazing feeling of having all of this hard work suddenly bear fruit," he said.
The team still has a good deal of work to do before swarms of these little fellows can autonomously roam the skies. For example, they still require tethering for power and control, a limitation that may not be easily overcome.
After that, the next steps will involve integrating the parallel work of many different research teams who are working on the brain, the colony coordination behavior, the power source, and so on, until the robotic insects are fully autonomous and wireless.
The prototypes are still tethered by a very thin power cable because there are no off-the-shelf solutions for energy storage that are small enough to be mounted on the robot's body. High energy-density fuel cells must be developed before the RoboBees will be able to fly with much independence.
"Flies perform some of the most amazing aerobatics in nature using only tiny brains," notes coauthor Sawyer B. Fuller, a postdoctoral researcher on Wood's team who essentially studies how fruit flies cope with windy days. "Their capabilities exceed what we can do with our robot, so we would like to understand their biology better and apply it to our own work."
The milestone of this first controlled flight represents a validation of the power of ambitious dreams—especially for Wood, who was in graduate school when he set this goal.
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