Electrostatic Wind Energy Converter

Wind energy is a growing source of seemingly endlessly-replenishable energy that eases the pressure on fossil based energy sources. However, existing wind turbines have some disadvantages like high maintenance costs, noise, harmfulness to birds and “visual pollution”. These disadvantages limit the widespread use of wind energy, not only from a economic perspective but from a public acceptance point of view as well.

Constructing wind farms at sea could very well be an efficient solution, because the wind farms would be out of view. Considering the intensive maintenance currently involved with wind turbines, the operating costs of a wind farm at sea would severely limit the economic feasibility of this option. The maintenance arises primarily from the conversion of wind energy to electrical energy via mechanical energy i.e. the rotating movement that drives the wind turbine. Therefore, a method is needed to directly convert the wind energy to electrical energy in such a way, that very little mechanical movement is required. This way, the operating costs of a sea-based wind farm could be lowered significantly.

In this research, a device called EWICON is developed, in which charged droplets will be moved by the wind. As a result of this charge movement, a current is generated which can be converted to be connected to the power grid. This method, in principle, does not have the need for moving mechanical parts. Apart from the positive impact on maintenance costs, it would also mean that this type of energy converter would produce less noise than a wind turbine, making it an ideal candidate for placement on buildings. In Delft, research is focused on the high-voltage constructions, that are used to create and steer the charged droplets. Also, the whole set-up is tested and optimised in the High Voltage Laboratory.