Investigation of Aerodynamic Braking Devices for Wind Turbine Applications

This report documents the selection and preliminary design of a new aerodynamic braking system for use on the stall-regulated AWT-26/27 wind turbines. The goal was to identify and design a configuration that offered improvements over the existing tip brake used by Advanced Wind Turbines, Inc. Although the design objectives and approach of this report are specific to aerodynamic braking ofAWT-26/27 turbines, many of the issues addressed in this work are applicable to a wider class of turbines. The performance trends and design choices presented in this report should be of general use to wind turbine designers who are considering alternative braking methods.