Condors are enormous birds, weighing up to 35 lbs. When I stood next to an Andean Condor, its four foot height put the bird almost eye to eye. But despite their size, their wings allow them to soar for hours. Mechanical engineers at the University of Alberta have modeled whether a feature of condor wings could improve wind turbines by reducing drag.
They found that adding the winglet increased the pressure difference between the suction surface and pressure surface along the blade’s span, which in turn increased the turbine’s torque (rotational force around an axis) and power production. The average increase in energy production was 10%, which the researchers concluded was attributable to the aerodynamic changes caused by the winglet and not just an increase in the blade’s swept area.
https://newatlas.com/energy/biomimetic-winglet-wind-turbine-energy-production/
You’ve probably seen similar winglets on airplanes that can also be affected by drag. Here’s an explanation of what causes drag.
What commonly reduces the efficiency of wind turbines is induced drag, created as a result of lift. As a blade passes through the air, an area of lower air pressure is formed on top of it (the suction side). Higher-pressure air below the blade (the pressure side) seeks equilibrium with the lower-pressure area above, resulting in tip vortices, air that trails off the blade tips in spirals. The vortices deflect airflow downward (downwash), creating induced drag.
Watch this rescued condor take flight after a year in rehab.
Darcy Hitchcock 
1 thought on “How condors could make wind turbines more efficient”
Comments are closed.