Revolutionizing Renewable Energy: Windeed’s Breakthrough in Floating Wind Technology
Company Background
Swedish renewable energy engineering company Windeed is at the forefront of the offshore wind energy sector with its unique revolutionary floating platforms designed to harness powerful sea wind. By converting this wind into a robust and abundant source of clean energy, its state-of-the-art capture technologies are setting new standards in renewable energy.
Renowned for its innovative approach and with patents and third-party endorsements in place, Windeed is at the cutting edge of the floating wind market, and primed for significant expansion.
Challenges
It is crucial to harness offshore wind energy efficiently to meet the ever-growing consumer demands – in a sustainable way. However, the offshore wind industry faces significant hurdles, particularly in deep-water wind energy extraction.
Navigating these complexities is the core challenge and overcoming deep-water mooring and heavy-lift logistics is vital to achieve efficient farming and distribution.
For this to happen Windeed developed a solution that is transforming wind energy and making it not only viable, but a superior alternative to other, more traditional sources.
Wave impact modeling using Ansys Fluent CFD solution
Solution
Windeed’s approach – through lightweight, high stability floaters and a unique design that simplifies installation and maintenance – sets the company apart in the sector.
To tackle design challenges associated with the development of its solution, Windeed turned to simulation technology from EDRMedeso and Ansys, recognizing early on that success in such a complex field could only be achieved through extensive virtual testing.
This approach allowed for multiple iterations and optimization through virtual prototyping long before physical models were ever built and subsequently tested; tank tests were merely required as a confirmatory rather than exploratory exercise.
Currently in startup phase, Windeed is an EDRMedeso and Ansys Startup Program member. This gives the company full access to the comprehensive suite of Ansys simulation tools to help develop their designs, taking them from novel ideas to viable commercial projects.
The main tasks involve global simulations to find local loads using programs that can consider turbulent wind loads, wave kinematics and turbine controller system. The load cases are hundreds of real time transient simulations to solve. This can’t be done using a tank test! As with the entire suite of Ansys solutions, these tools integrated seamlessly, allowing Windeed to simulate hundreds of real-time transient scenarios that would be impractical to test physically.
In the design process of the floater, a simulation driven approach has been used. Using a design of experiment approach a wide range of parameters have been varied in each simulation. The evaluation of each run has been made using Ansys optiSLang. The program creates response surfaces and gives an indication which parameters influences the most to different results. For each parameter set, several different simulations focusing on specific key result has been made. An example of result is evaluation of the expected lifetime for the turbine tower. The results are evaluated based on transient stress results from the global analysis.
Other results that are tracked are maximum forces, displacements and accelerations in different members such as mooring lines, buoys, and nacelle location.
Simulation and modelling tools that have been used in the development process are:
Windeed utilizes Ansys SpaceClaim alongside a wide range of other complementary solutions allowing design collaboration throughout the organization.
- Ansys SpaceClaim: for 3D CAD conceptual modeling, drawings, and simulation preparation
- Ansys optiSLang: for evaluating parametric design changes through the software’s robust analysis capabilities.
- Ansys Fluent and Aqwa: to calibrate Morrison coefficients such as mass, drag and inertia, critical for understanding fluid-structure interactions (FSI).
- Ansys Mechanical: for calculating assembly procedures and conducting buckling analysis under simulated environmental conditions.
Benefits
The current wind energy landscape is one where industry players have provided prototypes and pilot farms successfully demonstrating floating wind technology. The focus is now set on future development of large-scale floating wind projects.
What sets Windeed’s design apart is that its low-weight alternative concept requires much less material than all known current alternatives. Scalable to large turbines and designed for extreme weather conditions its unique mooring system allows for fast ‘plug-and-play’ scenarios. The commercial benefit is a substantially lower total cost compared to existing alternatives, shorter lead times, high-capacity production, and minimum downtime.
The use of Ansys simulation software enables Windeed to validate industry metrics such as accelerations at the nacelle and motion responses of designs under various sea conditions such as heave, surge, roll/pitch and yaw. This is a crucial factor when justifying the concept viability to the market.
Ansys Fluent is critical to understanding the effects of fluid structure interaction (FSI)
The strategic use of engineering simulation led to:
Achieving a low-weight design that significantly reduces material use compared to existing technologies.
Development of a unique mooring system that allows for rapid deployment and easy maintenance, enhancing overall operational efficiency.
Reduced material costs by designing lighter yet robust platforms.
Decreased total operational costs due to the efficient design and quick installation processes.
Shortened lead times and minimized downtime, enhancing productivity and profitability.
Ansys Mechanical: buckling analysis
Conclusion
Windeed’s commitment to innovative design and sustainability, supported by Ansys’s simulation capabilities, has positioned them as a leader in the floating wind power market.
Their approach not only addresses the immediate challenges of offshore wind energy but also sets a precedent for future developments in renewable energy technologies.
