News

Here we report on news about SAILWIND at irregular intervals. It may be a BA or MA theses or a related project that has been finished by students, or other advances, e.g. in our efforts to find a cooperation partner, or special successes in funding or donations.

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July 2021 - Finished project at EIM

At the end of July ’21 a team of two students from the master’s program EIM successfully completed their project on the topic “Traction force sensor system with wireless data transmission from the rotor of a sail windmill.” Background: SAILWIND has a system of highly loaded stainless steel wire ropes for tensioning the masts. Monitoring of traction forces in operation is essential for the safety of the installations. Smart DMS sensors had to be developed which will measure the tensile forces on the rotor under load and transmit them via radio to a μ-controller. From there, the measured data is transmitted to the central computer of the wind turbine via cable. The hardware is almost finished in every detail. The solar power supply with buffer battery on the rotor needs to be layouted. The next step will be the programming of the μ-controllers, with particular emphasis on the data security of the transmission. The measuring system is to be used for the first time at SAILWIND 4, but is also mandatory for larger systems as an important safety element for onboard diagnostics.

September 2021 - Successful Bachelor thesis at the course MEP

The first conceptual CAD study for the rotor of SAILWIND 12 has just been successfully completed. We have decided on a different, innovative principle of sail rolling and trimming different from the test machine SAILWIND 4. The reason: SAILWIND 12 should be absolutely robust and low-maintenance, which is why we completely dispense the cable system for the mechatronics of the rotor. The motors for furling and trimming the sails are placed on the rotor shaft, so they rotate with it. But they will not be seen.