Wind Turbine Cellular Systems

Prototype System

Rectangle: Rounded Corners: Overview Rectangle: Rounded Corners: Figures Following on from the successful proof of concept in Arizona a first full prototype Wind Turbine Cellular System has been set up in UK. It uses a commercial residential 3 blade wind turbine from https://istabreeze.us/ mounted on a pole overlooking test areas. The actual wind turbine power generation of approximately 2KW is not used. Aim to test that RF signals on a rotating wind turbine blade have better performance than a static / fixed system through the RF coupling as will be used for trial and production systems

Test Setup

· Active antenna on 3 blades near tip, clear of main body so at > 1m

· Blades are not twisted or feathered as no pitch system

· Wind turbine mounted on a static pole about 2m above ground level to avoid local clutter and mobile so it can be moved around

· System will only rotate statically on the pole to test effectively different wind directions and speeds

· System to be tested:

a) Initially tested indoors but with reflections from walls and ceiling not so accurate measurements but can prove the methodology

b) Next will be put in a doorway pointed out over a parking lot

c) Finally, setup might be mounted in the back of a pickup truck with a generator and then tested in an open environment such as a field

· As no licensed cellular/mobile spectrum available for testing system operates on Wi-Fi at 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz so representative of low powered mid-band cellular coverage although Wi-Fi is less robust than 4G/5G which will perform much better

· Wi-Fi access point is connected to a local performance server to eliminate backhaul limitations and make for more reliable results, plus portable

· Wi-Fi bandwidth set at 20MHz using the cleanest channels available

Prototype System Testing Setup