Constraints Based Decision Support for Site-Specific Preliminary Design of Wind Turbines

Abdelaziz Arbaoui, Mohamed Asbik

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DOI: 10.4236/epe.2010.23024                

Abstract

This study presents a decision-support tool for preliminary design of a horizontal wind turbine system. The function of this tool is to assist the various actors in making decisions about choices inherent to their activities in the field of wind energy. Wind turbine cost and site characteristics are taken into account in the used models which are mainly based on the engineering knowledge. The present tool uses a constraint-modelling technique in combination with a CSP solver (numerical CSPs which are based on an arithmetic interval). In this way, it generates solutions and automatically performs the concept selection and costing of a given wind turbine. The data generated by the tool and required for decision making are: the quality index of solution (wind turbine), the amount of energy produced, the total cost of the wind turbine and the design variables which define the architecture of the wind turbine system. When applied to redesign a standard wind turbine in adequacy with a given site, the present tool proved both its ability to implement constraint modelling and its usefulness in conducting an appraisal.

Keywords

Wind Turbine, Decision Support, Preliminary Design, Cost Modelling, Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP), Digital CSP Solver

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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