Integration concept for fluidic actuators in hybrid structures

Fluidic actuators such as Synthetic Jet Actuators (SJA) or Pulsed Jet Actuators (PJA) are fluidic elements that are known to be suitable for the uses in active flow control applications e.g. for high lift devices in aircrafts or in wind turbines. Modern wind turbines are manufactured using composite materials. Consequently, the integration of such fluidic devices must fit the manufacturing process and the material properties of the composite structure. The new approach is to directly integrate the transducer elements and the fluidic structures in the core material of the rotor blades to ensure a compatibility with the materials and to facilitate a continuous manufacturing process of wind turbines including active fluidic elements. In this paper, the design concept of the actuators (in this case SJAs) as well as the integration concept using the MuCell® technology is described and first measurement results are presented.