Airfoil Design for Wakeless Wind Turbine Tower Structures

A downwind type wind turbine comprising:

• a tower having a top, a bottom, a height, a maximum thickness, and a yaw bearing at its base so that it is rotatable about a vertical axis, the tower having an aerodynamic wake zone located behind the tower;
• and
• a rotor having a hub and at least one blade, the rotor rotatably mounted to a nacelle, the nacelle mounted to the tower in stationary relationship therewith;
• wherein the tower comprises two separate, spaced apart airfoils, each airfoil comprising a substantially curved outer wall and a relatively flatter inner wall connected along a rounded leading vertical edge and along a relatively narrower trailing edge the inner walls being in substantially facing relationship to each other, each airfoil having a cross-sectional airfoil shape along a substantial portion of its height, each airfoil having a major chord extending from the leading vertical edge to the trailing vertical edge and a minor chord orthogonal to the inner walls and intersecting the major chord at the area of maximum airfoil thickness;
• wherein the airfoils are arranged symmetrically about a vertical plane and define a space there between through which a relatively high speed jet of air can travel to fill the aerodynamic wake zone behind the tower.