A novel conceptual design of a dynamically positioned floating wind turbine

Currently, all floating wind turbines served on the sea are positioned by the mooring system. A novel conceptual design of using the dynamic positioning system (DPS) to position the floating wind turbine is proposed in this paper. Certain benefit aspects of the proposed conceptual design are elaborated. A time domain simulation for the designed floating wind turbine is conducted to demonstrate its effectiveness. It is obtained from the results that approximately 1/2 of the generated energy is utilized by the DPS to keep the floating wind turbine positioned if current forces are not considered, while the ratio becomes 4/5 if current load effects are taken into account. Thus, the proposed conceptual design is demonstrated to be feasible in the view of conservation of energy. The impact of several primary design variables, such as the diameter of the wind turbine rotor, the diameter of the thruster and the wind speed, on the power ratio is specifically investigated. To make the conceptual design more convincible, several representative operational situations of the floating wind turbine in its lifetime are analyzed. It can be found that the situations that the consumed power is larger than the generated power can be effectively tackled by the stored hydrogen converted in the far long period of operation of the wind turbine in rated wind speed. Considering the proposed concept has particular benefits that cannot be replaced by conventional moored floating wind turbines, further research on the novel concept is warranted. •A novel conceptual design of the dynamically positioned floating wind turbine is proposed.•The proposed conceptual design is demonstrated to be feasible in the view of conservation of energy.•Several representative operational situations of the floating wind turbine in its lifetime are analyzed.