Resumen de Wind Resource Assessment for Highway Luminaire Applications
Harry Bonilla, Nelson R. Gómez Torres, Héctor Rodríguez
Highway luminaries are a key element to ensure transportation safety during the night. Previous studies revealed that over fifty percent of crashes occurred during the evening even though, in general, there are fewer vehicles-miles during the evening. These results made clear the importance of luminaries in highways, but these luminaries could raise energy cost. Recognizing the high demand of energy caused by highway luminaries and the need for new technologies, this project investigates the potential use of wind turbines in highways to harness the wind energy generated by the motion of a passing vehicle to lower the cost of energy in public illumination. The investigation was conducted through two experiments, a Single-Vehicle Testing and a Multiple-Vehicle Testing. As shown in the results, the measured maximum wind velocities due to the passing of cars (without considering high natural wind speeds) was insufficient to provide the required energy for highway luminaires.
