Patent ID: 7387491

Claim:
A wind turbine comprising: a wind turbine blade situated on the wind turbine and being configured to rotate about an axis upon an impact of a wind flow on the blade; a plurality of active flow modification devices comprising a plurality of synthetic jets disposed on the blade at a plurality of locations, the active flow modification devices configured to receive active flow instructions and introduce a jet flow to modify the wind flow proximate to the blade; and a controller configured for providing the active flow instructions to the active flow modification devices based on a response strategy to modify the jet flow introduced by the active flow modification devices, wherein the response strategy is selected from the group consisting of modifying a velocity of the synthetic jet, modifying a frequency of the synthetic jet, selectively activating the synthetic jet based on the location of the synthetic jet on the blade, an angle of the synthetic jet, a size of the synthetic jet exit, a shape of the synthetic jet exit, and combinations thereof.