The University of Windsor (UWindsor) has announced an agreement with Bruel & Kjaer, a manufacturer and supplier of sound and vibration measurement apparatus, to establish a Wind and Renewable Energies Centre of Expertise (WRECE) at the university's Centre for Engineering Innovation.
Through the agreement, Bruel & Kjaer will provide C$1.4 million in research equipment to UWindsor's noise-vibration and harshness-sound quality group. A graduate-level course using the equipment has already been developed and will be taught this summer.
The WRECE will be located in the industrial courtyard of UWindsor's $112 million Centre for Engineering Innovation, currently under construction.
Equipment will include a large-scale wind turbine model and supporting software for teaching and research that will allow the group to study the generation of low-frequency wind turbine noise, practices to quantify wind turbine noise and sound power, as well as design and vibration testing of turbine components. The advanced study of the turbines' gearboxes and blades will also be part of the research.
Once completed, the industrial courtyard will provide a venue for companies, researchers and students to work together to test ideas, solve problems and develop strategies for translating research into commercially viable processes, according to UWindsor.
