Ulrich Hütter – A pioneer of wind power utilisation
Prof. Ulrich Hütter
Stuttgart was the cradle of wind energy research in Germany. Born in 1910, Ulrich Hütter designed gliders with his brother while he was still a student at the Stuttgart Institute for Aeronautics, and even tested them himself.
As a newly appointed lecturer in aeronautics at the Weimar School of Engineering, he took on a parallel post as head of the experimental field of wind turbines. In his time there, Hütter developed a theory of wind turbine design that is still used today.
A glider enthusiast and developer of the legendary H17 glider, he was the first to apply the principles of wing dynamics to wind turbine rotor blades. Afterward Professor Hütter’s enthusiasm for wind energy never left him throughout his career as an industrious researcher and later director of the Stuttgart Institute of Aeronautics.
His very first project, a small 10-kW Allgaier turbine with a rotor diameter of 11 metres, went into series production in 1951. The 200 units were exported mainly to South Africa, Argentina and India. Today, one of these turbines still adorns the Klöckner company headquarters in Bonn and is fully operational.
The next pioneering breakthrough
His next pioneering breakthrough was the development of the StGW 34 wind turbine. He fitted this 100-kW turbine with composite fibre materials – in 1969! The turbine had a gigantic (for the time) rotor diameter of 34 m. It was a daring achievement to use the new material for a 17-metre long, self-supporting component. Today, the StGW 34 is considered to be the first prototype for modern wind turbines.
Recommended reading:
»Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hütter – 3 Welten, ein Leben«
(3 Worlds, One Life)
Biography, ISBN: 3-00-000067-4