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Dr. Kyle K. Wetzel has
engineered state-of-the-art energy, aerospace, and defense systems since 1993
in a variety of capacities, including as a consultant and researcher through
two of his own companies, as Technical Manager of New Product Development at
Enron Wind Energy (now part of GE Energy), as Executive Vice President of Aerotech Engineering & Research Corp., and as a
university researcher. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor in the
Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Kansas. Dr. Wetzel has served as Principal
Investigator, Project Manager, and/or Technical Manager on fourteen
government-funded R&D contracts worth over $30 million and has consulted to
more than 60 private-sector clients.
Wind Turbine Engineering
Dr. Wetzel is an
internationally recognized expert on wind turbine system and rotor blade
engineering. At Enron he headed the team
that developed the American version of what is now GE’s 1.5MW turbine. He ran an internal Wetzel Engineering project
that fully engineered a state-of-the-art 6kW turbine, and he has been involved
as a consultant in the engineering and systems analysis of numerous turbines
from 1kW to 10MW, including system design, loads and performance simulations,
drivetrain engineering, tower engineering, etc.
Nearly 20,000 wind turbine blades are operating throughout the world to
which Wetzel has significantly contributed to the design or the technology
development. Dr. Wetzel is the inventor
of a patented in-plane rotor blade sweep technology that is presently featured
on GE’s 4MW off-shore machine. He has
also developed innovative uses for anisotropic carbon laminates for aeroelastic tailoring of rotor blade structures. Clients have included GE, General Dynamics, Suzlon, DeWind, Sinoma, Molded Fiberglass Companies (MFG), Zoltek, MAG Cincinnati, Northern Power Systems, and many
others.
Wetzel is the inventor
or co-inventor of two patented technologies relating to wind turbines. He is
the author or co-author of numerous journal papers and conference presentations
as well as chapters on wind energy in two books.
Defense, Aerospace, and Industrial Engineering
Wetzel served as
Principal Investigator for two projects sponsored by the Office of Naval
Research to develop advanced-technology marine propulsion systems for the DD-X
destroyer. These projects included
design, fabrication, and testing of state-of-the-art pitch-controlled and
thrust-vectoring marine propeller systems.
He has also supervised a variety of other DOD-sponsored research
projects, including a U.S. Air Force-sponsored project researching reversible
bonding techniques for composite materials using electromagnetic radiation and
a DARPA project to develop advanced acoustic attenuation technology. Wetzel also has served as an engineering
consultant for a variety of aviation and industrial companies, including DAR
Corp., Safire Aircraft, Brunet Aviation, Rivers Corp., Progress Vanguard Corp.,
PKM Steel, and Aero Transportation Products.
Professional Activities
During 2001 and 2002,
Wetzel served as a member of the Strategic Review Panel for the USDOE’s Wind Energy
Program, reviewing all wind energy technology projects funded by DOE. Wetzel founded the Kansas Renewable Energy
Working Group, a broad-based coalition of renewables
interests in the state of Kansas, of which he served as Chairman from
2002-2005. He is a Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
including ASME’s Wind Energy Technical Committee, a Senior Member of the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Corporate Member of
the American Wind Energy Association, and has chaired technical sessions at a
number of conferences sponsored by these organizations. He serves on the alumni advisory board for
the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Kansas.
Wetzel holds an M.S. in
Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the
University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in Aerospace
Engineering from the University of Kansas.