WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

By: Scott Rentschler

Wind Turbine Sizes

Utility Scale Industrial Scale Residential Scale

Utility Scale

Utility Scale- know as “Large Turbines” producing between 900 kW – 2 MW per Turbine. They are intended to generate bulk energy for sale in power markets

Industrial Scale

Industrial Scale- Medium sized turbines, they can produce on average 50 kW to 250 kW. Intended for remote grid productions.

Residential Scale

Residential Scale- They are the smallest scale of turbines only producing 400 watts to 50 kW. Were built to help small towns produce energy.

Offshore

Offshore wind development zones are generally considered to be ten kilometers or more from land. Transporting on open water is easier because there is no limit on how long the object can be and there are no roads to worry about, unlike semi-trucks on land which have to negotiate curves on road ways.

History

The fist practical windmills were built in Sistan in the 7th century. Sistan is a country that lies between Afghanistan and Iran. These windmills back them were used to grind corn and to draw up drinking water.

The first know electricity generating windmill was a battery charging machine in 1887 by James Blyth from Scotland.

History

The first know electricity generating windmill was a battery charging machine in 1887 by James Blyth from Scotland.

In Denmark by 1990 there were about 2,500 windmills that would pump water and some that would produce energy. The peak of energy form the turbines was about 30 MW of energy.

Harnessing the Energy

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_animation.html

Wind Potential

How is Wind Power used?

Energy is formed from Wind Turbines when the blades collect the wind’s kinetic energy. The wind flows over the blades creating lift, which causes the blades to turn. When the blades turn the rotor it spins a shaft, which turns a generator, and produces energy.

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_animation.html

Parts of a Turbine

Anemometer- Measures the wind speed and transmits wind speed data to the controller.

Blades- Most turbines have either two or three blades. Wind blowing over the blades causes the blades to “lift” and rotate

Controller- The controller starts up the machine at wind speeds of about 8 to 16 mph and shuts off the machine at about 55 mph.

Gear Box- Gears connest the low speed shaft to the high speed shaft and increase the rotational speeds from about 30-60 rotations to about 1000-1800 rotations per minute.

Generator- Usually an off the shelf induction generator that produces 60 cycle AC electricity.

High speed shaft- drives the generator Low Speed shaft- the rotor turns the low

speed shaft at about 30-60rotations per minute

Nacelle- the nacelle site on top of the tower and contains the gear box, low and high speed shafts, generator, controller, and brake. Some nacelles are large enough to land a helicopter on top of it.

Pitch- Blades are turned, or pitched, out of the wind to control the rotor speed and keep the rotor from turning in winds that are to high or too low to produce electricity.

Rotor- the blades and the hub together are called the rotor

Tower- Towers are made from tubular steel, concrete, or steel lattice.

Wind vane- measures wind direction communicates with the yaw drive to orient the turbine properly with respect to the wind.

Yaw drive- the yaw drive is used to keep the rotor facing into the wind as the direction changes.

Pros of Wind Energy

The biggest benefit one can get out of wind energy is that is generates electricity, and that it does not release any harmful pollutants or gases.

Wind energy is one of the cheapest forms of energy.

It can be useful for farmers because they get money from the company to have their turbines on their land.

Wind is a never ending resource.

Cons of Wind Energy

Wind Turbines can get damages or destroyed when hit by a heavy story or a severe lightning.

Can be very inconsistent. Can be deadly to birds Some people don’t like the sound that the

blades produce, and the don’t like the sight of them.

Work Cited

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/wind-energy-pros-and-cons.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power http://www.awea.org/

The End