WIND POWER: Technical Analysis

Group 11

AUTHORS: Nouha BOUAL Alexis HUAIQUIN Nsalani MANUEL Daruska MIRIC Ryo NAKAKIDO

Abstract
This project is focused in the explanation of one of the most investigated technologies for energy generation nowadays, the wind turbines. These devices consist in towers of different sizes depending of the situation, but these towers generally have a large height for catching higher velocities of the wind, that induces rotation in the blades located at the top of these towers. This mechanical energy is transformed in electrical energy for industrial or home consumption. We concluded that the most important advantage in wind turbines is the use of a infinitely sustainable form of energy, it doesn't create greenhouse gases and it doesn't produce toxic or radioactive waste. However wind turbines have the average capacity factor between 20% and 40%, low compared with other electric generation technologies. A wind energy conversion device that produces electricity is wind turbines. Wind turbines can be classified into the vertical axis type and the horizontal axis type. Most modern wind turbines use a horizontal axis configuration with two or three blades, operating either downwind or upwind. The placement of the wind turbines in the sea is more efficient because of the strong and constant wind that those locations have, but the construction and maintenance cost are more expensive than the wind turbines placed on land.

Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3 Objective................................................................................................................................. 4 Method .................................................................................................................................... 4 Results .................................................................................................................................... 5 Composition of wind turbine .............................................................................................. 5 Working principles wind turbines....................................................................................... 9 Types of wind towers ........................................................................................................ 11 Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT): ..................................................................... 11 Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT): .......................................................................... 13 Comparison of the two types: ........................................................................................ 14 Construct of wind power generator .................................................................................. 16 Advantage of construct wind power generator on the sea ............................................ 16 Construction way........................................................................................................... 16 Discussion............................................................................................................................. 19

Introduction
Recently, renewable energy is attracting a lot of attention in the world as earthfriendly energy. Especially wind power is expected to become mainstream of renewable energy from its lower cost and potential of resource. The world total installed capacity is rapidly increase by more than 8 times in these 10 years1. Wind power generator consists of a lot of various parts, turbine, gear, shaft, generator, convertor, etc, so it need various field of techniques such as mechanic, electronic, material, measuring and control engineering etc. In addition, the size of turbines is increasing recently in order to improve efficiency, and it caused more problems about durability, reliability, transportation, assembling, noise problem, landscape problem, bird strikes, and safety. Therefore, there is a strong need for improved structural materials and new designed form of a windmill and improvement of basic performance of each part.

Jain, P. Wind Energy Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2011. Chapter 1, page 2.

Objective
The aim of this work is to describe the techniques which are used to produce power from wind. We are going to explain the several steps in production of electricity by wind. The major tool in this production is wind tower turbine. Therefore we are going to enumerate different types of wind towers with the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Then we are going to present the role of each component in a wind tower and how it works. At the end we are going to talk about decisions to make in order to choose the best location to plant the wind turbines.

Method
The method used in the research consists in searching mostly information about wind turbine in engineering books, and some internet related information, thus complete the main points of the report. In order to perform a detailed and comprehensive report, the main theme was divided into four topics, which are; Composition of wind turbine, Working principles wind turbines, Types of wind towers, Construct of wind power generator.

Results
Composition of wind turbine
In this topic, the main components of a utility-scale horizontal axis wind turbine are described [Figure 1]. In the high part of wind turbines, there are three major systems: 1. Rotor system: This system includes blades that capture mechanical energy from the wind and a rotor hub that connects the blades to the shaft, along with pitch a mechanism that assists in the efficient capture of energy. 2. Nacelle: This part contains all the components that sit on top of the tower, except the rotor system. It includes main shaft, gearbox, generator, brake, bearings, nacelle frame, yaw mechanism, auxiliary crane, hydraulic system, and cooling system. 3. Tower and foundation: These last two structural elements hold all force and dissipate it on the ground.2

Figure 1. Wind Turbine Components of a horizontal-axis wind turbine3

Jain, P. Wind Energy Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2011. Chapter 9, page 169.

And some of the most important parts that can be seen in [Figure 1] are the next ones: Rotor System: The rotor system captures wind energy turning it into rotational kinetic energy. This is accomplished through blades that connect to a rotor hub that is connected to the main shaft. Rotor Hub: The next major component of the rotor is the hub, where the blades are radially bolted to the hub. On the axial end, the rotor hub is connected to the drive train, which may be one or more of the following: Main shaft, gearbox, and generator. Rotor blades: These are the most fundamental components of the rotor. They are the devices that convert the force of the wind into the torque needed to generate useful power. Pitch: The pitch mechanism controls the angle of the blades depending on the wind direction. Nacelle housing: It provides weather protection for the wind turbine components which are located in the nacelle. Its usually made from a lightweight material, such as fiberglass. Gearbox: The gears works increasing the low speed of rotation of the rotor shaft in several stages required for a high speed needed in order to drive the generator [Figure 2 and 3].

Figure 2. Schematic of a multistage gearbox. 1. Main/input shaft. 2. Differential gears. 3. Planetary gears. 4. Spur gears. 5. Output shaft to generator. (With permission from Bosch Rexroth, a gearbox manufacturer)4

3 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EERE_illust_large_turbine.gif Jain, P. Wind Energy Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2011. Chapter 9, page 179.

Figure 3. Parallel-shaft gearbox (Hau, 1996). Reproduced by permission of Springer Verlag GmbH5

Brakes: In most of cases, wind turbines employ a mechanical brake somewhere on the drive train. It is capable of stopping the turbine. Normally, exist two types of mechanical brake in common usage on wind turbines: disc brakes and clutch brakes. The disc brake operates in a manner similar to that on an automobile. A steel disc is rigidly affixed to the shaft to be braked. During braking a hydraulically actuated caliper pushes brake pads against the disc. There is another less common type which is the electrical brake known as a dynamic brake. The basic principle is to feed power to a resistor bank after disconnecting the wind turbines generator from the electrical grid. This puts a load on the generator, and hence a torque on the rotor, thereby decelerating it. Yaw Drive: This mechanism allows the blades to face the wind, that is, align the plane of rotation to be perpendicular to the direction of wind. Tower: The towers are built to support the main parts of the turbine on the top [Figure 4]. They are tapered by steel structures.

J. Manwell, J. McGowan, A. Rogers. Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application. Wiltshire: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2009. Chapter 6, Page 295.

Figure 4. Tower options, (a) tubular tower; (b) truss tower; (c) guyed tower. Reproduced by permission of Vergnet SA. 6

Normally, the wind turbine towers are usually made of steel, although sometimes reinforced concrete is used. Foundation of Tower: The foundation supports the tower. The type of foundation depends on the type of ground. Some wind turbine foundations are illustrated in Figure bellow [Figure 5].

Figure 5. Wind turbine foundations (adapted from Hau, 1996). Reproduced by permission of Springer Verlag GmbH. 7

Generator: Is the component which is responsible for converting the mechanical energy of rotation into electrical energy.
6

J. Manwell, J. McGowan, A. Rogers. Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application. Wiltshire: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2009. Chapter 6, Page 304. 7 J. Manwell, J. McGowan, A. Rogers. Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application. Wiltshire: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2009. Chapter 6, Page 307.

Anemometer: Measures the intensity and speed of the wind.

Working principles wind turbines

The process of electricity generation by wind turbines contains many stages, those steps are performed by the following devices: Blades, shaft (rotor), gearbox, generator, transformer, control system, yaw mechanism, anemometer and refrigeration system. Some of those can be seen in the Figure 6:

Figure 6. Principal components of a wind turbine8

The first step is the transformation of the kinetic energy of the wind to rotational kinetic energy on the blades that are transferred from the blades to a shaft inside the wind turbine. The rotational frequency of the shaft is modified by a gearbox, which adapt the rotation frequency enough for the generator requirements9. The rotational energy transferred along the gear box to the shaft of the generator is transformed in electric energy. That happens because of an electromagnetic field that is
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J. Manwell, J. McGowan, A. Rogers. Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application. Wiltshire: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2009. Chapter 1, page 4. 9 http://www.renewablepowernews.com/archives/884

permanently circulating along the walls of the generator. The shaft inside the generator contains coil of wires, which are induced with electric current by the periodic contact with the magnetic field. This device works thanks to one of the Maxwell principles, that says that a variable magnetic field induces electric current. There are other auxiliary systems that help the wind turbine to work correctly, such as the control system, that control the blades rotation speed, and stop them in case of overheating of the generator. The Yaw mechanism allows the tower to turn against the wind directly. Also the tower use an anemometer that measure the wind direction and the speed of the wind, that allows the control system to start the wind turbine and stop it depending of the maximum and minimum operational wind speed. The refrigeration system allows the tower to maintain an according work temperature and prevent the overheating of the mechanical components of the wind turbine. Finally the electric current induced in the generator is adapted to an according voltage by a transformer. This step is necessary to supply the electric energy in the power stations, which works at different voltage. About the relation between the speed of the wind and the electric power generated by the towers, it can be said that they are in a cubic relationship as show below:

Figure 7. Cubic relationship between electrical power produced and wind speed for a horizontal axis wind rotor. Rotor radius = 1[m]10

The figure shows how much electric power (in Watt) can be generated at different speed of the wind, which means that the placement of the towers is better where the wind blows at higher speeds, or that higher tower can produce more energy.
10

Jain, P. Wind Energy Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2011. Chapter 2, page 11.

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At the same time the amount of electricity generated can be increased with a bigger rotor diameter as it can be seen in the next Figure:

Figure 8. Quadratic relationship between electrical power produced and rotor size. Wind speed = 8[ m/s] 11

Where the mathematical relationship between these parameter is quadratic.

Types of wind towers

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT):
Most of us think of Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT), when we talk about a wind turbine. These wind turbines has their rotor's rotation axis parallel to the wind. Most horizontal axis turbines built today are two-bladed (generally oriented downwind) or threebladed (generally oriented upwind) [Figure 10].

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Jain, P. Wind Energy Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2011. Chapter 2, page 12.

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Figure 9. Example of HAWT12

Upwind is wind turbine in which the rotor faces the wind. The basic advantage of upwind designs is that one avoids the wind shade behind the tower. The basic drawback of upwind designs is that the rotor needs to be made rather inflexible, and placed at some distance from the tower (as some manufacturers have found out to their cost). In addition an upwind machine needs a yaw mechanism to keep the rotor facing the wind, contrary to downwind machines. They are automatically adjusted to wind direction. However, field operating data indicate that this adjustment is not possible under sudden changes in wind direction. This operational deficiency can be overcome with a three-bladed upwind rotor design configuration. This is why upwind rotor design dominates the current market. For downwind machines the rotor may be made more flexible. This is an advantage both in regard to weight (lighter than an upwind machine), and the structural dynamics of the machine.

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http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/AEmain.html

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Figure 10. Upwind and downwind machines13

Tower height is an important factor in the design of HAWTs because wind speed increases with the height above the ground. Doubling the altitude of a turbine, then, increases the expected wind speeds by 10% and the expected power by 34%. Rotor diameter is equally important because it determinate the area needed to meet specific output power level. For HAWTs, tower heights approximately twice to triple the blade length have been found to balance material costs of the tower against better utilization of the more expensive active components14.

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT):

Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are a type of wind turbine in which the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the wind stream and the ground [Figure 11]. In this kind of wind tower we dont need to point the wind turbine into the wind, so the full force of the wind can be sensed from any direction. This is an advantage in places where the wind direction is highly variable.

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http://www.mstudioblackboard.tudelft.nl/duwind/Wind%20energy%20online%20reader/Static_pages/upwind_downwin d.htm 14 http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia

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Figure 11. Example of VAWT Darrieus (left) and VAWT Savonius (right)15

With a vertical axis design, generator and gear box can be placed at the base of the tower, so the tower does not need to support it, this makes the components easy to service and repair. These turbines have small output capacity and are widely used for low-power applications such as battery charging in areas where power grids are not available. Verticalaxis wind turbines fall into two major categories: Darrieus turbines and Savonius turbines [Figure 11]. Darrieus wind turbine: These wind turbines have a good efficiency but a poor reliability because of the large torque ripple and cycle stress that they produce. Darrieus rotor has a power coefficient (Cp) close to 0.35 at a blade tip speed-to-wind speed ratios ranging from 5.5 to 6.5. Savonius wind turbine: These are a drag type turbines, it consist of a vertical S-shaped surface that rotates around a central axis. Savonius rotors have a very limited power inputs and poor efficiencies but they are reliable and easy to maintain. Savonius turbines with high capacities require large amounts of materials and are not cost-effective over the long run. This type of wind turbine is excellent in areas of turbulent wind and self-starting. It is widely used as a starter motor for a Darrieus turbine16.

Comparison of the two types:

Significant differences between HAWT and VAWT depending on the wind direction, localization and efficiencies will be presented in the following table [Table 1]. The Figure 12 shows the efficiencies of several types of wind turbines.

15 16

http://www.info-eolien.com/eoliennes-vertical.html http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia

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Figure 42. Typical performances of wind machines17

Table 1. Comparison HAWT with VAWT18

Advantages

Disadvantages
Massive tower construction is required to support the heavy blades, gearbox, and generator. Disrupting the appearance of the landscape and sometimes creating local opposition. Downwind variants suffer from fatigue and structural failure caused by turbulence when a blade passes through the tower's wind shadow.

The tall tower base allows access to stronger wind in sites with wind shear. High efficiency, since the blades always move perpendicularly to the wind, receiving power through the whole rotation

HAWT

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http://www.vawt.om2cm.sk Own making

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VAWT

No yaw mechanism is needed. Can be located nearer the ground,( easier to maintain the moving parts). Have lower wind startup speeds than the typical HAWTs. May be built at locations where taller structures are prohibited.

Most VAWTs have a lower average efficiency compared to a common HAWT. Having rotors located close to the ground where wind speeds are lower due and do not take advantage of higher wind speeds above. They appear novel to those not familiar with the wind industry.

Construct of wind power generator

As construction sites, it can be considered the construction on land or sea. In general, constructing on the sea is more complex than constructing on land, but of course it has some advantages. So the way to construct in the sea is going to be explained.

Advantage of construct wind power generator on the sea

The major advantage of constructing on sea is the strength and consistency that the wind reaches. Wind strength improves power output and wind consistency contributes to improve the total operational time of the tower. Also the placements of wind turbine towers in the sea solve noise and landscape visual problems. The main disadvantage is that the construction in the sea is often more expensive than in the ground.

Construction way
As construction way, there are basically two ways, anchored type and floating type. Anchored type: There are mainly 5 types of construction ways as shown in the [Figure 13].

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Figure 53. Principal types of construction way19

The selection of the different kinds of towers exposed depends on water depth and ground condition. Gravity base and monopole base type can be constructed at s low price but it need hard floor and it can be placed only up to 30 meters under the sea. Jacket structures and tripod piled structures can be constructed on soft ground, up to 60 meters but it cost more than the other types. Floating type: In more than 60 meters water depth floating type towers are selected. Floating type [Figure 14] consists of three parts: Fixed part, wire part and floating part. Floating type has more technical problems than anchored type because it often has precarious conditions. So nowadays, experiments are being carried out in various parts of the world to develop better ways of construction.

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http://windeng.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ishihara/article/20101.pdf#search=%27%E9%A2%A8%E5%8A%9B%E7%99%BA%E9%9B%BB

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Figure 146. Floating type20

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http://www.statoil.com/en/TechnologyInnovation/NewEnergy/RenewablePowerProduction/Offshore/Hywind/Pages/Hy windPuttingWindPowerToTheTest.aspx

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Discussion
Wind power is an interesting solution for our future energy needs due to the scarcity of power sources, and that these technologies dont generate greenhouse gases or other pollutants. In one hand the main advantage in this option is that wind is free. Further wind tower take a small plot of land so the land bellow can still be used for agriculture for example besides we can plant it in the sea. Also there is a large range of sizes which means that a vast range of people and businesses can use them. In other hand, it has a low Capacity Factor (between 20 - 40 %). This factor is a value used to express the real average percentage of time that the plant is producing energy. If we compare the two types of wind towers HAWT and VAWT, we can say that the main advantage of VAWT compared to HAWT is the insensitivity to wind direction. Therefore, it can be mounted closer to the ground which is interesting at locations where taller structures are prohibited. But having rotors located close to the ground where wind speeds are lower make it less efficient than HAWT. HAWT with its tall tower allow access to strong wind which increases the efficiency of this type of towers. We found that the biggest advantage of land placed wind towers is the low cost, the construction and maintenance are easy as compared to construct on the sea and not required special machine. In contrast, this huge constructions cause noise and landscape problems in living areas. Regarding sea placed wind towers, the efficiency is higher due to the strong and constant wind available.

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