WIND POWER

• A wind turbine obtains its power input by converting the

force of the wind into a torque (turning force) acting on the
rotor blades.
• The amount of energy which the wind transfers to the rotor
depends on the density of the air, the rotor area, and the wind
speed.
 Wind power in India
 India is the fifth largest wind power
producer in the world.
 As of oct 2013, the installed capacity of
wind power in India was 19933.68 MW.
 As of Dec 2016 , installed capacity is
28,700.4MW.
 Major Components
• Rotor
• Blades
• Low speed shaft
• Gear Box
• High speed shaft
• Generator
• Brakes
• Controller
 Block Schematic for Wind Power Plant

w ind DC/DC DC/AC

rectifier utility line
generator converter inverter

The grid-connected application

w ind DC/DC DC/AC AC load

rectif ier
generator converter inverter

DC-DC DC load
Converter

battery

The stand-alone application

Wind Generator
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.

Brake:
A disc brake, which can be applied
mechanically, electrically, or hydraulically to
stop the rotor in emergencies.
Controller:
The controller starts up the machine at
wind speeds of about 8 to 16 miles per hour
(mph) and shuts off the machine at about 55
mph.
Turbines do not operate at wind speeds
above about 55 mph because they might be
damaged by the high winds.
Gear box:
Gears connect the low-speed shaft to
the high-speed shaft and increase the
rotational speeds from about 30 to 60
rotations per minute (rpm) to about 1000 to
1800 rpm,
the rotational speed required by most
generators to produce electricity.
The gear box is a costly (and heavy)
part of the wind turbine and engineers are
exploring "direct-drive" generators that
operate at lower rotational speeds and don't
need gear boxes.
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 to
60 rotations per minute.

Nacelle:
The nacelle sits atop the tower and contains the gear
box, low- and high-speed shafts, generator, controller, and
brake. Some nacelles are large enough for a helicopter to
land on.
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 too 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. Because wind speed increases with
height, taller towers enable turbines to capture more
energy and generate more electricity.
Wind direction:
This is an "upwind" turbine, so-called
because it operates facing into the wind.
Other turbines are designed to run
"downwind," facing away from the wind.
Wind vane:
Measures wind direction and
communicates with the yaw drive to orient the
turbine properly with respect to the wind.
Yaw drive:
Upwind turbines face into the wind; the
yaw drive is used to keep the rotor facing into
the wind as the wind direction changes.
Downwind turbines don't require a yaw drive,
the wind blows the rotor downwind.
Yaw motor:
Powers the yaw drive.
 When wind hits the airfoil-shaped blade
of a turbine, the lift force that is created
causes the blade to rotate about the main
shaft.

The main shaft is connected to an

electric generator. When the rotor spins due
to forces from the wind,

the generator creates electricity that

can be fed directly into the electric grid or
into a system of batteries.
 Aerodynamic drag has also been used to
capture energy from the wind. Drag mechanisms
consist of flat or cup-shaped devices that turn
the rotor.

The wind simply pushes the device around

the main shaft. Anemometers used to measure
wind speed are often drag devices, as are
traditional farm windmills.
Airplane propeller analysis relies upon the
“axial momentum” theory, which is based on
energy, momentum, and mass conservation
laws.
This theory has been applied to wind
turbines as well. The power (Pw) of a fluid
passing across an area perpendicular to the
flow is
Pw=1/2 ρ A Vw3
Where ρ is the air density,
A is the disk area perpendicular to
the wind,
Vw is the wind speed passing
through the disk area.
 CONSIDERATIONS:

Should be convenient for

transportation facility.
Location where wind is strong
and persistent.
Turbine should be placed at
high altitude for high velocity of
wind
Can be placed near sea coast,
mountains.
Wind Turbines: Number of Blades

 Most common design is the three-bladed turbine. The most important reason is the
stability of the turbine. A rotor with an odd number of rotor blades (and at least three
blades) can be considered to be similar to a disc when calculating the dynamic
properties of the machine.
 A rotor with an even number of blades will give stability problems for a machine
with a stiff structure. The reason is that at the very moment when the uppermost blade
bends backwards, because it gets the maximum power from the wind, the lowermost
blade passes into the wind shade in front of the tower.
• Wind power generators
convert wind energy
(mechanical energy) to
electrical energy.
• The generator is attached
at one end to the wind
turbine, which provides
the mechanical energy.
• At the other end, the
generator is connected to
the electrical grid.
• The generator needs to
have a cooling system to
make sure there is no
overheating.
 Types of Wind Energy Conversion System
(WECS)
 There are two types of Wind Energy Conversion System
(WECS).
1. Variable-speed WECS
2. Fixed-speed WECS.
 Variable-speed wind turbines are currently the most used
WECS.
 Fixed-speed WECS operate at constant speed and
Variable-speed WECS at variable speed.
 In Fixed-speed WECS generated voltage and frequency is
constant but in Variable-speed WECS generated voltage
and frequency is varying with respect to wind speed.
Advantages of Wind Power

• The wind blows day and night, which allows windmills to

produce electricity throughout the day. (Faster during the day)
• Energy output from a wind turbine will vary as the wind varies,
although the most rapid variations will to some extent be
compensated for by the inertia of the wind turbine rotor.
• Wind energy is a domestic, renewable source of energy that
generates no pollution and has little environmental impact. Up to
95 percent of land used for wind farms can also be used for other
profitable activities including ranching, farming and forestry.
• The decreasing cost of wind power and the growing interest in
renewable energy sources should ensure that wind power will
become a viable energy source in India and worldwide.
Fluctuating in nature.
Auxiliary storage device is needed.
Noisy.
More weight.
•Cut in speed: The speed at which turbine starts producing
useful power is called cut in speed. In low wind sites, low cut
in speeds are desirable.
•Cut out or Furling speed: The wind velocities above which
wind turbines are required to be stopped for safety reasons
are called cut out speed.
•At these speeds, control system comes into play & lock
machine either by
Mechanical braking.
Aerodynamic feathering.
Yawing out of wind.
•Based on the fundamentals, following schemes are
commonly adopted and broadly classified as:
Mechanical control methods,
Aerodynamic control methods
Electrical control methods
Yaw control.