UNIT 3

WIND ENERGY
 Power available in wind
• Power available in wind (in Watts) = ½ * air
density * swept area * wind velocity
• Pa=1/2 *P*A*V
or
• Pa=1/8 *P* D *V
• Where,
– air density P = 1.23 kg per cubic meter at sea level,
– Swept area is in square meters
– wind velocity is in meters per second.
 Betz Limit
• Betz calculated that there's a limit to how
much power a turbine blade can extract from
the wind.
• Beyond the Betz Limit of 59.26% energy
extraction, more and more air tends to go
around the turbine rather than through it,
• with air pooling up in front. So 59.26% is the
absolute maximum that can be extracted from
the available power.
Betz Limit
 Losses
• There are additional losses after Betz.
• No alternator or generator is 100% efficient in
converting the energy in a rotating shaft into
electricity.
• There are friction losses from bearings, and
from any gearing that's involved in the power
conversion.
• electrical resistance losses also
 Power co-efficient (Cp)
• Power co-efficient (Cp), describes that fraction
of the power in the wind that may converted
by the wind turbine in to mechanical work
• Cp (max) = 0.593 (popularly known as Betz co-
efficient)
Lift and drag forces
 Types of turbines
VAWT
 Drag is the main force

 Nacelle is placed at the bottom

 Yaw mechanism is not required

 Lower starting torque

 Difficulty in mounting the turbine

 Unwanted fluctuations in the power output

HAWT
 Lift is the main force

 Much lower cyclic stresses

 95% of the existing turbines are HAWTs

 Nacelle is placed at the top of the tower

 Yaw mechanism is required

 Two types of HAWT
DOWNWIND TURBINE UPWIND TURBINE
Counter Rotating HAWT
 Increase the rotation speed
 Rear one is smaller and stalls at high
wind speeds
 Operates for wider range of wind speeds
 Offshore turbines
 More wind speeds

 Less noise pollution

 Less visual impact

 Difficult to install and maintain

 Energy losses due long distance

transport
A Typical HAWT
Turbine design and construction
 Blades

 Material used

 Typical length

 Tower height

 Heights twice the blade length are

found economical
 Number of blades
 Three blade HAWT are most efficient
 Two blade turbines don’t require a hub
 As the number increases; noise, wear and cost increase
and efficiency decreases
 Multiple blade turbines are generally used for water
pumping purposes
 Rotational control
 Maintenance

 Noise reduction

 Centripetal force reduction

 Mechanisms
 Stalling

 Furling
 Yaw Mechanism
 To turn the turbine against the wind
 Yaw error and fatigue loads
 Uses electric motors and gear boxes
 Wind turbine safety
 Sensors – controlling vibrations
 Over speed protection
 Aero dynamic braking
 Mechanical braking