Direct Drive Wind Turbine

A domestic purpose Direct Drive HAWT design with power train and rotor blade design with a prototype construction capable of generating electricity will be the focus of this project.

Introduction:

As Wind Energy is one of civilizations oldest forms of mechanical energy, wind energy has long provided the closest thing to being able to clean energy from air. As costs of fossil fuel use have been unleashed, wind power has made a steady comeback. A developing number of countries are now promoting wind energy generation as part of a drive towards a sustainable future. Yet many environmental supporters prefer a far more optimistic approach. What this report provides is essential information for the manufacturing of gearless wind turbine and maintains a Wind power system (wind driven rotorgenerator set) as a test bed to estimate the wind potential at its site. This project report is a part of the whole proposal providing generator specification.

BACKGROUND:

Due to the rising energy crisis of Pakistan, one must find an alternative solution. Current solutions unfortunately do not provide the solution that it promises i.e. rental power plants and expensive furnace oil power plants. Therefore, there to overcome these enormous challenges there is a dire need for a solution to these problems. One of the solutions is the utilization of alternate resources of energy i.e. solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass etc. Our prime focus would be on wind and its conversion to electricity through a direct drive turbine. Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as wind turbines to make electricity.

Why Direct Drive?

In Direct Drive turbine we use permanent magnets instead of gear boxes to reduce the mechanical losses. Thus it can produce sustainable electricity in low wind speed condition like in Pakistan. Direct drive method also results in reducing the weight of the turbine and less components means fewer losses. Reduce maintenance time and cost . High power quality. Low machine stress due to high level of speed variability.

Working Principal of direct drive

The generator consists of a stator disk sandwiched between two magnets rotors. Strong magnetic flux passes between the two rotors and through the coils in the stator. The movement of the rotor sweeps the flux across the coils, producing alternating voltages in them. The permanent magnet alternator can be wired for 12, 24 or 48volt battery charging. Essentially this choice only affects the size of wire and the number of turns per coil.

The generator is integrated into a simple tower-top mounting arrangement. The starting torque (force required to get it moving) is very low because there are no gears, nor are there any laminations in the alternator to produce magnetic drag. This means that the wind turbine can start in very low winds and produce useful power. Power losses are low in low winds when best possible battery charge is important. In higher winds the alternator holds down the speed of the blades, so the machine is quiet in operation, and the blades do not wear out. You can easily stop the wind turbine by short-circuiting the output with a 'brake switch'.

The rotor blade assembly is the engine powering the wind generator. The blades produce mechanical power to drive the alternator. The alternator will convert this into electrical power. The diameter is the width of the circular area swept by the blades. The energy produced by wind turbines depends on the swept area more than it does on the alternator maximum output.

BLADE Power=0.15xrotor dia2xmax speed3 =0.15x5.52x5.53 =754.92 W

Methodology:

The project will be divided in to five phases. The first phase will be of site wind data collection on the site of erection. The second phase will involve comparative study and design of electromagnetic generator (Induction generator & Permanent magnet alternator), wind turbine air foil design (NACA 4412 & NACA 4415). The third phase will be molding & casting of stator and rotor of the selected generator. The fourth phase will be the development of wind turbine blades. The final phase will consist of assembling & erection of wind turbine.

Tentative Project Break down:

The study load of first phase will be equally shared among all members. Zubair Anwar Khan: responsible for production of project drawings & windings of stator coil. Ali Sheheryar: responsible for the study of generators & metal work. Wahab Ali: Casting of generator stator and rotor & Frame work. S. Wajahat Hassan & Hammad Jaweed: responsible for site data collection, wind data analysis and development of wind turbine blades accordingly.