WIND ENERGY

2
WIND TURBINES:
THE ENGINEERING MARVEL
What is there in a wind turbine

Delivery and assembly of a wind turbine

World full scale floating wind turbines

Wind Towers Production Process

Wind blades manufacturing
3
Challenges to realize this
engineering marvel
Why we should have these?
Sustainability
Energy scenarios
Environment
Where can we have these?
Wind availability
Sites/locations
How can we have these?
Engineering Design of the system
components eg. blades, towers
Manufacturing/installation
What do we need
Type of machines and their suitability
How much we need to pay?
Economics
WE WILL TRY TO GET ANSWERS FOR
THESE QUESTIONS IN THE COURSE
4
What is there in the
course
Handout: Course contents, Text Book
Teaching Philosophy
More practical and engineering approach
Always oriented towards the project
Discussion on project: Min. One hour per
week
Evaluation methodology
Routine scheduled 2 tests
Project
Could be
design/simulations/potential
estimations/technology identification
..
Expectations
Regular class attendance (attendance
Taken in every class)
More involvement in the project

5
Why Wind Energy
Energy is one of the crucial inputs for socio-economic development

Social and economic well being can be gauged by the Human
Development Index (HDI)

HDI and per capita energy consumption (PEC) are inter related

Developed nations (high HDI): 4000 to 9000 kilograms of oil equivalent per
annum (kgoe)

Developing nations: below 500 kgoe

Global energy demand is met from
Fossil fuels: 80%
Nuclear power: 7% (approx)
RE: 13% with highest contribution from major Hydro; solar
and wind 2.2%

6
Wind energy statistics at a
glance

7
Wind Energy benefits at a
glance

The primary benefits: environmental and cost.

Wind energy production results in zero emissions.

Wind energy is among the cheapest sources of renewable energy.

In most cases, the cost is lower or about the same when cost of greenhouse gas
emissions are taken into account.

8
Wind Energy benefits at a
glance

Available in abundance in most countries.

provides income to farmers, ranchers, and landowners that have sufficient wind
resources

Wind turbine generators are available in wide range of capacities,
from small to utility scale.

On small scale, wind energy can be used to power remote locations that do not
have access to an electricity grid.
9
Wind Energy Is Not a
Panacea

The primary disadvantages of wind are variability of the resource,
requirement for large investment in transmission, and impact on the
environment.

Wind energy can be produced economically only in areas that have
average annual wind speeds above 6.5 m/s at 50-m height.

Wind farms can cause harm to birds, bats, and other wildlife, although
most studies suggest that the harm is minimal

Wind farms require significantly more land per kilowatt compared to fossil
fuelbased electricity plants

Reliance on government subsidies due to significantly higher initial costs
Principal sub-systems of wind
Turbines
What is there inside a wind turbine
The main options in wind turbine design
and construction include:
number of blades (commonly two or three);
rotor orientation: downwind or upwind of tower;
blade material, construction method, and profile;
hub design: rigid, teetering, or hinged;
power control via aerodynamic control (stall
control) or variable-pitch blades (pitch control);
fixed or variable rotor speed;
orientation by self-aligning action (free yaw), or
direct control (active yaw);
synchronous or induction generator (squirrel cage
or doubly fed);
gearbox or direct drive generator.
Principal sub-systems of wind
Turbines
Rotor
consists of the hub and blades
blades on the majority of turbines are made from composites, primarily fiberglass or
carbon fiber reinforced plastics (GRP or CFRP), but sometimes wood/epoxy laminates are
used.
Drive Train: typically include
a low-speed shaft (on the rotor side), a gearbox, and a high-speed shaft (on the generator
side); the support bearings; one or more couplings, a brake, and the rotating parts of the
generator .
Two types of gearboxes are used in wind turbines: parallel shaft and planetary
Generators
either induction or synchronous generators
Many wind turbines installed in grid connected applications use squirrel cage induction
generators (SQIG)
Tower and Foundation
currently in use are the free-standing type using steel tubes, lattice (or truss) towers, and
concrete towers
Tower height is typically 1 to 1.5 times the rotor diameter, is normally at least 20 m


Some terms required
Axis of rotation
Cut-in speed: the minimum wind speed at which
the machine will deliver useful power.
Rated wind speed: the wind speed at which the
rated power (generally the maximum power
output of the electrical generator) is reached.
Cut-out speed: the maximum wind speed at
which the turbine is allowed to deliver power
(usually limited by engineering design and
safety constraints).
Lift and Drag
Yawing
turning rotor into the wind as wind changes direction
Furling
turning rotor out of the wind as wind speed reaches WTG
cut-out speed
Classification of wind turbines:
Some terms required understand
Airfoil
Cross section of blade
All most all the current day blades are
made up of this



Solidity:
The ratio between the actual blade area to the swept area of a rotor.
Multi-bladed rotors are high solidity rotors.
High solidity rotors can start easily as more rotor area interacts with the
wind initially.
Some low solidity designs may require external starting.
Aerodynamic losses are more for high solidity rotors
High solidity machines
are required where high starting torque is required. Example: water
pumping
High Structural stability

Classification of wind turbines:
Horizontal axis
Classification of wind turbines:
Horizontal axis
Turbine classification based on the size:
small (< 25 kW)
medium (25-100 kW),
large (100-1000 kW)
very large (>1000 kW)
Classification of wind turbines:
Vertical axis
Classification of wind turbines:
Vertical axis
3 bladed HAWT: Salient issues
Have their axis of rotation horizontal to the ground and almost parallel to
the wind stream
Most of the commercial wind turbines fall under this category
Low cut-in wind speed
Easy furling
Relatively high power coefficient
More stable as the aerodynamic loading will be relatively uniform
Generator and gearbox of are to be placed over the tower which makes its
design more complex and expensive.
Another disadvantage is the need for the tail or yaw drive to orient the
turbine towards wind.
VAWT: Salient issues
Working (Savonius)
Working (Darrius Type)
The axis of rotation of vertical to the ground and almost perpendicular to
the wind direction
Yawing not required since they can receive wind from any direction
Generator and the gearbox of such systems can be housed at the ground
level,
Makes tower design simple and economical
Maintenance of these turbines can be done at the ground level
relatively lower power coefficient
usually not self starting
As the rotor completes its rotation, the blades have to pass through
aerodynamically dead zones which will result in lowering the system
efficiency
guy wires are required to support the tower structure
VAWT: Some live examples
Working (Darrius Type)
usually works at high tip speed ratio which
makes it attractive for wind electric
generators
not self-starting and require external
excitation to cut-in
Working (Savonius)
Drag Machines
have high solidity and thus high starting
torque
simple in construction-even can be made
from oil barrels cut in two halves
lengthwise
lower power coefficient
Characteristics of wind rotors
The performance of a wind rotor
characterized by the variations in
its power coefficient with the tip
speed ratio
Power coefficient C
P
(Non
Dimensional): The ratio of actual
power developed by the rotor to
the theoretical power available in
the wind
Tip speed ratio (Non Dimensional)
: The ratio between the velocity of
the rotor tip and the wind velocity
C
P
- curve will represent the rotor
performance irrespective of the
rotor size and site parameters.
Characteristics of wind rotors
Savonius rotors:
with its high solidity, work at lower tip
speed ratio.
Efficiencies range from 25 to 35 per cent
American multi-bladed rotors
lowest power coefficient and work at low
speed ratio
have high solidity and hence high starting
torque
Suitable for water pumping
Two and three bladed propeller
turbines and the Darrieus design
work at higher tip speed ratios
show better efficiency
suitable for wind-electric generators.
Basics of wind energy conversion
Energy available in wind is basically
the kinetic energy of large masses
of air moving over the earths
surface.
Blades of the wind turbine receive
this kinetic energy, which is then
transformed to mechanical or
electrical forms, depending on our
end use.
The efficiency of converting wind to
other useful energy forms greatly
depends on the efficiency with
which the rotor interacts with the
wind stream.
Basics of Wind Energy Conversion
Basics of Wind Energy Conversion
Basics of Wind Energy Conversion
Sep-14 BITS Pilani | Vision 2020 |
Mission 2012
26
Basics of Wind Energy Conversion
Sep-14 27
Basics of Wind Energy Conversion
Wind turbine Power and Torque
Wind turbine Power and Torque
Sep-14 30
Wind turbine Power and Torque
Wind turbine Power and Torque
Wind turbine Power and Torque
Wind turbine Power and Torque
Sep-14 BITS Pilani | Vision 2020 |
Mission 2012
34
Derivation of Betz limit
In 1919, Albert Betz postulated a theory about the efficiency of rotor
based turbines.
Using simple concepts of conservation of mass, momentum, and
energy, he postulated that a wind turbine with a disc-like rotor
cannot capture more than 59.3% of energy contained in a mass of air
that will pass through the rotor.
Assumptions:
The flow is assumed to be incompressible and homogeneous.
The rotor is considered to be made up of infinite number of
blades.
Static pressures far in front and behind the rotor are considered
to be equal to the atmospheric pressure.
Frictional drag over the blades and wake behind the rotor are
neglected.

Derivation of Betz limit
Derivation of Betz limit
Derivation of Betz limit
Derivation of Betz limit
Derivation of Betz limit
Derivation of Betz limit
Derivation of Betz limit
Salient points related to Betz limit
Defines the upper limit of the efficiency (that is 59.3%) of any rotor disk type
energy extracting device that is placed in the flow of a fluid
A large fraction of the 59.3% of total wind energy that is extracted from wind
is transferred to the turbine
some of it is used to
overcome viscous drag on blades
create vortices in the wake
Within the turbine:
most of the energy is converted into useful electrical energy
some of it is lost in gearbox, bearings, generator, power converter, transmission and others
Most practical rotors with three blades reach an overall efficiency of about
50%

Some Example related to Betz limit
Some Example related to Betz limit
Some Example related to Betz limit