WIND ENERGY COLLECTORS

Wind turbine power production depends on the interaction between

the rotor and the wind.
The wind may be considered to be a combination of the mean wind
and turbulent fluctuations about that mean flow.
Experience has shown that the major aspects of wind turbine
performance (mean power output and mean loads) are determined by the
aerodynamic forces generated by the mean wind.
Periodic aerodynamic forces caused by wind shear, offaxis winds
and rotor rotation and randomly fluctuating forces induced by turbulence
and dynamic effects are the source of fatigue loads and are a factor in the
pea! loads experienced by a wind turbine.
Practical hori"ontal axis wind turbine designs use airfoils to transform the
!inetic energy in the wind into useful energy.
# $uantitati%e measure of the wind energy a%ailable at any location is
called the Wind Power &ensity (WP&)
't is a calculation of the mean annual power a%ailable per s$uare
meter of swept area of a turbine, and is tabulated for different heights
abo%e ground.
(alculation of wind power density includes the effect of wind
%elocity and air density.
Theoretical power captured by a wind turbine
Total wind power could be captured only if the wind %elocity is reduced to
"ero. 'n a realistic wind turbine this is impossible, as the captured air must also
lea%e the turbine.
Practical wind turbine power
)urther insufficiencies, such as rotor blade friction and drag, gearbox losses,
generator and con%erter losses, reduce the power deli%ered by a wind turbine.
The basic relation that the turbine power is proportional to the third power of
%elocity.
ORI!ONT"L "#IS WIND T$R%INE
Wind turbines can rotate about either a hori"ontal or a %ertical axis
*ori"ontalaxis wind turbines (*#WT) ha%e the main rotor shaft
and electrical generator at the top of a tower, and must be pointed
into the wind.
+mall turbines are pointed by a simple wind %ane, while large
turbines generally use a wind sensor coupled with a ser%o motor.
,ost ha%e a gearbox, which turns the slow rotation of the blades into
a $uic!er rotation that is more suitable to dri%e an electrical generator
+ince a tower produces turbulence behind it, the turbine is usually
positioned upwind of its supporting tower. Turbine blades are made
stiff to pre%ent the blades from being pushed into the tower by high
winds. #dditionally, the blades are placed a considerable distance in
front of the tower and are sometimes tilted forward into the wind a
small amount.
"d&anta'e(
-lades are to the side of the turbine.s center of gra%ity, helping
stability.
#llowing the angle of attac! to be remotely adjusted gi%es greater
control, so the turbine collects the maximum amount of wind energy.
The ability to pitch the rotor blades in a storm so that damage is
minimi"ed.
Tall tower allows access to stronger wind in sites with wind shear and
placement on une%en land or in offshore locations.
,ost of them are selfstarting.
(an be cheaper because of higher production %olume.
Di(ad&anta'e(
*as difficulties operating near the ground and with turbulent winds
because the yaw and blade bearing need smoother, more laminar
wind flows.
The tall towers and long blades are difficult to transport and need a
special installation procedure.
When placed offshore, they can cause na%igation problem.
)ERTIC"L "#IS WIND T$R%INE
/erticalaxis wind turbines (or /#WTs) ha%e the main rotor shaft
arranged %ertically.
0ey ad%antages of this arrangement are that the turbine does not
need to be pointed into the wind to be effecti%e. This is an ad%antage
on sites where the wind direction is highly %ariable, for example
when integrated into buildings.
With a %ertical axis, the generator and gearbox can be placed near the
ground, using a direct dri%e from the rotor assembly to the ground
based gearbox, hence impro%ing accessibility for maintenance.
"d&anta'e(
/#WTs are not affected by the direction of the wind, which is useful
in areas where the wind changes direction fre$uently and $uic!ly.
1nli!e traditional hori"ontal axis wind turbines, a yaw mechanism is
not needed to turn the wind turbine towards the wind.
-ecause of this, /#WTs outperform hori"ontal axis turbines in areas
where a tall tower isn2t feasible
/#WTs are better able to har%est turbulent air flow found around
buildings and other structures
/#WTs are ideal for both rural and urban applications, including
roof top installations. &epending on the shape of the roof, the wind
flow o%er the roof can be concentrated, leading to an increased
energy output
+imple to install and maintain
3uiet operation
Pleasant appearance
Di(ad&anta'e(
They are less efficient than hori"ontal axis wind turbines. ,ost of
them are only half as efficient as the hori"ontal ones because of the
additional drag that they ha%e as their blades rotate into the wind.
#ir flow near the ground and other objects can create turbulent flow,
which can introduce issues of %ibration. This can include noise and
bearing wear which may increase the maintenance or shorten the
ser%ice life.
The machine may need guy wires to hold it up. 4uy wires are
impractical in hea%ily farmed areas.
Lar'e(t capacity* The Enercon E567 has a rated capacity of
8.9: ,W, has an o%erall height of 5;: m (79< ft), a diameter of
567 m (=5> ft), and is the world2s largestcapacity wind turbine since
its introduction in 6<<8.
Lar'e(t (wept area* The turbine with the largest swept area is a
prototype installed by 4amesa at ?aul@n, Aarago"a, +pain in 6<<;.
The 45<B C =.9 ,W has a rotor diameter of 56:m
Talle(t* The tallest wind turbine is )uhrlDnder Wind Turbine
Eaasow. 'ts axis is 57< meters abo%e ground and its rotor tips can
reach a height of 6<9 meters. 't is the only wind turbine in the world
taller than 6<< meters
i'he(t+(ituated* The world2s highestsituated wind turbine is made
by &eWind installed by the +eawind 4roup and located in the #ndes,
#rgentina around =,5<< metres (5>,9<< ft) abo%e sea le%el.
%ET!,S L"W
%et-,( law calculates the maximum power that can be extracted from
the wind, independent of the design of a wind turbine in open flow.
The law is deri%ed from the principles of conser%ation of mass and
momentum of the air stream flowing through an ideali"ed Factuator
dis!F that extracts energy from the wind stream.
The -et" law means that wind turbines can ne%er be better than
9;.>G efficient.
The law can be simply explained by considering that if all of the
energy coming from wind mo%ement into the turbine were con%erted
into useful energy then the wind speed afterwards would be "ero.
-ut, if the wind stopped mo%ing at the exit of the turbine, then no
more fresh wind could get in it would be bloc!ed.
'n order to !eep the wind mo%ing through the turbine, to !eep getting
energy, there has to be some wind mo%ement on the outside with
energy left in it. There must be a 2sweet spot2 somewhere and there
is, the -et" limit at 9;.>G
"((u.ption(
5. The rotor does not possess a hub, this is an ideal rotor, with an infinite
number of blades which ha%e no drag. #ny resulting drag would only lower
this ideali"ed %alue.
6. The flow into and out of the rotor is axial. This is a control %olume analysis,
and to construct a solution the control %olume must contain all flow going in
and out, failure to account for that flow would %iolate the conser%ation
e$uations.
>. This is incompressible flow. The density remains constant, and there is no
heat transfer from the rotor to the flow or %ice %ersa.
=. The rotor is also mass less. Ho account is ta!en of angular momentum
imparted to either the rotor or the air flow behind the rotor, i.e., no account is
ta!en of any wa!e effect.
COE//ICIENT O/ WIND POWER
The coefficient of power at a gi%en wind speed, is gi%en by the
electricity produced di%ided by the total energy a%ailable in the wind
at that speed
Wind turbines extract energy by slowing down the wind. )or a wind
turbine to be 5<<G efficient it would need to stop 5<<G of the wind
but then the rotor would ha%e to be a solid dis! and it would not
turn and no !inetic energy would be con%erted.
In the other extreme, a wind turbine with just one rotor blade, most
of the wind passing through the area swept by the turbine blade
would miss the blade completely and so the !inetic energy would be
!ept by the wind.
'n the diagram shown abo%e, the wind turbine con%erts 8<G of the
-et" Eimit into electricity.
Therefore, the (p of this wind turbine would be <.8 x <.9; J <.=5. +o
this wind turbine con%erts =5G of the a%ailable wind energy into
electricity.
This is actually a pretty good coefficient of power. 4ood wind
turbines generally fall in the >9=9G range.
WIND ENERGY "ND POWER
The !inetic energy (0E) of an object (or collection of objects) with
total mass , and %elocity / is gi%en by the expressionK
0E 1 2 3 4 3 )56
To find the !inetic energy of mo%ing air molecules (wind), consider a
large air parcel with the shape of a huge hoc!ey puc!K that is, it has
the geometry of a collection of air molecules passing though the
plane of a wind turbines blades (which sweep out a crosssectional
area #), with thic!ness (&) passing through the plane o%er a gi%en
time.
The %olume (/ol) of this parcel is determined by the parcel2s area multiplied
by its thic!nessK )ol1 " 3 D
Eet L represent the density of the air in this parcel. Hote that density is mass
per %olume and is expressed asK 7 1 4 8 )ol and 4 1 7 3 )ol
How let2s consider how the %elocity ()9 of our air parcel can be expressed. 'f a
time T is re$uired for this parcel (of thic!ness D9 to mo%e through the plane of
the wind turbine blades, then the parcel2s %elocity can be expressed as ) 1 D 8
T: and D 1 ) 3 T;
0E 1 2 34 3 )56 +ubstitute for 4 1 7 3 )ol to obtain
0E 1 2 3 <7 3 )ol9 3 )56 and )ol can be replaced by " 3 D to gi%e
0E 1 2 3 <7 3 " 3 D9 3)56 and D can be replaced by ) 3 T to gi%e
0E 1 2 3 <7 3 " 3 ) 3 T9 3 )56 lea%ing withK 0E 1 2 373)5=M"3T
How, power is just energy di%ided by time, so the power a%ailable
from our air parcel can be expressed asK
Pwr 1 0E 8 T 1 <2 37 3 )5= 3 " 3 T9 8 T 1 2 3 7 3 )5= 3 "
#nd if we di%ide Pwr by the cro((+(ectional area <"9 o> the parcel:
then we are le>t with the expressionK
Pwr 8 " 1 2 3 7 3 )5=
Hote two important things about this expressionK one is that the
power is proportional to the cube of the wind speed. The other is that
by di%iding power by the area, we ha%e an expression on the right
that is independent of the si"e of a wind turbine2s rotor.
'n other words, Pwr N # only depends on <?9 the den(ity o> the air
and <69 the wind (peed. 'n fact, there is no dependence on si"e,
efficiency or other characteristics of wind turbines when determining
Pwr N #.
The term for the $uotient Pwr N # is called the @Wind Power
Den(ity@ <WPD9