Tip-speed ratio

The tip-speed ratio, λ, or TSR for wind

turbines is the ratio between the
tangential speed of the tip of a blade
and the actual speed of the wind, . The
tip-speed ratio is related to efficiency,
with the optimum varying with blade
design.[1] Higher tip speeds result in
higher noise levels and require stronger
blades due to larger centrifugal forces.
The tip speed of the blade can be
calculated as times R, where is the
rotational speed of the rotor in
radians/second, and R is the rotor
radius in metres. Therefore, we can also
write:

where is the wind speed in

metres/second at the height of the
blade hub.
Cp–λ curves

The power coefficient, is a quantity

that expresses what fraction of the
power in the wind is being extracted by
the wind turbine. It is generally assumed
to be a function of both tip-speed ratio
and pitch angle. Below is a plot of the
variation of the power coefficient with
variations in the tip-speed ratio when
the pitch is held constant:
The case for variable speed wind
turbines

Originally, wind turbines were fixed

speed. This has the benefit that the
rotor speed in the generator is constant,
thus the frequency of the AC voltage is
fixed. This allows the wind turbine to be
directly connected to a transmission
system. However, from the figure
above, we can see that the power
coefficient is a function of the tip-speed
ratio. By extension, the efficiency of the
wind turbine is a function of the tip-
speed ratio.

Ideally, one would like to have a turbine

operating at the maximum value of
at all wind speeds. This means that as
the wind speed changes, the rotor
speed must change to such that
. A wind turbine with a
variable rotor speed is called a variable
speed wind turbine. Whilst this does
mean that the wind turbine operates at
or close to for a range of wind
speeds, the frequency of the AC
voltage generator will not be constant.
This can be seen in the following
equation:

where is the rotor angular speed, is

the frequency of the AC voltage
generated in the stator windings, is
the number of poles in the generator
inside the nacelle. That is, direct
connection to a transmission system for
a variable speed is not permissible.
What is required is a power converter
which converts the signal generated by
the turbine generator into DC and then
converts that signal to an AC signal with
the grid/transmission system
frequency.

The case against variable speed

wind turbines

As already mentioned, variable speed

wind turbines cannot be directly
connected to a transmission system.
One of the drawbacks of this is that the
inertia of the transmission system is
reduced as more variable speed wind
turbines are put online. This can result in
more significant drops in the
transmission system's voltage
frequency in the event of the loss of a
generating unit. Furthermore, variable
speed wind turbines require power
electronics, which increases the
complexity of the turbine and
introduces new sources of failures. It
has also been suggested that additional
energy capture achieved by comparing
a variable speed wind turbine to a fixed
speed wind turbine is approximately
2%.[2]

References

1. "Wind Turbine Tip Speed Ratio |

REUK.co.uk" (http://www.reuk.co.uk/w
ordpress/wind/wind-turbine-tip-speed
 -ratio/) . www.reuk.co.uk. Retrieved
14 May 2017.
2. Dependence of performance of
variable speed wind turbines on the
turbulence, dynamics and control,
Leithead

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