Wind Turbine Nacelle Thermal

Management

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 Contents

1. Introduction.
2. Types of wind turbines.
3. Wind turbine components
4. References

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 1. Introduction

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 2. Types of Wind Turbine Generators (WT)

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 Influence of the number of blades on the rotor power coefficient (envelope)
and the optimum tip-speed ratio.

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 3. Wind Turbine components

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 Nacelle
 It consists of cast main frame with a bolted o generator
girder system and a nacelle housing.
 The Nacelle housing is made of Glass-fibre reinforced plastic
(GRP) and designed such that the internal components are
fully protected against various ambient conditions.
 Various components inside the nacelle are rotor lock disc,
main bearing, main shaft, gearbox, fluid coupling, generator
and cabinets.

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 Nacelle design with air flow directions

Air flow out

Air flow out

Air flow in

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 Entire drive train
assembly

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 Gear box

Gear
box oil
cooling

Oil
pump
Oil filter

Slip ring
adapter

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 Gear box

• It is a compact design single stage planetary/multi stage helical spur gear box that
ensures the highest possible mechanical efficiency and power.
• The first planetary gear stage takes up the slow rotor rotation and distributes the
high torque input into planetary gears. Reduced torque values with increased
rotational speeds are converted to high speed operation of the generator.
• The helical stage is responsible for a low sound which is further reduced by sound
isolation via rubber bushings between gearbox and mainframe.
• A mechanical driven oil pump supplies the gear box with pressure lubrication. The
oil is filtered by micro filter system. The hot oil coming out from gearbox is cooled in
oil cooling system above the gearbox and then recirculated after filtering.

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 Fluid coupling and Generator

High
speed
shaft

Mechanic Generato
al brake r system
Fluid
coupling

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 Braking system
• There are two types of braking systems – aerodynamic and mechanical braking
system. First the aerodynamic brakes are applied by pitching the blade angels to
90 degrees with the direction of wind. This reduces the lift and increases the drag
also known as feathering position.
• The mechanical brake is applied after aerodynamic brakes when the shaft speed
is low. It is applied by hydraulic pressure. The brake pads press against the brake
disc thus braking the shaft.
• In case of emergency the safety chain releases and the brakes get applied
irrespective of the shaft speed.

 Fluid coupling
• Mechanical couplings connect shafts so one can transmit rotational power to the
other. The coupling incorporated onto a high-speed shaft also allows for a degree
of misalignment.
• In wind turbines, flexible couplings are used on the high-speed (output) shaft of
the gearbox to drive the generator and accommodate the misalignment between
the two.
• In addition, they must provide electrical insulation, flexibility in all directions,
operation in a range of environmental conditions, the ability to handle loads well
beyond the normal application needs, and be lightweight for easy installation.

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  Generator system
• Wind turbine is equipped with single-fed asynchronous three phase generator.
During operation the stator side of the generator is permanently connected to
the grid.
• The generator is kept at optimum operation temperature by robust air cooling
system.
• An anti-condensation heating element is integrated within the generator which
avoids condensation of moisture on the windings.

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 Betz Limit
• All wind power cannot be
captured by rotor or air would
be completely still behind
rotor and not allow more wind
to pass through.

• Theoretical limit of rotor

efficiency is 59%.

• Most modern wind turbines

are in the 35 –45% range.

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 4.References
1. Smaili A, Tahi A, Masson C, Thermal analysis of wind turbine nacelle
operating in Algerian Saharan climate, Energy Procedia 2012;18:187- 196.

2. M. A. Mahdi, A. Smaili, Numerical investigations of the thermal behavior of

HAWT nacelle using ansys fluent, Energy Procedia 141 (2017) 394-398.

3. Omid Nematollahi, Kyung Chung Kim, WIND TURBINE COOLING: THE

STATE-OF-THE-ART REVIEW, Proceedings of Academics World International
Conference, Tehran, Iran, 12th-13th August 2017.

4. Arturo DE RISI, Marco MILANESE, Gianpiero COLANGELO*, Domenico

LAFORGIA, High efficiency nanofluid cooling systems for wind turbines,
Università del Salento, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Innovazione via per
Arnesano, 73100, LECCE (LE), Italy.
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 THANK YOU

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