Bharati Vidyapeeth University College Of Engineering, Pune

MODERN WIND TURBINES

Under The Guidance Of Prof. S.B. WADKAR

Presented By: Prakhar Agrawal B.E. Mechanical

INTRODUCTION
Wind power is a major source of renewable energy. The first development of wind turbines to generate electricity began more than a century ago. Wind turbine technology has rapidly accelerated since the oil crisis of the 1970s due to the requirement for an alternative to the ever rising cost of fossil fuels. Governments are taking this very seriously, and have imposed ambitious targets for the proportion of energy to be generated from renewable sources. There is a much greater public awareness of the environmental damage and pollution from fossil and nuclear fuels. Renewable energy sources are freely accessible and essentially inexhaustible resources. They are non-polluting a wind turbine produces no carbon dioxide. The environmental impact is low, although there is sometimes public concern about the siting of wind turbines.

WIND TURBINE COMPONENTS

WIND TURBINE OPERATION

Simply stated, a wind turbine works the opposite of a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, like a fan, wind turbines use wind to make electricity. The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft, which connects to a generator and makes electricity.

POWER EXTRACTED FROM WIND

The actual power extracted Po by the rotor blades is less than the total power in the wind Pw it is the difference between the upstream and downstream wind powers. Where, Po = turbine output power V = upstream wind velocity V0 = downstream wind velocity The mass flow rate of air passing through the blades is related to the density and average velocity: The power extracted is therefore: where Cp is the fraction of power captured by the rotor blades, also called the rotor power coefficient or rotor efficiency.

The practical limits for Cp are 0.46 for high speed two-blade and 0.50 for three-blade turbines.

POWER RATING
Power ratings for different wind turbine designs can be difficult to compare because there is no globally accepted industry standard for a consistent wind speed at which to measure their output. Manufacturers give power ratings of wind turbines for a chosen wind speed and efficiency. Instead of comparing manufacturers quoted power outputs it is better to compare swept rotor blade area. In fact, nothing tells you more about a wind turbines potential than its rotor diameter.

WHY TO USE A GEARBOX ?

Could the generator be driven directly with the power from the main shaft?

Without Gearbox

If we used an ordinary generator, directly connected to a 50 Hz AC three phase grid with two, four, or six poles, we would have to have an extremely high speed turbine with between 3000 and 1000 rpm. For a rotor of diameter 43 m the blade tip speed would then be more than twice the speed of sound, which is not feasible. The mass of the rotor of the generator has to be roughly in proportion to the amount of torque (moment, or turning force) it has to handle, making a directly driven generator too heavy and expensive to be viable. The practical solution therefore is to use a gearbox to connect the rotor to the generator. This converts the slowly rotating, high torque power from the wind turbine rotor to the high speed, low torque power, required for the generator with only a few pole pairs.

WHAT CAUSES GEARBOXES TO FAIL?

It is been expected that life of the wind turbine is 20 years but mostly gearbox failures takes place earlier than other components of wind turbine assembly. The majority of gearbox failures originates at bearing level. NOISE: A turbines gearbox is a major contributor of machine noise. Reason is the tooth mesh of the gear wheels. Frequent and complex maintenance increases the financial risks. Gearbox failures account for the largest amount of downtime, maintenance, and loss of power production. These costly failures can total 15-20% of the price of Gearbox Failure the turbine

May Results.

MODERN GEARBOX DESIGN

Modern wind turbine gearboxes employs the latest developments in flexible pins with the epicyclic gear train on the first stage employs 8 planet wheels to provide minimum volume gearing with maximum bearing life. A differential gear on the output shaft which can be controlled via a shunt hydraulic or electrical drive provides a mechanism by which the speed of the generator remains constant whilst the speed of the wind turbine varies thus providing torque protection and the use of simple fixed speed generators. Installation of the gearbox is compatible with the new form of twin taper rotor support bearing and this combined with torque neutral suspension ensures that the gearbox is only subjected to the steady state rotor torque. Mixed iron oxide coating for cylindrical bearings, which provides increase resistance to slippage during alternating load conditions.

MODERN GEARBOX DESIGN TRANSMISSION ADVANTAGES

Flexible pin technology providing uniform gear tooth, and bearing loading providing high actual bearing life. Torque protection of the gear train and rotating elements against wind gusts and grid lockout, resulting in high reliability. Considerably reduces the weight of the gear train. 20 tonnes for 3.4 MW 2, meters diameter. Allows synchronous or fixed induction generators to be used without full power converters. Allows all of the main power electrics and transformers to be placed on the ground further reducing the weight in the nacelle. Improves wind energy capture at low speeds by using a more aggressive wind turbine blade pitch and a variable ratio gearbox. High power density due to optimized gearbox.

A GEARLESS FUTURE
The philosophy that formed the basis for the advanced gearless technology of the wind turbine Less subsystems, more reliability Less moving parts, more energy Less maintenance, more savings.

WITH GEARBOX

GEARLESS

CONCLUSIONS
A new approach is needed to overcome conventional barriers and accelerate the development of more robust gearbox designs. The technology has to compete on cost of energy against other renewables and against conventional generation. It is preferred to have more offshore wind turbines because of the availability of higher average wind speed in comparison to wind speed over land. In accordance with our country, a heavy coal user, turbines will help in overcoming the reliance on polluting fossil fuel.

Thank You