A

TECHNICAL SEMINAR REPORT

ON

“FLOATING WINDMILLS”

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the award of the degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
Submitted By
MD.SHAFIEUL HUSSAIN (16281A0239)

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

KAMALA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE

(Approved by AICTE, Accredited by NAAC & Affiliated to J.N.T.U, Hyderabad)

Singapur,Huzurabad,Karimnagar-505468 (T.S)

(2019-2020)
 DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. MD.SHAFIEUL HUSSAIN(16281A0239) of final

year B.Tech has satisfactorily completed the module of technical seminar entitled
“FLOATING WINDMILLS” towards partial fulfilment of requirements for the
award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology in E.E.E,JNTU, Hyd, T.S. during the
academic year 2019-2020.

Co-ordinator Head of the Department

Mr P.RAJU Dr.YOGESH.Y.PUNDLIK

Asst. Professor Professor

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Before I get into the thick of things I would like to add a few heart-felt words
for the people who guided my seminar work in numerous ways, people who gave me
unending support right from the stage, the seminar idea was conceived.

I express my healthy gratitude to co-ordinator Mr P.RAJU, Asst. Professor of

EEE department for patience & for gratuitous co-operation extended by him & who
has given me valuable suggestions.

I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. YOGESH YASHWANT PUNDLIK,

Head of EEE department and all the staff members of Electrical & Electronics
Engineering Department for their encouragement and support.

I place my sincere thanks to Prof. K.SHANKER, Principal of KAMALA

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE for his kind co-operation.

I am grateful to the management of KAMALA INSTITUTE OF

TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE College for providing all the facilities required for
completing this seminar work.

Lastly I wish to thank our parents & friends for their co-operation &
encouragement in completing this seminar.

Presented By,

MD.SHAFIEUL HUSSAIN

(16281A0239)
 ABSTRACT

A floating wind turbine is a wind turbine mounted on a floating structure that

allows the turbine to generate electricity in water depths where bottom mounted
towers are not feasible. The wind can be stronger and steadier over water due to the
absence of topographic features that may disrupt wind flow. The electricity generated
is sent to shore through undersea cables. The initial capital cost of floating turbines is
competitive with bottom mounted, near shore wind turbines while the rate of energy
generation is higher out in the sea as the wind flow is often more steady and
unobstructed by terrain features.

The relocation of wind farms into the sea can reduce visual pollution if the
windmills are sited more than 12 miles offshore, provide better accommodation of
fishing and shipping lanes, and allow siting near heavily developed coastal cities. A
few hundred meters offshore, winds are twice as strong as on land in much of the
world. Offshore wind energy has huge potential and floating windmills is a promising
technology. Such windmills are now being developed.
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER.NO TITLE PAGE.NO

1 Introduction to wind turbine 1

1.1 What are floating windmills 2

2 History of wind energy 3

3 Basic principles of wind energy conversion 4

3.1 Nature of the wind 4

3.2 Power in the wind 5

4 Basic components of wind energy conversion 7

5 Turbine aerodynamics 11

6 classification of wind energy conversion 13

7 Horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) 14

8 Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) 16

8.1 Advantages of VAWT 17

8.2 Disadvantages of VAWT 17

9 Blades 18

9.1 Blade design 18

9.2 Blade count 19

9.3 Blade materials 20

10 Tower height 21

11 Advantages of wind power 22

12 Disadvantages of wind power 23

CONCLUSION 24

REFERENCE 25
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE.NO TITLE PAGE.NO

1 Stability diagram 2

2 Global circulation of wind 4

3 Dependence of wind power on wind speed 6

4 Block diagram of WECS 7

5 Wind electric generating power plant 8

6 Aerodynamics of blades 12

7 Different types of HAWT 15

8 Darrieus and savoniuos wind turbine 17

 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO WIND TURBINE

Wind energy is one of the oldest source of energy used by mankind, comparable only
to the use of any animal force and biomass. A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic
energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce
electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical
energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or pumping water, the device is
called a windmill or wind pump. Developed for over a millennium, today's wind turbines are
manufactured in a range of vertical and horizontal axis types. The smallest turbines are used
for applications such as battery charging or auxiliary power on sailing boats; while large grid-
connected arrays of turbines are becoming an increasingly large source of commercial
electric power.

It's hard sometimes to imagine air as a fluid. It just seems so ... invisible. But air is a
fluid like any other except that its particles are in gas form instead of liquid. And when air
moves quickly, in the form of wind, those particles are moving quickly. Motion means
kinetic energy, which can be captured, just like the energy in moving water can be captured
by the turbine in a hydroelectric dam. In the case of a wind-electric turbine, the turbine
blades are designed to capture the kinetic energy in wind. The rest is nearly identical to a
hydroelectric setup: When the turbine blades capture wind energy and start moving, they spin
a shaft that leads from the hub of the rotor to a generator. The generator turns that rotational
energy into electricity. At its essence, generating electricity from the wind is all about
transferring energy from one medium to another.

Wind power all starts with the sun. When the sun heats up a certain area of land, the
air around that land mass absorbs some of that heat. At a certain temperature, that hotter air
begins to rise very quickly because a given volume of hot air is lighter than an equal volume
of cooler air. Faster-moving (hotter) air particles exert more pressure than slower-moving
particles, so it takes fewer of them to maintain the normal air pressure at a given elevation
(see How Hot Air Balloons Work to learn more about air temperature and pressure). When
that lighter hot air suddenly rises, cooler air flows quickly in to fill the gap the hot air leaves
behind. That air rushing in to fill the gap is wind.

1
1.1 What are floating windmills

Windmills that would float hundreds of miles out at sea could one day help
satisfy our energy needs without being eyesores from land. Offshore wind turbines are
not new but they typically stand on towers that have to be driven deep into the ocean
floor. This arrangement only works in water depths of about 50 feet or less-close
enough to shore that they are still visible. Researchers at Massachusetts institute of
technology and national renewable energy laboratory (NREL) have designed a wind
turbine that can be attached to a floating platform. Long steel cables would thther the
corners of the floating platform to a concrete block or other mooring system on the
ocean floor, like a high tech ship anchor. The setup is called “tension leg platform” or
TLP, and would be cheaper than fixed towers.

Figure 1 stability diagram

2
 CHAPTER 2

History of Wind Energy

As early as 3000 B.C., people used wind energy for the first time in the form of sail boats in
Egypt. Sails captured the energy in wind to pull a boat across the water. The earliest
windmills, used to grind grain, came about either in 2000 B.C. in ancient Babylon or 200
B.C. in ancient Persia, depending on who you ask. These early devices consisted of one or
more vertically-mounted wooden beams, on the bottom of which was a grindstone, attached
to a rotating shaft that turned with the wind. The concept of using wind energy for grinding
grain spread rapidly through the Middle East and was in wide use long before the first
windmill appeared in Europe. Starting in the 11th century A.D., European Crusaders brought
the concept home with them, and the Dutch-type windmill most of us are familiar with was
born.

Modern development of wind-energy technology and applications was well underway

by the 1930s, when an estimated 600,000 windmills supplied rural areas with electricity and
water-pumping services. Once broad-scale electricity distribution spread to farms and country
towns, use of wind energy in the United States started to subside, but it picked up again after
the U.S. oil shortage in the early 1970s. Over the past 30 years, research and development has
fluctuated with federal government interest and tax incentives. In the mid-'80s, wind turbines
had a typical maximum power rating of 150 kW. In 2006, commercial, utility-scale turbines
are commonly rated at over 1 MW and are available in up to 4 MW capacity. The relocation
of wind farms into the sea can reduce visual pollution if the windmills are sited more than 12
miles offshore, provide better accommodation of fishing and shipping lanes, and allow siting
near heavily developed coastal cities. A few hundred meters offshore, winds are twice as
strong as on land in much of the world. Offshore wind energy has huge potential and floating
windmills is a promising technology. Such windmills are now being developed. It has been
used as long as humans have put sails into the wind. For more than two millennia wind powered

machine have ground grain and pumped water. Wind power was widely available and not
confined to the banks of fast-flowing streams, or later, requiring sources of fuel

3
 CHAPTER 3

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF WIND ENERGY CONVERSION

3.1 Nature of the wind

Energy from the sun is driving force behind the weather. When sunlight is absorbed by the
Earth, it heats the atmosphere near the earth’s surface. Atmosphere heating is not uniform for
the ocean and continents. The oceans circulate continuously, so the heat absorbed from the
sun is distributed over a huge volume. Also, some of the energy of the sunlight causes
evaporation rather than temperature increases. Sunlight falling on land masses is concentrated
on the surface. The same amount of sunlight raises the land temperature more than the ocean
temperature. When the surface temperature is high, the air above that surface is heated more
than when the surface temperature is low. As a result, temperature difference arises between
different portions of the atmosphere.

When air is heated, it expands and flows outward from the higher temperature region
towards colder regions. In addition to this lateral movement, warm air moves in the
atmosphere, which lowers the pressure near the planet surface. Conversely, cool air moves
downward in the atmosphere which increases pressure near the surface. Thus additional flows
of air, i.e., the wind blows.

Even though the nature of the wind is discontinuous, wind pattern at particular places
remain remarkably constant year by year. In hilly and coastal areas, average wind speeds are
greater than at inland. The wind tends to blow consistently over the surface of the water
greater strength. Wind speed s increases with height. At the height of 60m, the wind speed is
30-60% higher than close to the surface. That is why, wind blades are placed at a height so
that they can tuned continuously by the wind.

Figure 2 Global circulation of wind

4
 3.2 Power in the Wind

Wind ha energy because of its motion. Any Device capable of slowing down the total
mass of the moving air can extract this part of energy and can be used to do useful work.
Conversion of kinetic energy of the wind energy in to mechanical energy can be utilised to
run a wind mill which in turn, rotate the generator to produce electricity. When the wind
blows against these blades, they rotate about their axis and this rotational motion is extracted
performing work. The wind energy conversion device is mainly called the rotor.

There are basically three factors that the output from wind energy conversion system.

a) The wind speed

b) The cross section of the windswept by the rotor.
c) The overall conversion efficiency of the rotor, transmission system generator or
pump.

Theoretically it is possible to get 100% efficiency by halting and preventing the passage of
air through the rotor. However, no device can extract all of wind energy and only able to
decelerate the air column to one third of its free velocity. Hence a 100% efficient wind
generator is able to convert maximum up to 60% of available energy in wind into mechanical
energy. In addition this, losses incurred in the generator or pump decreases the overall
efficiency of power generation to 35%.

A wind mill works on the principle of converting kinetic energy of the wind to mechanical
energy. Now, power is equal to energy per unit time. Energy that is available in the wind.
K.E. 1 (mass)  (velocity) 2
Kinetic energy in the particle = Power = = 2

time time
We know that
mass
= density  area  velocity
time
Putting the value

AV 3
Power = 1 2 (density)  area  (velocity)3 =
2

Where ρ = air density

A = area swept by wind mill rotor

V = wind speed in m/sec

5
 This equation tells that the power available is proportional to air density (1.225
kg/m3 at the sea level). Due to pressure and temperature change, it may vary 10-15 % during
a year. Water content present in the air does not affect power in the wind. Equation also tells
us that the wind turbine is proportional to the intercept area. Thus an aero turbine with a large
swept area has larger power than a smaller area machine. Since area is normally circular of
diameter D.

Then 𝐴 = (𝜋/4)𝐷2
Available wind power
P = (π/8)ρD2V3

This equation tells us that the maximum power available depends on square of the rotor
Diameter. Thus doubling the die of rotor will result in a fourfold increase in the available
wind power. The combined effects of wind speed and rotor diameter can be observed by the
graph shown in figure 1.2

Figure 3 Dependence of wind power on wind speed and rotor Diagram

6
 CHAPTER 4

BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM

Block diagram of components of a wind energy conversion system is shown in figure 1.3

Figure 4 Block diagram of components of a wind energy conversion system

Aero turbines are used to convert energy from moving air to rotary mechanical
energy. For their proper operation they require pitch and yaw control. To transmit the rotary
mechanical energy to an electrical energy, a mechanical interface consisting of a step-up gear
and a suitable coupling is required. The generator output so connected to the load or power
grid as the application warrants.

Yaw control: When the location of site has prevailing winds in direction most of the
time, the turbine design can be greatly simplified. The rotor can be fixed in such an
orientation such that the swept area is always perpendicular to the predominant wind
direction .Such a machine is said to be yaw fixed. However most turbines are yaw active.
When a wind changes its direction, motor rotates the turbine slowly to align along vertical
axis so that blades face the wind and rotor sweep maximum area of wind stream.

In the small turbine, yaw action is controlled by a trail vane whereas in large machines a
servomechanism operated by a wind direction sensor controls the yaw motor the keeps the

7
turbine in properly oriented. The purpose of controller is to sense wind speed, wind direction,
shaft speed and torque at the point so that it can control the output power and match the
electrical output with wind energy input so that it can protect the system from extreme
condition like cyclone and electrical faults due to strong winds.

The wind-electrical generating power plant with its components is shown in figure

Figure 5 Wind Electric generating Power Plant

8
 I. Rotors

Basically there are two types of rotor

a) Horizontal axis rotor

b) Vertical axis rotor

II. Wind Mill Head:

The wind mill head performs the following functions

a) It supports the rotor housing and the rotor bearing.

b) It also accommodates any control mechanism incorporated like pitch contrl
mechanism, and yaw control mechanism to orient the rotor towarda wind, the the
latter is mounted on the top of the supporting structure on suitable bearings
III. Transmissions

By varying the of the rotor blades about 40-50 revolution per minute, the rate of
rotation of large wind turbine generator can be controled. For the optimum generator
output it is required to have much greatre to have much greater rates of rotation

IV. Generator

At its most basic, a generator is a pretty simple device. It uses the properties
of electromagnetic induction to produce electrical voltage - a difference in electrical
charge. Voltage is essentially electrical pressure - it is the force that moves electricity, or
electrical current, from one point to another. So generating voltage is in effect generating
current. A simple generator consists of magnets and a conductor. The conductor is
typically a coiled wire. Inside the generator, the shaft connects to an assembly of
permanent magnets that surrounds the coil of wire. In electromagnetic induction, if you
have a conductor surrounded by magnets, and one of those parts is rotating relative to the
other, it induces voltage in the conductor. When the rotor spins the shaft, the shaft spins
the assembly of magnets, generating voltage in the coil of wire. That voltage drives
electrical current (typically alternating current, or AC power) out through power lines for
distribution.

9
V. Controls:

It perform following functions:

a) Yaw control by orientaion the rotor in the direction of the wind.

b) Pitch control of the blades to produce required power.
c) Power generator output monitoring by data computing and data storage.
d) Maintenance mode.
e) Emergency Power.
f) Emergency shutdown control owing to malfuction or very high winds.
g) Start-up and out-in of the equipment.

Control system have many combination possible and may involve the following
components:

i. Sensor- mechanical,electrical or pneumatic;

ii. Decision elements- relays, logic gates, analog circuits, microprocessors or a
mechanical unit.
iii. Actuators- hydraulic, pnuematic or electric
VI. Towers

Four types of supprting tower can be considered for use:

a) The pole tower

b) The reinforced concrete tower
c) The truss tower and
d) The built up shell-tube tower

10
 CHAPTER 5

TURBINE AERODYNAMICS

Unlike the old-fashioned Dutch windmill design, which relied mostly on the wind’s
force to push the blades into motion, modern turbines use more sophisticated aerodynamic
principles to capture the wind’s energy most effectively? The two primary aerodynamic
forces at work in wind-turbine rotors are lift, which acts perpendicular to the direction of
wind flow; and drag, which acts parallel to the direction of wind flow.

Turbine blades are shaped a lot like airplane wings -- they use an airfoil design. In an
airfoil, one surface of the blade is somewhat rounded, while the other is relatively flat. Lift is
a pretty complex phenomenon and may in fact require a Ph.D. in math or physics to fully
grasp. But in one simplified explanation of lift, when wind travels over the rounded,
downwind face of the blade, it has to move faster to reach the end of the blade in time to meet
the wind travelling over the flat, upwind face of the blade (facing the direction from which
the wind is blowing). Since faster moving air tends to rise in the atmosphere, the downwind,
curved surface ends up with a low-pressure pocket just above it. The low-pressure area sucks
the blade in the downwind direction, an effect known as "lift." On the upwind side of the
blade, the wind is moving slower and creating an area of higher pressure that pushes on the
blade, trying to slow it down. Like in the design of an airplane wing, a high lift-to-drag ratio
is essential in designing an efficient turbine blade. Turbine blades are twisted so they can
always present an angle that takes advantage of the ideal lift-to-drag force ratio. See How
Airplanes Work to learn more about lift, drag and the aerodynamics of an airfoil. Though the
details of the aerodynamics depend very much on the topology, some fundamental concepts
apply to all turbines. Every topology has a maximum power for a given flow, and some topologies
are better than others. The method used to extract power has a strong influence on this. In
general, all turbines may be grouped as being either lift-based, or drag -based; the former being
more efficient. The difference between these groups is the aerodynamic force that is used to
extract the energy. The primary application of wind turbines is to generate energy using the wind.
Hence, the aerodynamics is a very important aspect of wind turbines.

11
 Figure 6 Aerodynamics of blades

Aerodynamics is not the only design consideration at play in creating an effective

wind turbine. Size matters -- the longer the turbine blades (and therefore the greater the
diameter of the rotor), the more energy a turbine can capture from the wind and the greater
the electricity-generating capacity. Generally speaking, doubling the rotor diameter produces
a four-fold increase in energy output. In some cases, however, in a lower-wind-speed area, a
smaller-diameter rotor can end up producing more energy than a larger rotor because with a
smaller setup, it takes less wind power to spin the smaller generator, so the turbine can be
running at full capacity almost all the time. Tower height is a major factor in production
capacity, as well. The higher the turbine, the more energy it can capture because wind speeds
increase with elevation increase -- ground friction and ground-level objects interrupt the flow
of the wind. Scientists estimate a 12 percent increase in wind speed with each doubling of
elevation

12
 CHAPTER 6

CLASSIFICATION OF WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM

The classification of wind energy conversion systems are based on different orientation
which are discussed below:

1. On the basis of axis of rotation

a) Horizontal axis machines
b) Vertical axis machines
2. On the basis of size if machine
a) Small scale (up to 2 KW)
b) Medium scale(2-100 KW)
c) Large scale (100 KW and up)
3. On the basis of output power
a) DC Output
b) DC generator
c) Alternator rectifier
d) AC Output
e) Variable frequency, variable or constant voltage AC
f) Constant frequency, variable or constant voltage AC
4. On the basis of rotational Speed
a) Constant speed with variable pitch blades
b) Nearly constant speed with fixed pitch blades
c) Variable speed with fixed pitch blades
5. On the basis of utilisation of output
a) Battery Storage
b) Direct connection to an electromagnetic energy convertor
c) Other form of storage
d) Inter connection with conventional electricity utility grids.

13
 CHAPTER 7

HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINE (HAWT)

A wind turbine in which the axis of the rotor's rotation is parallel to the wind stream
and the ground. All grid-connected commercial wind turbines today are built with a
propeller-type rotor on a horizontal axis (i.e. a horizontal main shaft). Most horizontal axis
turbines built today are two- or three-bladed, although some have fewer or more blades. The
purpose of the rotor is to convert the linear motion of the wind into rotational energy that can
be used to drive a generator. The same basic principle is used in a modern water turbine,
where the flow of water is parallel to the rotational axis of the turbine blades.

The wind passes over both surfaces of the airfoil shaped blade but passes more rapidly over
the longer (upper) side of the airfoil, thus creating a lower-pressure area above the airfoil.
The pressure differential between top and bottom surfaces results in aerodynamic lift. In an
aircraft wing, this force causes the airfoil to rise, lifting the aircraft off the ground. Since the
blades of a wind turbine are constrained to move in a plane with the hub as its centre, the lift
force causes rotation about the hub. In addition to the lift force, a drag force perpendicular to
the lift force impedes rotor rotation. A prime objective in wind turbine design is for the blade
to have a relatively high lift-to-drag ratio. This ratio can be varied along the length of the
blade to optimize the turbine's energy output at various wind speed

These may be single bladed, double bladed and multi bladed.

❑ Most common design is the three-bladed turbine. The most important reason is the
stability of the turbine. A rotor with an odd number of rotor blades (and at least three
blades) can be considered to be similar to a disc when calculating the dynamic
properties of the machine.

❑ A rotor with an even number of blades will give stability problems for a machine
with a stiff structure. The reason is that at the very moment when the uppermost blade
bends backwards, because it gets the maximum power from the wind, the lowermost
blade passes into the wind shade in front of the tower.

14
Figure 7 Different types of HAWT on basis of no. of blades

15
 CHAPTER 8

VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINE (VAWT)

Vertical-axis wind turbines (or VAWTs) have the main rotor shaft arranged vertically.
Key advantages of this arrangement are that the turbine does not need to be pointed into the
wind to be effective. This is an advantage on sites where the wind direction is highly variable,
for example when integrated into buildings. The key disadvantages include the low rotational
speed with the consequential higher torque and hence higher cost of the drive train, the
inherently lower power coefficient, the 360 degree rotation of the aerofoil within the wind
flow during each cycle and hence the highly dynamic loading on the blade, the pulsating
torque generated by some rotor designs on the drive train, and the difficulty of modelling the
wind flow accurately and hence the challenges of analysing and designing the rotor prior to
fabricating a prototype.

With a vertical axis, the generator and gearbox can be placed near the ground, using a
direct drive from the rotor assembly to the ground-based gearbox, hence improving
accessibility for maintenance.

When a turbine is mounted on a rooftop, the building generally redirects wind over
the roof and these can double the wind speed at the turbine. If the height of the rooftop
mounted turbine tower is approximately 50% of the building height, this is near the optimum
for maximum wind energy and minimum wind turbulence. It should be borne in mind that
wind speeds within the built environment are generally much lower than at exposed rural
sites.

Another type of vertical axis is the Parallel turbine similar to the cross flow fan or
centrifugal fan it uses the ground effect. Vertical axis turbines of this type have been tried for
many years: a large unit producing up to 10 kW was built by Israeli wind pioneer Bruce Brill
in 1980s: the device is mentioned in Dr. Moshe Dan Hirsch's 1990 report, which decided the
Israeli energy department investments and support in the next 20 years. The Megan Wind
Kite blimp uses this configuration as well, chosen because of the ease of running.

16
Subtypes of the vertical axis design include:
a) Darrieus wind turbine
b) Savonius wind turbine

Figure 8 Darrieus and Savonius Wind Turbine

8.1 Advantages of vertical axis wind turbine

VAWTs offer a number of advantages over traditional horizontal-axis wind

turbines (HAWTs). They can be packed closer together in wind farms, allowing more in a
given space. This is not because they are smaller, but rather due to the slowing effect on the
air that HAWTs have, forcing designers to separate them by ten times their width.

VAWTs are rugged, quiet, omni-directional, and they do not create as much stress on
the support structure. They do not require as much wind to generate power, thus allowing
them to be closer to the ground. By being closer to the ground they are easily maintained and
can be installed on chimneys and similar tall structures.
8.2 Disadvantages of vertical axis wind turbine

Some disadvantages that the VAWTs possess are that they have a tendency to stall
under gusty winds. VAWTs have very low starting torque, as well as dynamic stability
problems. The VAWTs are sensitive to off-design conditions and have a low installation
height limiting to operation to lower wind speed environments.

The blades of a VAWT are prone to fatigue as the blade spins around the central axis.
The vertically oriented blades used in early models twisted and bent as they rotated in the
wind. This caused the blades to flex and crack. Over time the blades broke apart and
sometimes leading to catastrophic failure. Because of these problem, Vertical axis wind
turbines have proven less reliable than horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs)

17
 CHAPTER 9

BLADES

9.1 Blade design

The ratio between the speed of the blade tips and the speed of the wind is called tip
speed ratio. High efficiency 3-blade-turbines have tip speed/wind speed ratios of 6 to 7.
Modern wind turbines are designed to spin at varying speeds (a consequence of their
generator design, see above). Use of aluminium and composite materials in their blades has
contributed to low rotational inertia, which means that newer wind turbines can accelerate
quickly if the winds pick up, keeping the tip speed ratio more nearly constant. Operating
closer to their optimal tip speed ratio during energetic gusts of wind allows wind turbines to
improve energy capture from sudden gusts that are typical in urban settings.

In contrast, older style wind turbines were designed with heavier steel blades, which
have higher inertia, and rotated at speeds governed by the AC frequency of the power lines.
The high inertia buffered the changes in rotation speed and thus made power output more
stable.

The speed and torque at which a wind turbine rotates must be controlled for several reasons:

▪ To optimize the aerodynamic efficiency of the rotor in light winds.

▪ To keep the generator within its speed and torque limits.
▪ To keep the rotor and hub within their centrifugal force limits. The centrifugal force
from the spinning rotors increases as the square of the rotation speed, which makes
this structure sensitive to over speed.
▪ To keep the rotor and tower within their strength limits. Because the power of the
wind increases as the cube of the wind speed, turbines have to be built to survive
much higher wind loads (such as gusts of wind) than those from which they can
practically generate power. Since the blades generate more torsional and vertical
forces (putting far greater stress on the tower and nacelle due to the tendency of the
rotor to precess and nutate) when they are producing torque, most wind turbines have
ways of reducing torque in high winds.
▪ To enable maintenance. Since it is dangerous to have people working on a wind
turbine while it is active, it is sometimes necessary to bring a turbine to a full stop.

18
 ▪ To reduce noise. As a rule of thumb, the noise from a wind turbine increases with the
fifth power of the relative wind speed (as seen from the moving tip of the blades). In
noise-sensitive environments, the tip speed can be limited to approximately 60 m/s
(200 ft/s).

It is generally understood that noise increases with higher blade tip speeds. To
increase tip speed without increasing noise would allow reduction the torque into the gearbox
and generator and reduce overall structural loads, thereby reducing cost. The reduction of
noise is linked to the detailed aerodynamics of the blades, that reduce abrupt stalling.

9.2 Blade count

The determination of the number of blades involves design considerations of
aerodynamic efficiency, component costs, system reliability, and anaesthetics. Noise
emissions are affected by the location of the blades upwind or downwind of the tower and the
speed of the rotor. Given that the noise emissions from the blades' trailing edges and tips vary
by the 5th power of blade speed, a small increase in tip speed can make a large difference.

Wind turbines developed over the last 50 years have almost universally used either
two or three blades. Aerodynamic efficiency increases with number of blades but with
diminishing return. Increasing the number of blades from one to two yields a six percent
increase in aerodynamic efficiency, whereas increasing the blade count from two to three
yields only an additional three percent in efficiency. Further increasing the blade count yields
minimal improvements in aerodynamic efficiency and sacrifices too much in blade stiffness
as the blades become thinner.

Component costs that are affected by blade count are primarily for materials and
manufacturing of the turbine rotor and drive train. Generally, the fewer the number of blades,

the lower the material and manufacturing costs will be. In addition, the fewer the number of

blades, the higher the rotational speed can be. This is because blade stiffness requirements to
avoid interference with the tower limit how thin the blades can be manufactured, but only for
upwind machines; deflection of blades in a downwind machine results in increased tower
clearance. Fewer blades with higher rotational speeds reduce peak torques in the drive train,
resulting in lower gearbox and generator costs.

System reliability is affected by blade count primarily through the dynamic loading of
the rotor into the drive train and tower systems. While aligning the wind turbine to changes in
wind direction (yawing), each blade experiences a cyclic load at its root end depending on
blade position. This is true of one, two, three blades or more. However, these cyclic loads
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when combined together at the drive train shaft are symmetrically balanced for three blades,
yielding smoother operation during turbine yaw. Turbines with one or two blades can use a
pivoting teetered hub to also nearly eliminate the cyclic loads into the drive shaft and system
during yawing.

Finally, aesthetics can be considered a factor in that some people find that the three-bladed
rotor is more pleasing to look at than a one- or two-bladed rotor.

9.3 Blade materials

Wood and canvas sails were used on early windmills due to their low price,
availability, and ease of manufacture. Smaller blades can be made from light metals such
as aluminium. These materials, however, require frequent maintenance. Wood and canvas
construction limits the airfoil shape to a flat plate, which has a relatively high ratio of drag to
force captured (low aerodynamic efficiency) compared to solid airfoils.

Current production wind turbine blades are as large as 100 meters in diameter with prototypes
in the range of 110 to 120 meters. In 2001, an estimated 50 million kilograms
of fiberglass laminate were used in wind turbine blades.

Options also include prepreg fibreglass and vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding.
Each of these options use a glass-fiber reinforced polymer composite constructed with
differing complexity. Perhaps the largest issue with more simplistic, open-mold, wet systems
are the emissions associated with the volatile organics released. Preimpregnated materials and
resin infusion techniques avoid the release of volatiles by containing all reaction gases.
However, these contained processes have their own challenges, namely the production of
thick laminates necessary for structural components becomes more difficult. As the preform
resin permeability dictates the maximum laminate thickness, bleeding is required to eliminate
voids and insure proper resin distribution. One solution to resin distribution partially
preimpregnated fibreglass. During evacuation, the dry fabric provides a path for airflow and,
once heat and pressure are applied, resin may flow into the dry region resulting in a
thoroughly impregnated laminate structure.

Epoxy-based composites have environmental, production, and cost advantages over other
resin systems. Epoxies also allow shorter cure cycles, increased durability, and improved
surface finish. Prepreg operations further reduce processing time over wet lay-up systems. As
turbine blades pass 60 meters, infusion techniques become more prevalent; the traditional
resin transfer moulding injection time is too long as compared to the resin set-up time,
limiting laminate thickness. Injection forces resin through a thicker ply stack, thus depositing
the resin where in the laminate structure before gelatine occurs.
Carbon fibre-reinforced load-bearing spars can reduce weight and increase stiffness. Using
carbon fibres in 60 meter turbine blades is estimated to reduce total blade mass by 38%

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 CHAPTER 10

TOWER HEIGHT

Wind velocities increase at higher altitudes due to surface aerodynamic drag (by land
or water surfaces) and the viscosity of the air. The variation in velocity with altitude,
called wind shear, is most dramatic near the surface.

Typically, in daytime the variation follows the wind profile power law, which predicts
that wind speed rises proportionally to the seventh root of altitude. Doubling the altitude of a
turbine, then, increases the expected wind speeds by 10% and the expected power by 34%.
To avoid buckling, doubling the tower height generally requires doubling the diameter of the
tower as well, increasing the amount of material by a factor of at least four.

At night time, or when the atmosphere becomes stable, wind speed close to the
ground usually subsides whereas at turbine hub altitude it does not decrease that much or may
even increase. As a result the wind speed is higher and a turbine will produce more power
than expected from the 1/7 power law: doubling the altitude may increase wind speed by 20%
to 60%. A stable atmosphere is caused by radioactive cooling of the surface and is common
in a temperate climate: it usually occurs when there is a (partly) clear sky at night. When the
(high altitude) wind is strong (a 10-meter (33 ft) wind speed higher than approximately 6 to
7 m/s (20–23 ft/s)) the stable atmosphere is disrupted because of friction turbulence and the
atmosphere will turn neutral. A daytime atmosphere is either neutral (no net radiation; usually
with strong winds and heavy clouding) or unstable (rising air because of ground heating—by
the sun). Here again the 1/7 power law applies or is at least a good approximation of the wind
profile. Indiana had been rated as having a wind capacity of 30,000 MW, but by raising the
expected turbine height from 50 m to 70 m, the wind capacity estimate was raised to 40,000
MW, and could be double that at 100 m.

For HAWTs, tower heights approximately two to three times the blade length have been
found to balance material costs of the tower against better utilisation of the more expensive
active components.

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 CHAPTER 11

ADVANTAGES OF WIND POWER

1. The wind blows day and night, which allows windmills to produce electricity
throughout the day (Faster during the day).

2. Wind power output increases with wind speed.

3. Up to 95 percent of land used for wind farms can also be used for agriculture
purpose.

4. Wind energy is a domestic, renewable source of energy that generates no pollution

and has little environmental impact.

5. The available area of operation is much vaster.

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 CHAPTER 12

DISADVANTAGES OF WIND POWER

1. The production and installation of power cables under sea floor to transmit electricity
back to land can be very expensive.

2. Sound from Wind Turbines produces noise pollution from commercial wind turbines
is large.

3. It is very hard to build robust and secure wind farms in water deeper than 60mts.

4. Wind turbine construction can be very expensive and costly.

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 CONCLUSION

World is moving towards green and clean sources of energy to reduce the emission of
harmful greenhouse gases and pollution created by burning fossil fuels. This has led to phase
of outstanding developments in the field of renewable energy. One of the relatively new
source of renewable energy is the floating wind turbines. Europe has already made a huge
progress in the field of wind energy and explaining it very efficiently. The main issue with
the offshore wind energy apart from its variability is the integration of this energy into a
storage grid. A lot of energy storage options like flywheel storage battery storage etc were
studied but to have a bulk, the most promising technology is either pumped hydro storage or
compressed air energy storage.

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 l

REFERENCES

• Wind energy engineering by B.S Magal

• Wind energy fundamentals and applications by H P Garg and J. Prakash
• Feasibility of floating platform systems for wind turbines by S. Butterfield
• Non conventional energy source by G.D. Rai

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