The wind power industry is maturing and the amount of electricity produced by wind turbines in the world is rapidly increasing every year. Service and maintenance of wind turbines has proven to be difficult and expensive, especially offshore. A well coordinated support organisation and optimized maintenance strategies are required to effectively reduce the costs associated with WT support, where cost-efficient supply and storage of spare parts are important. The aim of this thesis is to model spare part logistics for wind turbines to analyse different strategies and compare the profitability. Optimal stock levels and reorder sizes have been calculated with the software tool OPUS10. Wind turbine and spare part data have been provided by Vattenfall Vindkraft AB and field studies were made to the wind farms Lillgrund and Horns Rev to gather information. Our analyses show that different spare part strategies only affect a minor part of the total support costs generated for a wind farm. Still there are many improvements possible and money to be saved if using an optimal spare part strategy instead of one based on personal experiences and intuition. For a large wind power system, including a number of wind farms with the same wind turbine types, we also show convincing results that pooling of spare parts are a much more cost-efficient spare part strategy compared to local storage and handling only. Using a central depot for spare part reordering and storage of critical spare parts, such as gearboxes, generators and blades, are more profitable

The ‘hydrogen economy’ represents an energy system in which hydrogen and electricity are the dominant energy carriers for use in transportation applications. The ‘hydrogen economy’ minimizes the use of fossil fuels in order to lower the environmental impact of energy use associated with urban air pollution and climate change. An integrated energy system is required to deal with diverse and distributed energy generation technologies such a wind and solar which require energy storage to level energy availability and demand. A distributed ‘energy hub’ is considered a viable concept in envisioning the structure of an integrated energy system. An energy hub is a system which consists of energy input/output, conversion and storage technologies for multiple energy carriers, and would provide an interface between energy producers, consumers, and the transportation infrastructure. Considered in a decentralized network, these hubs would form the nodes of an integrated energy system or network. In this work, a model of a clean energy hub comprising of wind turbines, electrolyzers, hydrogen storage, a commercial building, and a fleet of plug-in fuel cell vehicles (PFCVs) was developed in MATLAB, with electricity and hydrogen used as the energy carriers. This model represents a hypothetical commercial facility which is powered by a renewable energy source and utilizes a zero-emissions fleet of light duty vehicles. The models developed herein capture the energy and cost interactions between the various energy components, and also calculate the CO2 emissions avoided through the implementation of hydrogen economy principles. Wherever possible, similar models were used to inform the development of the clean energy hub model. The purpose of the modelling was to investigate the interactions between a single energy hub and novel components such as a plug-in fuel cell vehicle fleet (PFCV). The final model reports four key results: price of hub electricity, price of hub hydrogen, total annual costs and CO2 emissions avoided. Three scenarios were analysed: minimizing price of hub electricity, minimizing total annual costs, and maximizing the CO2 emissions avoided. Since the clean energy hub could feasibly represent both a facility located within an urban area as well as a remote facility, two separate analyses were also conducted: an on-grid analysis (if the energy hub is close to transmission lines), and an off-grid analysis (representing the remote scenarios). The connection of the energy hub to the broader electricity grid was the most significant factor affecting the results collected. Grid electricity was found to be generally cheaper than electricity produced by wind turbines, and scenarios for minimizing costs heavily favoured the use grid electricity. However, wind turbines were found to avoid CO2 emissions over the use of grid electricity, and scenarios for maximizing emissions avoided heavily favoured wind turbine electricity. In one case, removing the grid connection resulted in the price of electricity from the energy hub increasing from $82/MWh to $300/MWh. The mean travel distance of the fleet was another important factor affecting the cost modelling of the energy hub. The hub’s performance was simulated over a range of mean travel distances (20km to 100km), and the results varied greatly within the range. This is because the mean travel distance directly affects the quantities of electricity and hydrogen consumed by the fleet, a large consumer of energy within the hub. Other factors, such as the output of the wind turbines, or the consumption of the commercial building, are largely fixed. A key sensitivity was discovered within this range; the results were ‘better’ (lower costs and higher emissions avoided) when the mean travel distance exceeded the electric travel range of the fleet. This effect was more noticeable in the on-grid analysis. This sensitivity is due to the underutilization of the hydrogen systems within the hub at lower mean travel distances. It was found that the greater the mean travel distance, the greater the utilization of the electrolyzers and storage tanks lowering the associated per km capital cost of these components. At lower mean travel distances the utilization of the electrolyzers ranged from 25% to 30%, whereas at higher mean travel distances it ranged from 97% to 99%. At higher utilization factors the price of hydrogen is reduced, since the cost recovery is spread over a larger quantity of hydrogen.

An aluminum NACA 0018 airfoil testbed was constructed with 95 static pressure taps and 25 embedded microphones to enable novel time-resolved measurements of surface pressure. The main objective of this investigation is to utilize time-resolved surface pressure measurements to estimate salient flow characteristics in the separated flow region over the upper surface of an airfoil. The flow development over the airfoil was examined using hot wire anemometry and mean surface pressure for a range of Reynolds numbers from 80x103 to 200x103 and angles of attack from 0° to 18°. For these parameters, laminar boundary layer separation takes place on the upper surface and two flow regimes occur: (i) separation is followed by flow reattachment, so that a separation bubble forms and (ii) separation occurs without subsequent reattachment. Measurements of velocity and mean surface pressure were used to characterize the separated flow region and its effect on airfoil performance using the lift coefficient. In addition, the transition process and the evolution of disturbances were examined. The lift curve characteristics were found to be linked to the rate of change of the separation, transition, and reattachment locations with the angle of attack. For both flow regimes, transition was observed in the separated shear layer. Specifically, the amplification of disturbances within a band of frequencies in the separated shear layer resulted in laminar to turbulent transition. Validation of time-resolved surface pressure measurements was performed for Rec = 100x103 at α = 8° and α = 12°, corresponding to regimes of flow separation with and without reattachment, respectively. A comparative analysis of simultaneous velocity and time-resolved surface pressure measurements showed that the characteristics and development of velocity fluctuations associated with disturbances in the separated shear layer can be extracted from time-resolved surface pressure measurements. Specifically, within the separated flow region, the amplitude of periodic oscillations in the surface pressure signal associated with disturbances in the separated shear layer grew in the streamwise direction. In addition, the frequency at the spectral peak of the amplified disturbances in the separated shear layer was identified. Based on the results of the validation analysis, time-resolved surface pressure measurement analysis techniques were applied for a Reynolds number range from 60x103 to 130x103 and angles of attack from 6° to 16°. Within the separated flow region, the streamwise growth of surface pressure fluctuations is distinctly different depending on the flow regime. Specifically, within the separation bubble, the RMS surface pressure fluctuations increase in the streamwise direction and reach a peak just upstream of the reattachment location. The observed trend is in agreement with that observed for other separating-reattaching flows on geometries such as the forward and backward facing step and splitter plate with fence. In contrast to the separation bubble formation, when the separated shear layer fails to reattach to the airfoil surface, RMS surface pressure fluctuations increase in the streamwise direction with no maximum and the amplitude is significantly lower than those observed in the separation bubble. Surface pressure signals were further examined to identify the frequency, convective velocity, and spanwise uniformity of disturbances in the separated shear layer. Specifically, for both flow regimes, the fundamental frequency and corresponding Strouhal number exhibit a power-law dependency on the Reynolds number. Based on the available data for which velocity measurements were obtained in the separated flow region, the convective velocity matched the mean velocity at the wall-normal distance corresponding to the maximum turbulence intensity. A distinct increase in the convective velocity of disturbances in the separated shear layer was found when the airfoil was stalled in comparison to that found in the separation bubble. From statistical analysis of surface pressure signals in the spanwise direction, it was found that disturbances are strongly two-dimensional in the laminar portion of the separated shear layer and become three-dimensional through the transition process.

The thesis utilizes the analogy in dynamic equations between a mechanical and an electrical system to convert the steam-turbine, micro-turbine, wind-turbine and hydro-turbine generator mechanical model to equivalent electrical circuit models respectively. And based on the round rotor type and permanent magnetic rotor type synchronous generators¡¦ dynamic equations, as well as their electromagnetic torque equations, the equivalent electrical interface circuits were derived respectively. By using the interface circuit, the circuit model of synchronous generator and the equivalent electrical circuit model of turbine-generator mechanism can thus be combined into the electromechanical integrated circuit model (Thevenin¡¦s analogy circuit model and Norton's analogy circuit model). The electromechanical integrated circuit model is helpful for analyzing the energy conversion, power transmission and interactions between the mechanical and electrical systems for a turbine generator unit. In order to learn about these electromechanical interactions by using the proposed electromechanical integrated circuit model, the thesis has made a study on the torsional vibrations for a small gas turbine generator unit and for a large steam turbine generator unit respectively. By way of the frequency scanning and eigenvalue calculation, it is found that the torsional mode frequencies can be changed due to the electromechanical integration. Moreover, the small unit was more affected by the electromechanical integration than the large unit. Finally, we studied the effect of operations of an Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF) on torsional vibrations of a low capacity turbine generator. The electric system studied belongs to a practical steel plant in an industrial park. Based on the electromechanical integrated equivalent circuit model, a flywheel coupling shaft was designed. It is found by simulations that the coupling shaft can be quite effective in alleviating vibrations caused by the system unbalance arising from the EAF operations.

<p>Numerical simulations using CFD methods are performed for wind turbine applications. The aim of the project is to get a better understanding of the wake behaviour, which is needed since today’s industrial design codes for wind power applications are based on the BEM (Blade Element Momentum) method. This method has been extended with a number of empirical corrections not based on physical flow features. The importance of accurate design models does also increase as the turbines become larger. Therefore, the research is today shifting toward a more fundamental approach, aiming at understanding basic aerodynamic mechanisms. The result from the CFD simulation is evaluated and special interest is given to the circulation and the position of vortices. From these evaluations, it will hopefully be possible to improve the engineering methods and base them, to a greater extent, on physical features instead of empirical corrections.</p><p>The simulations are performed using the program ”EllipSys3D” developed at DTU (The Technical University of Denmark). The Actuator Line Method is used, where the blade is represented by a line instead of a large number of panels. The forces on that line are introduced by using tabulated aerodynamic coefficients. In this way, the computer resource is used more efficiently since the number of node points locally around the blade is decreased, and they can instead be concentrated in the wake behind the blades.</p><p>An evaluation method to extract values of the circulation from the wake flow field is developed.</p><p>The result shows agreement with classical theorems from Helmholtz, from which it follows that the wake tip vortex has the same circulation as the maximum value of the bound circulation on the blade.</p>

Senkantys tradicinio kuro ištekliai, visuotinis klimato šiltėjimas, aplinkos užterštumas radionuklidais, atmosferos užteršimas SOX, NOx bei kitomis kenksmingomis medžiagomis. Tai tik dalis neigiamų tradicinės energetikos pasekmių. Noras turėti pakankamai energijos išteklių tuo nekenkiant aplinkai skatina valdžios institucijas, mokslo bendruomenę ir visuomenę imtis veiksmų, kad būtų sukurtos technologijos, kurios nepriešintų šių dviejų, vienodai svarbių poreikių. Vėjo energetika – vienas iš būdų, kurio pagalba galima tenkinti energetinius poreikius nedarant aplinkai reikšmingo neigiamo poveikio. Tačiau vėjo energetika – nauja energetikos rūšis, susilaukianti daug kritikos. Todėl labai svarbu nustatyti v��jo energetikos keliamus neigiamus poveikius aplinkai bei žmogui. Šio tyrimo tikslas išsiaiškinti kaip slopinamas triukšmo lygis tolstant nuo vėjo jėgainės. Tai pat svarbu buvo nustatyti kokio dažnio garso bangas skleidžia skirtingos vėjo jėgainės. Siekiant šio tikslo reikėjo atlikti lauko matavimus vėjo jėgainių aplinkoje. Rezultatai parodė kad higienos normose nustatyto maksimalaus leistino triukšmo ekvivalentinio lygio (55 dBA) nakties valandoms (22-6 h) nebuvo nustatyta netgi tyrimus atliekant dienos metu, kai vėjo greitis siekė 8m/s. Nustatyta, kad esant 7m/s vėjo greičiui vėjo jėgainė Vestas V100 skleidė 315Hz – 630Hz dažnio garso bangas. Esant 8m/s vėjo greičiui vėjo jėgainė Enercon E40 skleidė 250Hz - 2000Hz dažnio garso bangas. Esant 3 m/s vėjo greičiui vėjo jėgainė... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Decreasing resources of traditional fuels, global climate warming, radioactive environmental pollution, air polluted with SOX, NOX and other toxic substances. It’s just a little piece of negative effect of traditional energy production. Aim to have enough energy without harming the environment encourage government institutions, scientists and public take action to design technology that could supply humankind with energy without polluting the environment as today’s energy production does. Wind energy – one of the ways we can satisfy energy needs without significant side effect for environment and human. Wind energy is still a new kind of energy production witch receive much critics from skeptics. That’s why it is so important to estimate the side effects for environment and human. Aim of this study is to estimate attenuation of sound. Also it was important to compare the frequency range witch different wind turbine emits. Field study was carried out to measure the sound pressure levels in the near distances from the wind turbines. Results show that threshold for noise limit for a night period wasn’t breached even then the measurements were taken in daytime, with 8 m/s wind speed. It was estimated that in 7 m/s wind speed wind turbine Vestas V100 emitted 315Hz – 630Hz frequency sound. In the wind speed of 8 m/s wind turbine Enercon E40 emitted 250Hz - 2000Hz frequency sound. In the wind speed of 3 m/s wind turbine Enercon E70 was responsible for higher values of 12,5Hz - 63... [to full text]

Many potential small wind turbine locations are near obstacles such as buildings and shelterbelts, which can have a significant, detrimental effect on the local wind climate. This thesis describes the creation of a new model which can predict the wind speed, turbulence intensity, and wind power density at any point in an obstacle’s region of influence, relative to unsheltered conditions. Artificial neural networks were used to learn the relationship between an obstacle’s characteristics and its effects on the local wind. The neural network was trained using measurements collected in the wakes of scale models exposed to a simulated atmospheric boundary layer in a wind tunnel. A field experiment was conducted to validate the wind tunnel measurements. Model predictions are most accurate in the far wake region. The estimated mean uncertainties associated with model predictions of velocity deficit, power density deficit, and turbulence intensity excess are 5.0%, 15%, and 12.8%, respectively. / Industrial collaborators: Weather INnovations Inc., Wenvor Technologies Inc. / Ontario Centre of Excellence for Energy

Disertacijoje nagrinėjama triukšmo sklaidos nuo vėjo jėgainių problema. Pagrindiniai tyrimo objektai yra vėjo jėgainių parkų skleidžiamas triukšmas ir aplinkai nekenksmingos, cilindrinę struktūrą turinčios, žemo dažnio triukšmą slopinančios medžiagos. Darbe sprendžiami keli pagrindiniai uždaviniai: nustatomas ir įvertinamas žemo dažnio triukšmo ir infragarso susidarymas ir sklaida pramoninių vėjo jėgainių parkuose ir jų išorėje, taip pat nustatomos efektyvios gyvenviečių apsaugos priemonės nuo vėjo jėgainių keliamo žemo dažnio triukšmo. Disertaciją sudaro įvadas, trys skyriai, bendrosios išvados, rekomendacijos, naudotos literatūros ir autoriaus publikacijų disertacijos tema sąrašai. Įvadiniame skyriuje aptariama tiriamoji problema, darbo aktualumas, aprašomas tyrimų objektas, formuluojamas darbo tikslas bei uždaviniai, aprašoma tyrimų metodika, darbo mokslinis naujumas, darbo rezultatų praktinė reikšmė, ginamieji teiginiai. Įvado pabaigoje pristatomos disertacijos tema autoriaus paskelbtos publikacijos ir pranešimai konferencijose bei disertacijos struktūra. Pirmasis skyrius skirtas literatūros analizei. Jame pateikta vėjo jėgainių ir jų keliamo triukšmo apžvalga. Apžvelgtos vėjo energetikos būklė Lietuvoje, vėjo jėgainių konstrukcijos, vėjo jėgainių triukšmo formavimosi principas, triukšmo matavimo metodikos. Analizuojamos skleidžiamo aerodinaminio triukšmo mažinimo priemonės bei žemo dažnio triukšmo slopinimo būdai ir izoliuojančių medžiagų panaudojimas. Skyriaus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The dissertation examines the issue of noise emission from the wind farms. The objects of investigation are wind farm noise and environmentally friendly low-frequency noise-deadening materials with cylindrical structure. The paper addresses a number of key objectives: to determine and assess low frequency noise and infrasound emission and dispersion both inside and outside the industrial wind farms, as well as to establish effective measures for protection of settlements against low-frequency noise generated by wind turbines. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, conclusions, recommendations, list of references and the author's publications on the topics. The introductory chapter discusses the research problem, the relevance of the investigation, describes the object of the research, states the aims and objectives, presents the research methodology, scientific novelty, practical significance of the results, and the statements for defending. It also highlights practical significance of the dissertation presents the author's publications and presentations at conferences, and explains the structure of the thesis. The first chapter is devoted to literature review. It provides an overview of general problems related to wind and noise produced by wind turbines, an overview of the outlook on wind energy in Lithuania, and a discussion of wind turbine constructions. The chapter presents the analysis of aerodynamic noise emitted by means of low-frequency noise... [to full text]

The dissertation examines the issue of noise emission from the wind farms. The objects of investigation are wind farm noise and environmentally friendly low-frequency noise-deadening materials with cylindrical structure. The paper addresses a number of key objectives: to determine and assess low frequency noise and infrasound emission and dispersion both inside and outside the industrial wind farms, as well as to establish effective measures for protection of settlements against low-frequency noise generated by wind turbines. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, conclusions, recommendations, list of references and the author's publications on the topics. The introductory chapter discusses the research problem, the relevance of the investigation, describes the object of the research, states the aims and objectives, presents the research methodology, scientific novelty, practical significance of the results, and the statements for defending. It also highlights practical significance of the dissertation presents the author's publications and presentations at conferences, and explains the structure of the thesis. The first chapter is devoted to literature review. It provides an overview of general problems related to wind and noise produced by wind turbines, an overview of the outlook on wind energy in Lithuania, and a discussion of wind turbine constructions. The chapter presents the analysis of aerodynamic noise emitted by means of low-frequency noise... [to full text] / Disertacijoje nagrinėjama triukšmo sklaidos nuo vėjo jėgainių problema. Pagrindiniai tyrimo objektai yra vėjo jėgainių parkų skleidžiamas triukšmas ir aplinkai nekenksmingos, cilindrinę struktūrą turinčios, žemo dažnio triukšmą slopinančios medžiagos. Darbe sprendžiami keli pagrindiniai uždaviniai: nustatomas ir įvertinamas žemo dažnio triukšmo ir infragarso susidarymas ir sklaida pramoninių vėjo jėgainių parkuose ir jų išorėje, taip pat nustatomos efektyvios gyvenviečių apsaugos priemonės nuo vėjo jėgainių keliamo žemo dažnio triukšmo. Disertaciją sudaro įvadas, trys skyriai, bendrosios išvados, rekomendacijos, naudotos literatūros ir autoriaus publikacijų disertacijos tema sąrašai. Įvadiniame skyriuje aptariama tiriamoji problema, darbo aktualumas, aprašomas tyrimų objektas, formuluojamas darbo tikslas bei uždaviniai, aprašoma tyrimų metodika, darbo mokslinis naujumas, darbo rezultatų praktinė reikšmė, ginamieji teiginiai. Įvado pabaigoje pristatomos disertacijos tema autoriaus paskelbtos publikacijos ir pranešimai konferencijose bei disertacijos struktūra. Pirmasis skyrius skirtas literatūros analizei. Jame pateikta vėjo jėgainių ir jų keliamo triukšmo apžvalga. Apžvelgtos vėjo energetikos būklė Lietuvoje, vėjo jėgainių konstrukcijos, vėjo jėgainių triukšmo formavimosi principas, triukšmo matavimo metodikos. Analizuojamos skleidžiamo aerodinaminio triukšmo mažinimo priemonės bei žemo dažnio triukšmo slopinimo būdai ir izoliuojančių medžiagų panaudojimas. Skyriaus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

A wind turbine needs to be controlled to ensure its safe and optimal operation, especially during high wind speeds. The most common control objectives are to limit the power and rotational speed of the wind turbine by using pitch control. Aero Energy is a company based in Potchefstroom, South Africa, that has been developing and manufacturing wind turbine blades since 2000. Their most popular product is the AE1kW blades. The blades have a tendency to over-speed in high wind speeds and the cut-in wind speed must be improved. The objective of this study was to develop an active pitch control system for wind turbines. A prototype active pitch control system had to be developed for the AE1kW blades. The objectives of the control system are to protect the wind turbine from over-speeding and to improve start-up performance. An accurate model was firstly developed to predict a wind turbine’s performance with active pitch control. The active pitch control was implemented by means of a two-stage centrifugal governor. The governor uses negative or stalling pitch control. The first linear stage uses a soft spring to provide improved start-up performance. The second non-linear stage uses a hard spring to provide over-speed protection. The governor was manufactured and then tested with the AE1kW blades. The governor achieved both the control objectives of over-speed protection and improved start-up performance. The models were validated by the results. It was established that the two-stage centrifugal governor concept can be implemented on any wind turbine, provided the blades and tower are strong enough to handle the thrust forces associated with negative pitch control. It was recommended that an active pitch control system be developed that uses positive pitching for the over-speed protection, which will eliminate the large thrust forces. Keywords: pitch control, wind turbine, centrifugal governor, over-speed protection, cut-in wind speed, blade element-momentum theory, rotor, generator, stall, feathering. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.