Introduction to

DESIGN OF WIND POWER GENERATING STATIONS

presented to ME 195-3 Senior Design Projects Class Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering San Jose State University by Tai-Ran Hsu, Professor on October 28, 2009

Overview of Wind Power Station

A Promising Fast Growing Clean Power Source

121.2 GW = 1.5% worldwide electricity Total solar PV power generation = 6 GW in 2008

Source: Wikipedia 2009

The Top Ten Wind Power Producing Countries in the World 2008
P ow er G eneration (M W ) 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0
ai n ina dia UK De A ly ce Fr an nm rm ar k rt u ga l Po US an y Ch Sp In I ta

Ge

Countries

Source: Wikipedia 2009

Wind Industry Growth Trends

Larger multi-MW turbines Demand for new innovative technologies Led by Europeans Offshore & low wind regime focus in U.S.

Altamont Region 10 m, 26 ft 0.15 MW

Large Wind Turbines

450 base to blade Each blade 112 Span greater than 747 163+ tons total Foundation 20+ feet deep Rated at 1.5 5 megawatt Supply at least 350 homes

Wind 2030
A goal set by US Department of Energy in July 2008:

20% of US electricity generation by wind energy by Year 2030

Total US electricity generation in 2005 was 4017 GW

Major Components in Wind Power Plants

WIND

Wind Turbogenerator
Wind Turbine Gear Box Electric Generator

Horizontal axis wind turbine

Power Electronics Vertical axis wind turbine

Power Storage
Batteries Capacitor banks Grid power system Pumped water Flywheel Thermal Superconducting magnetic

Design of Wind Power Station

Major Tasks in Design and Construction of Wind Power Generating Stations

A. Site selection B. Local wind resource survey C. Selection of wind turbogenerators or wind farm with multiple wind turbines D. Power transmission and storage E. Public safety and liability F. Environmental impacts wildlife protections G. Construction of power generating stations

A. Site Selection
Possible sites:

Flat Plain

Hill tops

Rooftops of (high rise) buildings and structures

Offshore In North Sea

Site Visits:
The purpose of site visits is to look for the following facts: Available open space for wind power generating station Consistently bent trees and vegetation as a sure sign of strong winds. Accessibility for construction, monitoring and maintenances, and power transmission Check for potential site constraints: Competing land uses Permission for the wind plant or its transmission lines, Probable local land owners resistance to selling the necessary land and easements. Availability of possible location for a wind monitoring station.

B. Wind Resource Survey - A major task in wind power generating station design
Wind contains energy that can be converted to electricity using wind turbines The amount of electricity that wind turbines produce depends upon the amount of energy in the wind passing through the area swept by the wind turbine blades in a unit of time. Wind resource is expressed in terms of the wind power density and wind speed in the locality Wind Power Density is a useful way to evaluate the wind resource available at a potential site. The wind power density, measured in watts per square meter, indicates how much energy is available at the site for conversion by a wind turbine Viable wind speed for power generation: Minimum threshold speed: 4 m/s Viable speed: 11 m/s

Average World Wind Energy Resources

(wind velocity at m/s)

 Wind resource in various parts of USA is available from US Geological survey

Wind speed in SF Bay Area (m/s): 5.0 -5.5 5.5 -6.0 6.0 -6.5 6.5 -7.0

Wind velocity Why it is important?

Wind power generation:

W AV 3

Wind Power vs. Wind Speed:

2500 Power/Area (W/m^2) 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 5 10 Wind Speed (m/s) 15 20

High power output is possible with: High tower for higher wind speed Long blades for large swept area

Classes of Wind Power Density at 10 m and 50 m - for evaluation

10 m (33 ft) 50 m (164 ft)

Wind Power Class 1 2 3

Wind Power Density (W/m2) <100 100 - 150 150 - 200 200 - 250 250 - 300 300 - 400 >400

Speed(b) m/s (mph)

Wind Power Density (W/m2) <200 200 - 300 300 - 400 400 - 500 500 - 600 600 - 800 >800

Speed(b) m/s (mph)

<4.4 (9.8) 4.4 (9.8)/5.1 (11.5) 5.1 (11.5)/5.6 (12.5) 5.6 (12.5)/6.0 (13.4) 6.0 (13.4)/6.4 (14.3) 6.4 (14.3)/7.0 (15.7) >7.0 (15.7)

<5.6 (12.5) 5.6 (12.5)/6.4 (14.3) 6.4 (14.3)/7.0 (15.7) 7.0 (15.7)/7.5 (16.8) 7.5 (16.8)/8.0 (17.9) 8.0 (17.9)/8.8 (19.7) >8.8 (19.7)

Preferred for large scale wind power stations

4 5 6 7

(a) Vertical extrapolation of wind speed based on the 1/7 power law (b) Mean wind speed is based on the Rayleigh speed distribution of equivalent wind power density. Wind speed is for standard sea-level conditions. To maintain the same power density, speed increases 3%/1000 m (5%/5000 ft) of elevation. (from the Battelle Wind Energy Resource Atlas)

Available Wind Energy Density and Wind Speed

Distribution of wind speed (red) and energy (blue) for all of 2002 at the Lee Ranch facility in Colorado (Ref: Wikipedia 2009)

2500 Power/Area (W/m^2) 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 5 10 Wind Speed (m/s) 15 20

Wind speed increases with the height (altitude)

Reason for high tower for wind turbine Formula for extrapolation:

z v ( z ) = v ( z o ) z o

where

v vo n= z ln zo ln
ground cover smooth surface ocean, sand low grass or fallow ground high grass or low row crops tall row crops or low woods high woods with many trees suburbs, small towns n 0.1 0.16 0.18 0.2 0.3

v(z) = Extrapolated wind velocity at elevation z v(zo) = measured wind velocity at elevation zo n = wind shear factor
Extrapolated wind velocity measured at IBM-ARC site By SJSU student team in 2009

Wind speed measurements:

Conduct wind resource survey on specific site using tower with anemometers : for measuring wind speed:

Wind vane

Cup anemometers

Data logger Thermal sensor

Data logger by solar power

Wind profile measured by Sodar transmitters using Doppler effects associate with the shift of the frequencies of the acoustical waves of the transmitted and received at various altitude in the atmosphere. Sodar units manufactured by Atmospheric Systems Corporation (ASC) can detect wind profile from 15 to 250m in elevation using acoustic waves at 4-6 kHz frequencies.

Intermittent Nature of Wind Power

Wind power varies randomly in: (a) time of the days, (b) months of the year, (c) by the years
January 6, 2005 California Wind Generation
TOTAL 400 Load, MW 34000

350

32000

300

250 28000 MW 200 26000 150 24000 100 22000

50

0 0:00:00 1:00:00 2:00:00 3:00:00 4:00:00 5:00:00 6:00:00 7:00:00 8:00:00 9:00:00 10:00:00 11:00:00 12:00:00 13:00:00 14:00:00 15:00:00 16:00:00 17:00:00 18:00:00 19:00:00 20:00:00 21:00:00 22:00:00 23:00:00

20000

Hours in the Day

Watts

30000

Required wind energy resource data for wind power generating station design:
Average Wind Speed, m/s
Hours of the Day

Wind speed, m/s

Month of the Year

Wind Energy on a Selected Site

C. General Design Parameters for Wind Power Generating Station Design

Principal selection criteria of wind turbogenerators: The available wind energy on the site Site visit findings Other considerations:

Input Variables
Average annual wind speed Total available wind energy on the site Capital investment Suitable wind turbine types Fixed or variable speed wind turbine Blade coefficients of lift and drag at each wind speed Gear box efficiency Generator efficiency Power electronics efficiency

Output-side
Optimal rotor diameter Optimal generator capacity Optimal RPM of rotor Optimal blade angle at each wind speed Torque on gear box at each wind speed Power produced at each wind speed Maximum total annual energy production

(Ref: Wind Turbine Design Optimization, Michael Schmidt, Strategic Energy Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology, www.energy.gatech.edu)

Available Wind power on the Site:

Annual Wind Energy on a Selected Site

Wind power by the turbine: 1 P = AV 3 (cb ) kW 2

where = mass density, kg/m3 A = rotor swept area, m2 V = wind speed, m/s Cb = Betz limit < 0.59

cb

( 1 + Vr )(1 Vr2 ) =
2

with Vr = Vout/Vin

Rotor selection:
% of Available wind energy captured
100%

Variable speed rotor

Fixed speed rotor

9 10 m/s

Wind speed

Selection of Wind Turbogenerator

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Horizontal Wind Turbines

Advantages: 1) Variable blade pitch, which gives the turbine blades the optimum angle of attack. Allowing the angle of attack to be remotely adjusted gives greater control, so the turbine collects the maximum amount of wind energy for the time of day and season. 2) The tall tower base allows access to stronger wind in sites with wind shear. In some wind shear sites, every ten meters up, the wind speed can increase by 20% and the power output by 34%. Disadvantages: 1) HAWTs have difficulty operating in near ground because of turbulent winds. 2) The tall towers and blades up to 90 meters long are difficult to transport. Transportation can now cost 20% of equipment costs. 3) Tall HAWTs are difficult to install, needing very tall and expensive cranes and skilled operators. 4) Massive tower construction is required to support the heavy blades, gearbox, and generator. 5) Tall HAWTs may affect airport radar. 6) Their height makes them obtrusively visible across large areas, disrupting the appearance of the landscape and sometimes creating local opposition. 7) Downwind variants suffer from fatigue and structural failure caused by turbulence. 8) HAWTs require an additional yaw control mechanism to turn the blades toward the wind.

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Advantages: 1) Does not need to be pointed into the wind to be effective 2) The generator and gear box can be placed near ground no need to be supported by a tower, and for easy maintenance 3) Does not need a yaw mechanism to turn the rotor against the wind Disadvantages: 1) Difficult to be mounted on a tower. So it is almost all installed on the ground - low wind speed in low attitude with low efficiency 2) Air flow near ground level with high turbulence - cause excessive vibration, noise and bearing wear a serious maintenance problem 3) May need guy wires to hold the turbine vertical guy wires are not practical solutions 4) Major load on thrust bearings need frequent replacement not an easy job Unique advantages: 1) More suited for roof-top installation 2) Optimum height of turbine 50% of building height

Design of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

Rotor & Blades Basic Structure:

The rotor typically has three blades. Blade diameter can be as large as 40 m The nacelle yaws or rotates to keep the turbine faced into the wind The nacelle also houses the gear box and generator

Hub

Nacelle

Tower
Controls, Transformer and Power Electronics

Interior of a Nacelle

Design of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

Odd number of rotor blades (= 3, the optimum number from aerodynamics principle) A large rotor captures more energy but cost more Blades have slight twist optimized to capture the max. amount of wind power The power captured by a horizontal axis wind turbine is:

where

1 W = AV 3 cp 2

The coefficient cp is:

= mass density of air A = rotor swept area V = wind velocity cp = coefficient relating to efficiency

cp =

Vout 1 + V in

Vout V 1 in 2

= 16 = 0.592 = Betz limit 27 meaning the efficiency of HAWT

cannot exceed 59%

Other design considerations:

1) Synchronous or asynchronous electric generator 2) Fixed speed or variable speed 3) A large rotor-to-generator ratio captures more energy at low wind speeds 4) A small rotor-to-generator ratio captures more energy at high wind speed 5) So, this ratio must be optimized for site specific wind speed distribution 6) The variable speed captures more energy at almost all wind speeds. - cost more in hardware and power electronics control system

Mechanical Engineering Design of Wind Power Generating Station Performance Design Structural Design

Performance Design
Design Objectives:
Design for maximum LIFT and minimum drag for the airfoil cross-section of the turbine blades using aerodynamics principle Design the yaw mechanism that provides fast response to change of wind direction using mecahtronics principle

Lift & Drag Forces

The Lift Force is perpendicular to the direction of motion. We want to make this force BIG. = low

= medium <10 degrees

The Drag Force is parallel to the direction of motion. We want to make this force small.

= High Stall!!

Airfoil Shape
Just like the wings of an airplane, wind turbine blades use the airfoil shape to create lift and maximize efficiency.

Tip-Speed Ratio
Tip-speed ratio is the ratio of the speed of the rotating blade tip to the speed of the free stream wind. There is an optimum angle of attack which creates the highest lift to drag ratio. Because angle of attack is dependant on wind speed, there is an optimum tip-speed ratio
R

Where,

R TSR = V

= rotational speed in radians /sec R = Rotor Radius V = Wind Free Stream Velocity

PerformanceOverRangeofTip SpeedRatios
PowerCoefficientVarieswithTipSpeedRatio CharacterizedbyCpvs TipSpeedRatioCurve
0.4 Cp 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0 2 4 6 8 Tip Speed Ratio 10 12

Wind Turbine Structural Design

Loading
STATIC LOADING Constant in time, e.g. weight CYCLIC LOADING Structural vibration induced STOAHASTIC LOADING Load varying with time e.g. aerodynamic induced loading with varying wind velocity DYNAMIC LOADING Inertia forces induced by varying rotor speed, and Coriolis forces.

Common Structural Failure Modes

Over-stress Stress concentration near abrupt geometry change areas Vibration-induced fatigue failure Failure due to resonant vibration

Loading on Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

A. Loading on Blades Aerodynamic load: Intermittent with varying magnitudes along the blade length stochastic loads Lift forces for bending Drag forces for torsion Centrifugal forces from rotation at high speed Gravitation load in large blades B. Loading on Rotor Weight of blades bending Aerodynamic forces on blades bending Coriolis force axial thrust Centrifugal forces on blades bending Electromagnetic forces by the generator torsion vibration Yaw forces bending C. Loading on Main Shaft Weight of blades shear Electromagnetic force of generator torsion vibration TOWER ROTOR MAIN SHAFT

BLADES

D. Loading on Tower Uneven centrifugal forces

Aerodynamic forces

Cyclic tension/compression

Aerodynamic forces

Intermittent bending

Uneven centrifugal forces Rotor weights Intermittent shearing

Loading on Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Stochastic aerodynamic loading cyclic bending & torsion

Weights buckling Friction wear

DESIGN ANALYSIS
Componenets Geometry & Dimensions CAD Aerodynamic analysis
Flow patterns Fluid-induced forces Lift/drag coefficients

Solid models

Material handbook Lab test data Material Characterization Phenominological Models Fatigue Safe/Fail? Over-stress Resonant vibration (e.g., fatigue failure models)

CFD Analysis
Fluid-induced forces

Other Input Loads

Stress Analysis using FEM

Fatigue Failure of Wind Turbine Blades by Cyclic Stresses: max min max + min Stress range: r = max min = Stress amplitude : a = Mean stress: m 2
2

Fluctuating stress Sinusoidal fluctuating stress

Non-sinusoidal fluctuating stress

Repeated stress

Non-fluctuating sinusoidal stress

Completely reversed sinusoidal stress

Typical Fatigue (S-N) Curves for Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals

(Laboratory Test Data for Specific Materials)

Note: Calculated stress can be: m, or a, or r

D. Power Transmission and Storage

Two Major Cost Factors of Wind Power: Power transmission involves hundreds miles of transmission from power generating stations to the consumers. Transmission often require over rugged terrains or over waters. Power storage wind power is intermiitent in nature, There is rarely matching between the time of power generations and that of the needs for power
January 6, 2005 California Wind Generation
TOTAL 400 Load, MW 34000

350

Wind Power

32000

300 30000 250 28000 MW 200 26000 150 24000 100 22000

50

0 0:00:00 1:00:00 2:00:00 3:00:00 4:00:00 5:00:00 6:00:00 7:00:00 8:00:00 9:00:00 10:00:00 11:00:00 12:00:00 13:00:00 14:00:00 15:00:00 16:00:00 17:00:00 18:00:00 19:00:00 20:00:00 21:00:00 22:00:00 23:00:00

20000

Mid-day Peak needs by business & industry

Power storage systems are essential parts of wind power generation

A Pumped-Storage Plant
Generated wind power is used to pump water to a higher elevation for energy storage The high elevation water is released to drive hydraulic turbogenerator to generate electricity to consumers when power is needed

A Viable Energy Storage System

- Net metering with local utility power generator

Excess energy fed to the grid for credit Customers Distribution Panel

To and from utility, e.g. PG&E

Synchronous Inverter

Utility Meter

Power generator and user

IBM-ARC Campus
Additional power requirements satisfied by the utility

Most utility generators impose limit on how much power may be swapped with the generators a major design consideration

E. Environmental Impact Study

Environmental impacts by wind power generation are minor in comparison to other means of power generations. Major concerns are: Noise and vibration Avian/Bat mortality Avian fatality < 1 in 10,000 Visual impacts shadow flicker

Construction of Wind Power Stations

Turbine blade convoy passing through Edenfield in the UK

Construction sites

Principal References
Rand, Joseph Wind Turbine Blade Design, joe@kidwind.org Ragheb, M. Dynamics and Structural Loading in Wind Turbines Wind turbine Design, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wki/wind_turbine_design Schmidt, Michael Wind Turbine Design Optimization, www.energy.gatech.edu Basic Principles of Wind Resource Evaluation, http://www.awea.org/faq/basicwr.html Mechanical Engineering Systems Design, Printed lecture notes by T.R. Hsu, San Jose State Unvierasity San Jose, California, USA