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Brief history
Windmills have been around since the Middle Ages.
The first recorded evidence of windmills being used
for pumping water and grinding grain was in 7 AD in
Persia. Then China got a hold of the idea and it spread
to Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. The European
mill appears to have developed independently from
the others because the design is so different. The
predecessor to our modern windmill dates back to
France in 1105 and England in 1180. In the 14th
century, the Dutch took windmills to a whole new level
with their “tower” mills using canvas sails stretched
across four wooden lattice frames like a big X. Their
objective was moving enormous amounts of water
into higher basins and canals. By the end of the 16th
century thousands of windmills were pumping and
grinding in western Europe. By the late 19th century,
the count was 30,000—and, miraculously, there was
still enough wind to go around.
wind power
• The terms wind energy or wind power describe the process by which the
wind is used to generate mechanical power or electricity. Wind turbines
convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power. This
mechanical power can be used for specific tasks (such as grinding grain
or pumping water) or a generator can convert this mechanical power into
electricity.
• Anemometer:
• Measures the wind speed and transmits wind speed data to the controller.
• Blades:
• Most turbines have either two or three blades. Wind blowing over the blades causes the blades to "lift" and rotate.
• Brake:
• A disc brake, which can be applied mechanically, electrically, or hydraulically to stop the rotor in emergencies.
• Controller:
• The controller starts up the machine at wind speeds of about 8 to 16 miles per hour (mph) and shuts off the machine at
about 55 mph. Turbines do not operate at wind speeds above about 55 mph because they might be damaged by the
high winds.
• Gear box:
• Gears connect the low-speed shaft to the high-speed shaft and increase the rotational speeds from about 30 to 60
rotations per minute (rpm) to about 1000 to 1800 rpm, the rotational speed required by most generators to produce
electricity. The gear box is a costly (and heavy) part of the wind turbine and engineers are exploring "direct-drive"
generators that operate at lower rotational speeds and don't need gear boxes.
• Generator:
• Usually an off-the-shelf induction generator that produces 60-cycle AC electricity.
• High-speed shaft:
• Drives the generator.
• Low-speed shaft:
• The rotor turns the low-speed shaft at about 30 to 60 rotations per minute.
• Nacelle:
• The nacelle sits atop the tower and contains the gear box, low- and high-speed shafts, generator, controller, and brake.
Some nacelles are large enough for a helicopter to land on.
• Pitch:
• Blades are turned, or pitched, out of the wind to control the rotor speed and keep the rotor from turning in winds that
are too high or too low to produce electricity.
• Rotor:
• The blades and the hub together are called the rotor.
• Tower:
• Towers are made from tubular steel (shown here), concrete, or steel lattice. Because wind speed increases with height,
taller towers enable turbines to capture more energy and generate more electricity.
• Wind direction:
• This is an "upwind" turbine, so-called because it operates facing into the wind. Other turbines are designed to run
"downwind," facing away from the wind.
• Wind vane:
• Measures wind direction and communicates with the yaw drive to orient the turbine properly with respect to the wind.
• Yaw drive:
• Upwind turbines face into the wind; the yaw drive is used to keep the rotor facing into the wind as the wind direction
changes. Downwind turbines don't require a yaw drive, the wind blows the rotor downwind.
• Yaw motor:
• Powers the yaw drive
The most efficient
modern wind
machines have 2 or
3 blades like the
propeller of an
aircraft.
An electricity
generator is located
inside the head of
the machine.The
head also rotates to
keep the blades
pointed into the
wind.
•One design of a
modern windmill
has two curved
blades that spin on
a vertical axis
• strong cables act
as “guy ropes” to
anchor the mill and
keep it upright.
Horizont al -ax is
• Most wind machines being used today are the
horizontal-axis type.
• Horizontal-axis wind machines have blades like
airplane propellers .
• A typical horizontal wind machine stands as tall
as a 20-story building and has three blades that
span 200 feet across.
• The largest wind machines in the world have
blades longer than a football field! Wind
machines stand tall and wide to capture more
wind
Vertical-axis
• Vertical–axis wind machines have
blades that go from top to bottom
and the most common type
(Darrieus wind turbine) looks like a
giant two-bladed egg beaters.
• The type of vertical wind machine
typically stands 100 feet tall and 50
feet wide.
• Vertical-axis wind machines make
up only a very small percent of the
wind machines used today.
•High Torque
•Low Velocity
•High Solidity
•Water Pumping
•High Velocity
•Low Torque
•Low Solidity
•Electricity
• Materials
• Raw Materials
• Windmills can be made with a variety of materials. Post mills are made almost
entirely of wood. A lightweight wood, like balsa wood, is used for the fan blades
and a stronger, heavier wood is used for the rest of the structure. The wood is
coated with paint or a resin to protect it from the outside environment. The smock
and tower mills, built by the Dutch and British prior to the twentieth century, use
many of the same materials used for the construction of houses including wood,
bricks and stones.
• The main body of the fan-type mills is made with galvanized steel. This process of
treating steel makes it weather resistant and strong. The blades of the fan are
made with a lightweight, galvanized steel or aluminum.
• One of the strongest and stiffest construction materials available for wind turbine
blades is carbon-fibre in an epoxy resin matrix. However, this is very expensive
and can only be used by some blade manufactures for highly loaded parts of the
rotor blades - when stiffness is critical. Modern rotor blades (up to 126 m (413 ft)
diameter) are made of lightweight glass reinforced plastic (GRP) with an epoxy or
polyester resin matrix. Smaller blades can sometimes be made from aluminum
however GRP is the most common material for modern wind turbine blades. In
sum, wind turbine blades can be made from a wide variety of materials, though
some are more effective than others.
• Wood and canvas sails were originally used on early windmills due to being cheap
and easily manufactured. Unfortunately, they require much maintenance over their
service life. Also, they have a relatively high drag (low aerodynamic efficiency) for
the force they capture. For these reasons they were superseded with solid airfoils.
Disadvantages
Advantages
Wind is free, meaning that wind farms need
no fuel.
It produce no waste or greenhouse gases,
making them great for the environment.
Wind is also a renewable resource; therefore
it won’t run out like coal or other fossil fuels.
Wind farms can also be tourist attractions,
generating more revenue that way, and
helping the wind farm out.
Wind power is also quite useful for supplying
power to remote areas, meaning it can go
where other power sources cannot.
Wind farms are also quite useful in the fact
that the land under the wind towers can still
be used for farming.
disadvantages
• They include the unpredictable behavior
of wind.
• The unsightliness of the wind towers.
• Birds are sometimes killed in the blades.