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Applied Energy
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a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 7 July 2008
Received in revised form 7 December 2008
Accepted 12 December 2008
Available online 1 February 2009
Keywords:
Renewable energy
Wind turbine generator
Variable pitch control
Field current control
a b s t r a c t
A prototype 3 kW horizontal upwind type wind turbine generator of 4 m in diameter has been designed
and examined under real wind conditions. The machine was designed based on the concept that even
small wind turbines should have a variable pitch control system just as large wind turbines, especially
in Japan where typhoons occur at least once a year. A characteristic of the machine is the use of a worm
and gear system with a stepping motor installed in the center of the hub, and the rotational main shaft.
The machine is constructed with no mechanical breaking system so as to avoid damage from strong
winds. In a storm, the wind turbine is slowed down by adjusting the pitch angle and the maximum electrical load. Usually the machine is controlled at several stages depending on the rotational speed of the
blades. Two control methods have been applied: the variable pitch angle, and regulation of the generator
eld current. The characteristics of the generator under each rotational speed and eld current are rst
investigated in the laboratory. This paper describes the performances of the wind turbine in terms of the
functions of wind turbine rotational speed, generated outputs, and its stability for wind speed changes.
The expected performances of the machine have been conrmed under real wind conditions and compared with numerical simulation results. The wind turbine showed a power coefcient of 0.257 under
the average wind speed of 7.3 m/s.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The Southwest Islands of Japan have abundant wind energy resources because the monsoon blows as a result of the inclination of
atmospheric pressure between the Eurasia Continent and the Pacic Ocean. It blows from the southwest in summer and from the
northeast in winter along the Southwest Islands. Moreover, tempestuous gust winds or strong winds such as typhoons blow at
least once per annum and often damage crops, buildings, infrastructure, etc. This is one of the reasons for the small number of
wind turbines introduced in these areas so far.
Today, wind power resources are expected to work for the
reduction of greenhouse effect gasses and energy security problems all over the world. A wind turbine system is a system that
converts the turbines mechanical energy obtained from wind into
electrical energy through a generator, and can be categorized by
the types of generators used, power control methods, and constant- or variable-speed operation. The technology of wind turbine
generators is mostly seen in larger scale turbines and offshore
wind farms [1]. The largest output of a generator has exceeded ve
MW. On the other hand, remote islands where small populations
kazumasa@tec.
0306-2619/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2008.12.018
live usually have very small electric utility capacity and very
high-cost electricity generation from fossil oil fuel generators.
Therefore, it is important to develop small wind turbine generators
which are safe enough and easy to run in individual houses and on
farms for self-sufciency and independent power production. For
example, the authors have installed a hybrid wind power and photovoltaic generation system on Minami Daitou Island [2]. The 1 kW
wind turbine, 1.2 kW photovoltaic and 500 Ah battery system are
estimated to be able to pump enough water to irrigate a one hectare (10,000 m2) sugar cane farm during a drought.
Usually, small wind turbines with a rated power of less than
10 kW have been developed for battery charge, most having pitch
xed type blades and some having the rotational surface of the
blades which can be furled upward or side wards to prevent over
rotation under strong winds. However, these control systems seem
to be unsuitable for the turbulent wind areas of East Asia including
the Southwest Islands of Japan. In such windy areas, even small
wind turbine generators need a variable pitch control system like
middle and large wind turbine generators.
Pitch control systems have been studied extensively in the literature (e.g. [3,4]). Initially, the purpose was to keep a constant rotational speed and electrical output under a higher wind speed
range. Recently one additional purpose is to reduce load using individual pitch control systems in large wind turbines [57]. Pitch
control systems are widely used and usually applied to large wind
turbines, but not so often to small wind turbines.
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Nomenclature
cp
cpb
cq
Ego
fr
If
J
K
N
Pg
Qb
In this paper, the design of a prototype 3 kW wind turbine generator with a variable pitch control system and the performance
aspects of the machine, namely, the wind turbine rotational speed,
pitch angle, generated outputs as well as its stability for wind
speed changes are described.
2. Outline of wind turbine generator system
2.1. Small wind turbine generator
The prototype wind turbine was designed for anyone to be able
to use easily and stop safely using an automatic variable pitch control system during gusts, which often come unexpectedly.
Table 1 and Fig. 1 show the specications and outline of the prototype wind turbine generator. The prototype is a 4 m diameter,
horizontal, upwind wind turbine with a power rating of 3 kW, with
a free yaw and three variable pitch blades. The rotational center of
each turbine blade is 5.7 m above the roof of a ve-storied building. The main shaft is set on the tower tilting upwards approximately 3. The tower pole can be laid down for maintenance by a
Table 1
Specications of 3 kW wind turbine generator.
Type
Horizontal, up-wind
No. of blades
Rated outputs
Rotational speed
Tip speed ratio
Solidity
Airfoil
Yaw control
3
3 kW
315 rpm (at 11 m/s)
6
0.05
NACA4418
Free yaw
Qg
R
RL.R
V
Xa
gg
gm
h
k
q
x
X
generator torque
radius of rotor blades
load resistance
wind speed
reactance
generator efciency
mechanical efciency
pitch angle of rotor blade
tip speed ratio (TSR)
air density
generator angular speed
wind turbine rotor angular speed
hand winch and eight tension wires. After the length of tension
wires are adjusted, it is very easy to lay down and raise the tower
pole. The three blades using NACA4418 airfoil are designed with a
tip speed ratio of 6 and solidity 0.05 using the blade element
momentum theory [8] and each blade tapers straight and twists
appropriately to catch a good wind along the axis of the blades.
Each blade was made of glass ber reinforced plastic (GFRP) and
is about 5.3 kg in mass.
The yaw control system is a passive free yaw with a movable
tail. The tail can move left and right upward to the nacelle with a
tilting pin joint which maintains the centerline through gravitational force on the tail. When the wind direction changes suddenly,
the tail moves rst, then the whole nacelle axis moves slowly to
the wind direction.
Fig. 2 shows details of the nacelle. The nacelle is structured from
the front; a blade hub, a main shaft composed of a stepping motor
with slip rings, a gearbox (CNH-4115-11, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.), and a synchronous generator (SG3000, Sawafuji Electric
Co., Ltd.). In the gearbox, the blade rotational speeds increase at the
ratio of 11:1 times, that is, the rated wind turbine rotational speed
is 315 rpm at the blade hub and about 3500 rpm at the generator.
Because it is extremely dangerous for the turbine to be standing in
a xed position under turbulent conditions, the wind turbine has
no mechanical breaking system to elude strong winds. In a storm
the rotational speeds of the blades are slowed down by changes
of the pitch angle along with the maximum electrical load. Then,
the machine eludes strong wind forces by use of only the feathering control. The total nacelle weight is about 185 kg in mass
including three blades and it is lighter than a manufacturers
1776
Ltd.) measures rotational speeds of the main shaft using a tachometer (MP981, Ono Sokki Co., Ltd.) on the gearbox for the controls.
For the blade pitch control, the computer sends signals to a pulse
generator of the motor driver, and the stepping motor then obtains
signals through the slip rings. Each signal of the pitch controller
consists of 8333 pulses to the motor driver and changes 3 of the
blade pitch angle, which is one step of the control. The rated pulse
speed is 25,000 pulses per second, so a pitch angle command of one
step can be completed within 1 s. The computer memorizes the
present pitch angle. For the generation control, the computer sends
signals to the eld current controller. The generation controller
supplies eld current from 0 to 3 A at approximately 0.1 A steps.
Both controllers can also be operated manually for maintenance
purposes.
During the experiment, eight items were measured at one-second intervals and averaged over a period of 1 h. These were, wind
direction, wind speed, generated current and voltage, eld current
and voltage, rotational speed of the turbine and limit switch conditions. Wind direction is taken from the anemometer chart. Wind
speed, each electric current, and voltage are taken into the computer through an A/D converter. Two limit switch signals are taken
in the computer through an I/O interface.
3. Theoretical analysis
The performance of the wind turbine was analyzed before
experimentation using the blade element momentum (BEM) theory. The BEM theory is based on the Glauert propeller theory and
applied to wind turbine models. The BEM theory offers the possi-
Fig. 5. Relationship between blade torque coefcient and tip speed ratio.
bility to perform uid dynamics design of rotor blades and to evaluate wind turbine performance over a wide range of wind speeds.
In recent years the BEM theory has been modied to provide
increasingly accurate results [9]. However, we use the BEM theory
under simple conditions; non-tip-loss and non-rotational-effect
with measurements of two-dimensional airfoil lift and drag coefcients of NACA4418 airfoil at angles of attack from 21 to 60
[10].
Fig. 5 shows the relationship between blade torque coefcient
cq and tip speed ratio k with blade pitch angles h from 5 to 29.
In this gure, to show the effect of the blade torque coefcient,
the step of changing in pitch angle is decided as 3. As the pitch angle increases, the maximum torque coefcient cq becomes smaller,
but the slope of the cq curves with respect to the tip speed ratio becomes steep. The maximum torque coefcient is 0.077 to tip speed
ratio of 4.5 at 5 of pitch angle.
Fig. 6 shows the relationship between blade power coefcient
cpb and tip speed ratio k. From this gure, the maximum power
coefcient cpb is 0.38 at a tip speed ratio of 6.5. As a result of the
analysis, we determined step control angles of 3 increments within a range of 529. Both gures also show the maximum tip speed
ratio at no load condition that is called runaway condition. The
runaway tip speed ratio of 14 became larger than two times that
of the rated tip speed ratio of 6 for 5 of pitch angle.
1777
Ego K If x
Fig. 8. Relationship between the generated voltage in an open circuit and the eld
current.
Fig. 9. Relationship between the generated output and the rotational speed at 4 X
load.
RL:R:
I2f x2
Pg K 2
2
2
RL:R: X a
Fig. 6. Relationship between blade power coefcient and tip speed ratio.
Here, a reactance Xa was conrmed almost proportional to the generator angular speed and the proportionality of 0.0178 was decided
by the experiments. The main coil resistance of 0.08 X is smaller
than the load resistance RL.R. of 4 X and thus omitted from the equation. From this gure, it is clear that the theory line ts well with
measuring points.
As described in the following chapter, to match the turbines
output with the generator output, the generation controller uses
1778
PID control and supplies eld current depending on the instantaneous wind turbine rotational speed changes.
5. Control method
For the generation controller, it is necessary to consider the
capacity of the generator. The variance of wind turbine rotational
speed to wind speed changes has been analyzed including the
capacity of the generator. Generated output of the turbine is given
by the following equation
1
qV 3 pR2 cp
2
cp gm gg cpb
Pg
3
4
Fig. 10. Relationship between wind turbine rotational speed and wind speed.
1779
Fig. 14. Relationship between generator output and wind turbine rotational speed.
Fig. 15. Relationship between tip speed ratio and wind speed.
Fig. 13. Measured data at xed pitch angle of 11(2002.1.25 18:0019:00, SE).
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Table 2
Experimental results with automatic control program (2002.3.1314).
Date 3/1314
Output (W)
cp
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
00:00
01:00
02:00
03:00
04:00
05:00
06:00
7.2
7.3
7.5
7.2
7.6
7.0
7.4
6.8
6.4
6.0
5.2
5.6
5.9
6.7
7.6
8.2 (max 15.1)
93
177
175
167
182
162
171
158
159
121
40
23
38
76
139
62 (max 558)
307
768
699
576
750
539
631
573
488
289
33
25
41
174
761
392
0.105
0.257
0.212
0.203
0.218
0.204
0.202
0.234
0.236
0.171
0.030
0.019
0.025
0.076
0.229
0.093
Fig. 16. Measured data with automatic control program (2002.3.13 16:0017:00, E).
Table 3
Constant parameter values.
Air density q
1.225 kg/m3
Inertia moment J
Generator efciency gg
15 kg m2
0.6
Table 4
Simulation results changing friction coefcient fr.
fr
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
Outputs Pg (W)
Ave.
Max
Ave.
Max
827
798
769
738
709
683
3232
3138
2976
2814
2642
2585
196
194
192
189
186
184
327
320
315
313
310
307
1781
dX
Q b Q g fr X
dt
1
Q b qV 2 pR3 cq
2
Pg
Qg
J
gg X
Fig. 18. Numerical simulation results using wind speed data of Fig. 16.
5
6
7
1782
Where, blade torque Qb in Eq. (6) was calculated by using Fig. 5 and
generator torque Qg in Eq. (7) was calculated by using Eq. (2). Characteristic data about the wind turbine system used in this work are
given in the Table 3. This simulation program calculated the wind
turbine performance using measured wind data.
The simulation program calculated each case of the friction
coefcient fr from 0 to 0.5 through the step 0.1 using measured
wind speed data of Fig. 16. The results were shown in Table 4.
Fig. 18 shows the numerical simulation results at the friction coefcient fr of 0.2. As compared with Fig. 16, it is shown that the average output and wind turbine rotational speed are almost the same
as the experimental data when the friction coefcient fr was identied as 0.2.
(4) The wind turbine has experienced several typhoons and suffered little damage because of free rotation condition using a
feathering pitch angle.
(5) To compare simulation results and experiment results under
real wind conditions, the parameters of the wind turbine
system were identied. It is possible to easily simulate wind
turbine performances under any wind condition.
The authors are now attempting to improve the control program using a simulation program under wind conditions that include typhoons or gusts and will then apply it to the wind
turbine under real wind conditions.
Acknowledgements
8. Conclusions
The prototype 3 kW wind turbine generator with variable pitch
control system has been designed and constructed. A characteristic
of the machine is the pitch control system with stepping motor and
worm gear system. The wind turbine generator has been controlled
by both a generation controller and a pitch angle controller like
large wind turbines, but it is very difcult to maintain a constant
rotational speed of the turbine because of the small inertia moment which causes the rotational speed to vary following the wind
uctuation. The characteristics of the wind turbine were analyzed
using BEM theory and the performance of the generator was conrmed by the test equipment, and examined under real wind conditions. The results are
(1) As a result of the BEM theory analysis, the design pitch angle
with NACA4418 airfoil blades was decided 5 at and the unit
control pitch angle at 3 within a range of 529.
(2) Using the equations of wind turbine performance and generator performance, the relationship between wind turbine
rotational speed and wind speed has been calculated and
the characteristic of the higher wind turbine rotational
speed range has been shown.
(3) The automatically controlled wind turbine showed a maximum average power coefcient of 0.257 under an average
wind speed of 7.3 m/s.
The authors would like to express thanks to Y. Sakei and T. Yamada who were graduate students at Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering of University of the Ryukyus for their supporting
in this work.
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