Materials Science for Sustainable Energy

L11 Energy Sources: Wind Energy

Course plan
Basic concepts of energy and thermodynamics Fossil fuels Climate change Energy sources
Nuclear energy Geothermal energy

Renewable energy sources

Water Wind Biomass Solar energy Energy storage and transport Energy efficiency

Sustainable Energy Sources

Nuclear energy Geothermal energy (water heating) Water energy Wind energy Biomass energy Solar energy
Solar heating Photovoltaic

Wind energy
Energy from the wind is derived largely from solar radiation

Wind speed (mph)

The Coastal areas are windier than inland areas.

Scale of wind speed

Wind power duration

Annual wind cycle

Daily wind cycle

US wind electricity potential

Southerly winds blowing north through Texas to North Dakota.

Wind power V3

Air density: = 1.201 kg/m3 Sea level Standard Temperature Standard Pressure

Extracted power: Betz law

V2/V1 = 1/3 For Max. power transfer

Only a fraction of the total theoretical power available in the wind is extractable! Even with ideal wind energy conversion, the maximum power transferrable is only 0.593 of the total power in the wind.

Ideal wind machines

A large circular swept area must be used to generate any useful amount of power. For example, in a 10 mph wind, which is a light breeze, a swept area of 25 ft diameter would only realize the maximum theoretical value of 1.5 kW.

Practical power extraction

Power coefficient: Cp = 0.4 67% of theoretical value

Power coefficient to account for various losses Air drag on the blades and friction of the air on the blades Rotor causing swirling of the air, which reduces the torque imparted to the blade A propeller type of wind turbine Only start up at a certain minimum wind speed (~8 mph).

Annual energy production

For a turbine whose swept area with a diameter D meters mounted directly onto a generator shaft

Both the large size of swept area and the high wind speed needed in order to generate large amounts of power!

Tip-speed ratio
In order to express the power coefficient in terms of both the upstream wind velocity V and the blade rotational velocity = /r

Good design requires that the maximum Cpm occur near to the rated value of rotational speed. = 2n/60, n (rpm)

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Power coefficient of wind turbines

Result in highest power coefficient!

Solidity Factor
Defined as the total blade area of the rotor divided by the swept area normal to the wind.
A large area of wind to be intercepted by a small area of blade low solidity factor

For the purpose of electricity generation

Use low solidity machines such as the twoblade propeller in order to utilize high operational speeds and achieve high values of power coefficient.

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Mechanical stress on wind turbine

Shear stress at the surface of a solid cylindrical shaft of radius r0: fs = 2T/r03 [N/m3] Torque T in [Nm]

Efficiency of wind electricity

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Efficiency values

= 34% for large machines = 16% for small machines Large systems are more efficient than small systems!

1.25 MW machine, d = 53m: late 1930s - 1945

yaw effect

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Forces on the Wind Machine

Centrifugal forces
Due to rotating blades Tend to pull the propeller blades out of their sockets Vary the pitch-angle of the propeller blades At a maximum acceptable wind speed, furling velocity Vf, the pitch-angle of the blades should be adjusted so that zero power is extracted. Or apply mechanical brake.
100 rpm

Gyroscopic forces
Yawing rotation Blade rotation Lightweight blades

10 mph

Vibrations

Recent wind machines

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Recent wind machines

2 MW wind machine

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3 MW machine

Artistic impression of the internal construction of a 3 MW wind machine

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Vertical Axis Wind Machine: Savonius rotor

Can operate in winds as low as 5 mph Suited to locations to variable wind direction Peak efficiency of about 30% Low tip-speed ratio High solidity factor

Darrieus rotor
Must be in operation before the wind exerts a driving force on it With Savonius rotor or a startor-motor Low solidity factor Peak efficiency of about 35% Higher tip-speed ratio than a Savonius rotor

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Savonius and Darrieus rotors

Wind machine sites

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Site requirement

Pros and cons of wind machines

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Wind power capacity

Wind power capacity

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Wind Farm

Salkhit Wind Fram in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia $100M, expected to open in 2012 50 MW, to reduce 185,000 tonnes of CO2 1.6-MW wind turbines, 82.5-meter rotor and 80-meter hub height for IEC class IIa wind conditions Mongolia could support 1,100 GW of installed wind power capacity.

Challenges
Large area required Create ecological disruption May create aesthetic objections Localized sites Seasonal

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Web Sites of Interest

www.windpower.org www.eere.energy.gov www.awea.org www.nrel.gov

Questions?
1. A wind turbine of the two-blade propeller type is designed to have its maximum power coefficient value at a tip-speed ratio, TSR = 6, when the wind velocity is 25 mph. If the blade diameter is 100 ft, what is the recommended speed or rotation? 2. Wind turbine units are rated at 2 MW in a rated wind speed of 13 m/s. The stage efficiencies are Cp = 0.32, gb = 0.94, g = 0.96. What is the necessary swept area? If the rotor is a two-blade propeller (horizontal axis), what is the rotor diameter? 3. Lets assume that there are about 1500 land-based sites for wind machines with 3 MW capacity each, having wind speeds of 20 mph. What portion of the demand for electricity consumption of 400 TWh could be supplied?

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