University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon City

EgyE 201: Energy Resources, Uses and Systems

Wind Energy Conversion System: Types, Components and Process
Tristan Jeorge T. Perez
201690116

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
A. Resource Overview
B. Historical Back ground
II. Wind Energy Power Computation
III. Wind Energy Conversion System
A. Aerodynamic Aspect
B. Mechanical Aspect
C. Electric Generator
IV. Wind Energy Thermodynamic Analysis
V. Recent Development and Research

I. Introduction
Wind is a form of solar energy caused by a combination of factors such as sun unevenly heating
the atmosphere, irregularities of the earth’s surface and Rotation of the earth. It flows from high
pressure to low pressure area while its intensity depends on current topography, vegetation, water,
temperature and pressure on the earth’s surface (Energy.gov, 2019). Wind speeds may also vary based
on height. Generally, high wind speed velocity can be measured on high elevations and decreases at the
elevation lowers down.
The terms wind energy and wind power both describe the process by which wind is used to
generate electrical power by conversion of mechanical energy through the interaction of wind and
turbine blades (Energy.gov, 2019). Wind turbines convert kinetic energy from wind to mechanical power
while generators attached to wind turbine shaft converts the mechanical power to electrical power. If
not coupled to a generator, the wind turbine can be used to drive shafts connected to water pumps,
irrigation, grinding disks or tables and mills. But due to development of mechanical technologies, wind
turbines used for grinding and umping are replaced with appropriate pumps and engines. More of the
developments on the wind turbine are focused on how to further maximize tits electrical generating
capability and reliability to the point of reducing the need to use fossil fuels for power generation. Wind
energy is a renewable energy therefore it is abundant and will not be scarce as long as the conditions to
continuously generate wind exists. The challenges being faced by science in the development of wind
energy includes the unpredictability of wind patterns, visual blocking, noise pollution, high initial cost
and effects on ecosystem (A. Bera, 2014 ). Even so, a lot of wind turbines have already been placed are
continuously operating to provide sustainable energy to the community.
As of 2017, the wind power generation overall capacity has reached to 539GW with 52.6GW
added on 2017 alone (WWEA, 2018). Wind power generation capacity represents nearly 25% of the
total renewable energy installed capacity worldwide. China is considered to be the leading country with
the most number of installed capacity amounting to 184GW (EIA,2018).
 A. Resource Overview
Wind resource assessment or wind potential assessment reports and comprehensive overviews
are being published for worldwide use by the technical committee of the World Wind Energy
Association (Green Facts, 2019). Wind as a resource is affected by a lot of factors such as temperature of
earth and climate change which are all uncontrollable. Therefore it is challenging to predict the location
of high wind intensities and how long it would last for that location. Wind resource assessment is
considered to be the most significant aspect in the wind energy business because wind turbines
specifications should match the environment it is going to be operated. Table 1 below shows the total
wind potential per location of selected countries and representation of the rest of the world for total
potential for the wind worldwide.
Table 1: Wind Resource Assessment Worldwide in TW

Source: https://www.greenfacts.org/en/wind-resources/l-2/index.htm
As shown on the table, the European Union has the greatest amount of extractable wind while
Russia and United States comes in next. The rest of the world only amounts to 10.4TW or just equivalent
to the wind resource assessment in the US. The world’s wind potential is considered to be sufficient to
cover the energy demand of the whole world (Greenfacts, 2019).
B. Historical Back ground
Wind is known to be the one of the most used energy resource even during early civilization. In
the early civilization people use wind to sail their ships and travel across islands. However the
development of wind conversion system where they use wind to convert into another form of energy
dates back on the early 500s to 1100s where Persians and English developed wind mills for the purpose
of crushing grains and pumping water. In the early 1300s the ditched developed water pumps powered
by wind turbines from low drying areas. In 1888, Charles Brush builds the first electricity generating
wind mill. In 1920’s wind turbines become widely used, generating electricity for thousands of rural
areas in US and Canada. On 1941, during the world war, the world’s first MW sized wind turbine known
as Smith Putnam Machine rated 1.25MW was developed and operated at Vermont. On 1970’s U.S and
NASA worked together to improve wind turbine technology In 2014, Vestas V164 with rated capacity of
8MW and which will be alter upgraded to 9.5MW claiming to be the world’s largest wind turbine. In
1995 to 2015, Gansu wind farm was considered to be the largest wind farm on the world with a capacity
of 7965MW which will later have an additional 13,000 MW in 2020.
C. Wind Power in the Philippines
In the Philippines, the total capacity of installed wind turbines amounted to around 427 MW – a
small percentage of the total available wind power of 70GW (DOE, 2019). The breakdown of the
installed wind turbines are shown in table 2.
 Table 2: Wind Power Generators in the Philippines

Source: Department of Energy, List of Existing Powerplants as of December 2018, retrieved March 25, 2019

Because high wind velocities are more frequent at the northern part of Luzon (Ilocos region),
most of the wind turbines are installed on that location. Some regions are connected in Visayas and
some others are not grid tied or rated lower than the generators listed on the table.
II. Wind Energy Power Computation
The energy available for conversion depends on the wind speed and swept area of the turbine.
The derivation of which is mainly based on kinetic energy from the wind from newton’s second and third
laws of motion. The following equations represents how available wind power is estimated.
𝐸 =𝑊 =𝐹∗𝑆
𝐹 = 𝑚 ∗ 𝑎 (𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑡𝑜𝑛′ 𝑠 𝐿𝑎𝑤)
𝐸 =𝑚∗𝑎∗𝑠
2 2
𝑣 = 𝑣𝑖 + 2𝑎 ∗ 𝑠 (𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑤 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛)
𝑣2
𝑎 = ( ) (𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑠 0)
2𝑆
𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝐸
1
𝐸 = 𝐾𝐸 = 𝑚𝑣 2
2
Power on the wind is given by the rate of change in velocity:
1 2
𝑑𝐸 (2) 𝑚𝑣 𝑑𝑚
𝑃= =
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

dm/dt is the mass flow rate which is also equivalent to:

𝑑𝑚 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥
= 𝜌𝐴 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 =𝑣
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

Substituting the mass flow rate from the equation, we get:

 1
𝑃 = 𝜌𝐴𝑣 3
2
Source: RWE npower, Wind Turbine Power Calculations, The royal academy of Engineering, retrieved March 16, 2019

As shown on the derivation of available power on the wind turbine, the larger swept area and
velocity, the higher the available power. However, the velocity of the wind is not always constant
therefore sizing of wind turbines must take into account the frequency distribution of wind speed and
wind speed direction. Aside from that, the total converted power will not always be equal to the
mechanical power developed and generated electrical power. This is because the wind speed behind the
wind turbine is never equal to zero (Energy Fundamentals, 2019). There is only a certain ratio of
available wind power and effective wind power which will be derived on the following equations:
Effective Power:
∆𝑉𝜌 2 𝜌𝐴
𝑃𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 𝑃1 − 𝑃2 = (𝑣1 − 𝑣22 ) = (𝑣 + 𝑣2 )(𝑣12 − 𝑣22 )
2∆𝑡 4 1
Power Coefficient
𝑃𝑒𝑓𝑓 (𝑣1 + 𝑣2 )(𝑣12 − 𝑣22 )
𝐶𝑃 = =
𝑃𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 2𝑣13
𝑣1
𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟, 𝑣2 =
3
𝑣1 2 𝑣1 2
𝑃𝑒𝑓𝑓 (𝑣1 + ) (𝑣1 − ( ) )
3 3
𝐶𝑃 = = 3 = 0.59 or 59%
𝑃𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 2𝑣1

Source: https://home.uni-leipzig.de/energy/ef/15.htm, retrieved March 16, 2019

If the difference of speeds V1 and V2 is 0, net efficiency will also be equal to zero. If the
difference is too big, the air flow through the rotor is hindered too much. Figure 1 shows the
representation of the two wind speeds showing the relationship between V1 and V2.
Figure 1. Relationship between two wind speeds before and after wind turbine

Source: https://home.uni-leipzig.de/energy/ef/15.htm, retrieved March 16, 2019

As shown on the figure, the velocities interacting on the wind turbine are represented as V1 for
high velocity and V2 for low velocity. Due to the power coefficient, the only usable wind energy that can
be extracted to mechanical and electrical power is only at about 59% (J.Layton, 2006). The remaining
percent will be part of the wake behind the turbine which won’t be an ideal velocity for other wind
turbines. This is why wind turbines needs to be placed at a certain clearance so that the maximum wind
resource is captured. Developments and variations in obtaining the cp of the wind turbine have been
developed to make sure that wind turbines are close to this limit which will be further discussed on the
aerodynamics of wind energy conversions system
III. Wind Energy Conversion System
The wind energy conversion system can be divided into three major aspects: the Aerodynamic
aspect which includes the interaction of wind to the turbine blades and the rotation of the turbine, the
mechanical aspect which includes the rotation of the turbine and the transmission of mechanical power
through a drive train, and the electrical which includes the interaction of the drivetrain and the electric
generator which converts mechanical energy to electrical energy (H.S. Kim et.al, 2010). The three
aspects are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Wind Conversion System

Source: Hyong Sik Kim, Dylan Dah-Chuan Lu, 2010, Wind Energy Conversion System from Electrical Perspective – A Survey, Smart
Grid and Renewable Energy, 119-131
These system can be simplified into a train of energy conversion. Wind energy converted into
mechanical energy, hence the aerodynamics of the turbine. Mechanical energy transmission, in which
no energy is converted to another form but the parameters such as speed are changed. And mechanical
energy to electrical energy which is the purpose of electric generators.
A. Aerodynamic Aspect
The wind turbine can be classified into two types: A horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT)
and a vertical axis wind turbine (HAWT). The HAWT are the most common configuration that
can be seen in most wind farms while VAWT are only newly developed although its application
can be harnessed on certain terrains only. Figure 3 shows the difference between VAWT and
HAWT.
Figure 3: VAWT and HAWT

Source: Mahmoud Fouad Ahmed Ahmed, December 2016, Utilization of Wind Energy in Green Buildings, 12 th International
conference of Fluid Dynamics p. 2
 As shown on the diagram, the interaction of HAWT to the wind is more of perpendicular
to the wind direction while the interaction of VAWT interacts more in parallel to the wind
direction. These interactions are also the termed as lift and drag. Lift force is known as force
acting perpendicular to the flow while drag is the force acting in the direction of air flow (J.
Layton, 2006). Figure 4 shows where to find these forces on the wind turbine and air foils.
Figure 4: Lift and Drag forces on Wind Turbine

Source: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-power3.htm
Wake on the other hand is the region of recirculating flow immediately behind a moving
or stationary blunt body. In wind turbines, wake or wake effect are mostly found at the low
velocity region or behind the wind turbine. Usually, flow at the low velocity region is turbulent
and covers a wider area than the wind from the high velocity region. This is one of the reasons
why wind turbines needs to have appropriate distance with each other to avoid interacting with
the wake effect.
Air foils
Wind turbine blades use air foils to develop wind power. An appropriate design of air
foil needs to be selected for certain wind turbines which to aid in achieving maximum lift and
rotation wind speed of the wind turbine. The most common air foil is the NACA air foil although
some air foils such as LS, NREL, Riso and CAS-W1, were being used due to the limitation of NACA
air foils such as poor stall characteristics and incompatible performance at varying Reynolds
number (U.M. Mamadaminov, 2013).
There are 4 sections on a typical air foil namely, the leading edge, trailing edge, upper
surface or suction side and lower surface or pressure side. Figure 5 shows the mentioned parts
of the air foil plus other important parameters which can be found.
Figure 5: Parts of an Air foil

Source: JF Manwell, JG McGowan and A.L. Rogers ,2002, Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines, Wind Energy
Explained-Theory design and applications
 As shown on the figure, each part plays a role in achieving the maximum lift and torque
of the turbine blades. A variation of each may directly cause a shift in operation that is why each
air foils are carefully designed and selected. Table 3 shows the typical air foil families grouped
into corresponding rotor diameter, category and turbine operation.
Table 3: Wind Turbine Air foil families –NREL

Source: U. Mamadaminov, December 2013, Review of Airfoil Structures for wind turbine blades p.3
As shown on the table, different types of air foil are assigned at certain range of rotor
diameters and different air foils were assigned per each type of turbine operation. This is due to
the wide variety of how the wind turbine operates. A lot of variables must be considered and it
is reflected on the selection process of the air foil.
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Aerodynamics
HAWTs can also be classified based on location or number of blades. For the location,
HAWTs can be classified whether as on-shore or off-shore. On-shore if it is installed on land like
most turbines connected to the grid. Off-shore if it is installed in the middle of bodies of water
usually having bigger generator ratings and simpler design for easy maintenance. Aside from
location, HAWTs can be classified based on the number of blades: Single bladed HAWT that has
low cost but considered to be very unstable with 43% efficiency, two bladed HAWT that has
medium to high cost with 47% efficiency and requires complex design to sustain wind shocks
and three bladed HAWT that has a reliable strength and stability and can produce high output
with 50% efficiency (P. Schubel et.al, 2012).
Actuator Disk Model
The actuator disk model considers energy extraction process even at the absence of
specific turbine design although the model could not be directly used to design turbine blades
and achieve the design performance. The assumptions in using the model are the flow of the
wind is steady, there will be no friction drag, the blade numbers are infinite, there is uniform
thrust, non-rotating wake, and the static pressure far upstream and far downstream of the rotor
is equal to the undisturbed ambient static pressure. Figure 6 shows the Actuator disk model.
 Figure 6: Actuator Disk Model

Source: JF Manwell, JG McGowan and A.L. Rogers ,2002, Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines, Wind Energy Explained-Theory design
and applications
The model is divided into 4 regions as shown in the figure. The free stream region,
before the blades, after blades and the far wake region. The analysis of the disk is that the
theory assumes a control volume which the boundaries are the surface walls of the stream tube
and two cross sections. The power output of the model is based on momentum balance of both
sides. The equations for power, power coefficient and thrust coefficient are initially derived
from this model.
Power:

or
Power coefficient of rotor:

Thrust coefficient of rotor:

As analyzed in the model there are three factors that may lead to the decrease of the
power coefficient: Rotation of the wake behind the rotor, Finite number of blades and Non-zero
aerodynamic drag, which is true for real situations (J. Manwell et.al, 2002). That is why the
maximum cp is only limited to 0.59.
Rotating Annular Stream Tube
The rotating stream tube analysis address the limitations of the actuator disk model
such that the effects of rotational motion is considered and integrate rotational component to
the fluid velocity while axial and radial components remain unchanged(E. Kulunk,2011). Figure 7
shows the model for rotating annular stream tube:
 Figure 7: Rotating Annular Stream Tube Model

Source: JF Manwell, JG McGowan and A.L. Rogers ,2002, Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines, Wind Energy Explained-Theory design
and applications

As shown on the figure, the radial component of the wind flow is shown taking into
account that the rotation is constant (E. Kulunk,2011). The analysis considers the conservation
of angular momentum. The power coefficient can be rewritten as:
Power Coefficient:

while the maximum power and max can also be derived on this model.
Maximum power:

Maximum Power Coefficient of Rotor:

Blade Element Theory

In this theory, the geometry of turbine blades and rotor geometry are considered such
as chord and twist distributions of the air foil. In the integration of blade element to the
previous analysis, it is considered that the blade is divided into N sections and that the forces of
the elements are solely dependent in the lift and drag coefficients. Figure 8 shows the factors
that are considered in the blade element theory.
 Figure 8: Blade Geometry for Blade Element Theory Analysis

Source: Emrah Kulunk (2011). Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines, Fundamental and Advanced Topics in Wind Power, Dr. Rupp
Carriveau (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-508-2, InTech
As shown on the figure, angles such as pitch angle, twist and angle of attack are
considered, including the chord length parameters of the airfoil. As stated in the air foil section,
modifications on this parameters could greatly affect the performance of the wind turbine
which is considered in this analysis. Parameters such as solidity ratio, elemental torque
equation, thrust equation are also defined in this analysis (E.Kulunk,2011). Using blade element
momentum, the total power of rotor as well as the total power coefficient can be rewritten as:
Total Power:

Total Power Coefficient:

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Aerodynamics

The vertical axis wind turbines are the opposite arrangement of HAWTs. HAWTs are
made to use the lift force or the force acting in perpendicular to the wind direction. On the
other hand the vertical axis wind turbines use both the lift and drag force to rotate its turbine
blades, making it an Omni-directional wind turbine (E.Dyachuk, 2015). The advantage of the
VAWT over the HAWT is that the generator of the VAWT can be placed below the turbine or at
the ground level which makes it easier to access during maintenance. The disadvantage is that
the cyclic blade forces due varying torque which is a limitation of vertical designs.
Generally the VAWT are divided into two major types: the savonious type rotor – which
uses the lift more than the drag forces, and the Darrieus type rotor which is made to use the
drag force more than the lift. Modifications such as H-rotor and S-rotor which are widely
available in the market today tare mixtures of the two major types. Figure 9 shows the two
major types of VAWT
 Figure 9: Savonious Rotor and Darrieus Rotor

Source: Margrét Ósk Óskarsdótti,2014, A General Description and Comparison of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines and
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines, Master’s thesis, Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science,
University of Iceland, pp. 130

As shown in the figure, the Darrreius type rotor (left) is characterized by having 2 or
more buckets which is being pushed by a certain wind velocity and results to turning of the rotor
shaft. The savonius rotor (right) , on the other hand is characterized with having complex design
of blades with certain angle of attack and chord length similar to HAWT air foil, although it is
arranged and looped from top end to bottom end. It is arranged so that the lift force will
maintain the rotation of the turbine while drag force starts the rotation.
Two models can be used in the analysis of vertical axis wind turbine and they are much
different with the analysis of HAWT. The two models are namely the stream tube model and
actuator cylinder model. Figure X shows the Stream tube model (left) and Actuator Cylinder
Model (right).
Figure 10: Stream Tube and Actuator Cylinder Model

Source: Eduard Dyachuk, 2015, Aerodynamics of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines, Development of Simulation Tools and
Experiments. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology

The stream tube model as shown on the left is a model where in the turbine is divided
into two actuator disks representing the upwind and down wind. Two assumptions are made in
this model: first is that the velocity across the actuator is remained constant and the second is
that the pressure in the middle of the turbine is equivalent to asymptotic pressure. This model
will also be the basis for latest models such as Multiple Stream Tube Model and Double Multiple
Stream Tube model. The Actuator cylinder (right), also considered as a steady Eulerian model, is
a model characterized by extending the actuator disk concept to an actuator surface and
coinciding with the swept area of 2D VAWT which the reaction of blade forces are applied as
body forces (E.Dyachuk, 2015).

The power of the turbine for VAWT can be expressed as:

,
P is the power, Ω is the turbine rotational speed, while Q is the torque which is also
proportional to NB or Number of blades, FT or tangential force and R or Radius.

B. Mechanical Aspect
The mechanical aspect of the wind energy conversion system is mainly the transmission
of the converted mechanical energy from one part to another through the use of shafts,
bearings and gearboxes also known as the drive train of the system.
Drivetrain
There are several configurations for the drivetrain of a wind turbine. Each configuration
has its own advantages and disadvantages and some are considered to be assigned on a
particular application only. The configuration of the drivetrain are based on how the
components are arranged and which components are present or not present. The basic
components that make up the drive train are as follows.
1. Low and High Speed Shaft
Low speed shaft is the shaft that connects the wind turbine hub and the gear
box. Usually it has a larger diameter since it is the one carrying and enduring the
torsional load from the rotation of the wind turbine blades. The high speed shaft is the
shaft that connects the gearbox and generators. Since generators are limited to PN/120
where P is the number of poles which is constant, the rotational speed which is variable
and proportional to wind speed should be as close to grid speed to maintain a grid
frequency of 50 or 60Hz. The low speed shaft is constructed with a large diameter since
it is the one accepting most of the load while the high speed shaft is typically
constructed with small diameter to minimize vibration and shaft weight on the
generator side (F.Oyague, 2009).
2. Couplings
The function of the couplings are to connect two other shafts with the main
shaft. The shaft of the turbine and the shaft of the gearbox. Another function is to
transmit the torsional load from one shaft to another. The diameter and thickness of the
couplings depend on the shaft and diameter (F.Oyague, 2009).
3. Gearbox
The function of the gearbox is to transform the speed from one value to another
typically from low speed to high speed. The wind turbine blades rotate at a range of 14
– 18 rpm only which is not enough to generate electricity at a frequency similar to the
grid or as required by many ac generators. The common ratio of gear box is rated 90:1
and others at 30:1. Assembly configuration of gearboxes are can be one-stage planetary
and two-stage parallel shaft or two stage planetary and one stage parallel shaft as
shown in figure 11.
 Figure 11: Wind Turbine Gear Box Assembly

Source: Jan Ukon Saari, Vattenfall, R&D and Niklas Bennstedt, autoinvent,2016, wind turbine gearboxes,
energiforsk ab
On the left is a one stage planetary and two stage parallel shaft and on the right
is a two stage planetary and one stage parallel shaft. Both are being used as gearboxes
for wind turbine generators and are only different based on the shaft diameter Aside
from these, there are many other configurations of wind turbine gearboxes that have
greater stability and reduced need for many components (J.Saari et.al, 2016).
4. Brakes
Brakes are mechanical devices that are designed to slow or to stop a machine.
They are intended to prevent a device from moving or slowing down after they are
activated. There are two classifications for brakes for wind turbine applications. One is
the aerodynamic break that are used to prevent over speeding of wind turbines by
increasing drag on the tip of the blade. The other configuration is the mechanical break
– a frictional device commonly seen on the low speed shaft and some in high speed
shaft (F.Oyague, 2009). .

These are the four main components of the drivetrain plus the generator which will be
discussed on the next aspect of wind turbine conversion. The configuration of drivetrains can be
simplified into four configurations:
1. Modular Drive Train
This is the most commonly used configuration of drive train due to its simplicity
and higher stability such that all components are placed on one bed plate. Figure 12
shows the Modular Drivetrain configuration.
Figure 12: Arrangement of components on a Modular Drive Train

Source: F Oyague, Feb 2009, Gearbox Modeling and Load Simulation of a Baseline 750-kW Wind Turbine
Using State-of-theArt Simulation Codes, National Renewable Energy laboratory

2. Integrated Drive Train

 This configuration of drivetrain are arranged such that the components are
attached and fixed to the gearbox, making it as the main component of the drive train.
Figure 13 shows the arrangement of Integrated Drivetrain.
Figure 13: Arrangement of Components on Integrated Drivetrain

Source: F Oyague, Feb 2009, Gearbox Modeling and Load Simulation of a Baseline 750-kW Wind Turbine
Using State-of-theArt Simulation Codes, National Renewable Energy laboratory

3. Partially integrated Drive Train

This configuration of drivetrain is a mixture of both integrated and modular drivetrain.
Gearbox is still the main component however all other components sits on a single bed plate
making it more stabilized during operation with reduced volume or consumed space compared
to the modular design. Figure 14 shows the arrangement of Partially Integrated Drivetrain.
Figure 14: Arrangement of Components on Partially Integrated Drivetrain

Source: F Oyague, Feb 2009, Gearbox Modeling and Load Simulation of a Baseline 750-kW Wind Turbine
Using State-of-theArt Simulation Codes, National Renewable Energy laboratory

4. Direct Power Drive Train.

This type of configuration does not use gearbox to transform the low speed to
high speed. However, a modification is done to the generator to make this configuration
possible. With f= PN/120, where in f is constant frequency of 50Hz or 60Hz, with a
constant low speed being transmitted to the generator shaft, the only way for it to
produce considerable amount of power is to vary and increase the number of poles P.
the direct power drive train is typically applied to vertical axis wind turbines to eliminate
losses from gearboxes as VAWTs are mostly installed on low altitude locations
compared to HAWT. Figure 15 shows the assembly of a direct power drive train.
 Figure 15. Direct Power drive train assembly

Source: Source: F Oyague, Feb 2009, Gearbox Modeling and Load Simulation of a Baseline 750-kW Wind
Turbine Using State-of-theArt Simulation Codes, National Renewable Energy laboratory

In overall, modular drive trains have the best performance as compared with other
configurations but it is also bulkier and has higher component count although it has the lowest
component cost. Since the other configurations involve complex modifications, then part cost of
those configurations are considerably high as well.

C. Electrical Aspect
The electrical aspect of the wind energy conversion system can be divided into 3 parts:
The wind turbine generator, the converters and grid connection devices. For this paper, only the
wind turbine generator and power converters are to be discussed since the wind turbine can be
grid tied or not.
Wind Turbine Generators
Wind turbine generators are classified according to operation speed and size of
associated converters. The types of wind turbine generators are as follows:
1. Fixed Speed Wind Turbine Generator
The fixed speed wind turbine generator or FSWT uses a squirrel cage induction
generator – a generator that are commonly manufactured for general use as generators. SCIG is
an AC generator therefore its output voltage is in AC. Since its manufacturing is already
common, the cost is already considered lower and is considered to be more reliable than other
generators. However, due to losses of windings and limitations of SCIG, the energy yield is
considerably low (Hyong Sik Kim, 2010).
2. Variable Speed Wind Turbine
VSWT can have two configurations based on the converter output:
a. Partial Scale Frequency Converter
b. Full Scale Frequency Converter
The difference between the two configurations is that the PSFC uses a doubly fed
induction generator while the FSFC uses rotor synchronous generator. The improvements of this
generators led to two newer concepts of WTGs: the Brushless doubly fed induction generator,
which consists of two cascaded induction machines dedicated for generation and for control.
The other is brushless doubly fed induction generator, although it is still in the research area, it
offers a lot of advantage such as higher efficiency, easier construction and control including
power factor control capability as well as the cost reduction and higher reliability (Hyong Sik
Kim, 2010). Figure 16 shows the connection and system diagram of BDFIG and BDFRG.
Figure 16: Connection and System diagram of BDFIG and BDFRG

Source: Hyong Sik Kim, Dylan Dah-Chuan Lu, 2010, Wind Energy Conversion System from Electrical Perspective – A
Survey, Smart Grid and Renewable Energy, 119-131

The BDFIG has increased reliability due to its brushless aspect and it is capable of low
speed generation however it has a complex aspect in design in assembly and control while the
BDFRG has a failsafe operating mode due to its reluctance rotor assembly. Like BDFIG, it has a
complex rotor design although it has a lower torque to volume ratio (Hyong Sik Kim, 2010).

Comparing all applicable generators for wind turbine application, table N shows the
attributes to which the generators are compared.
Table 4: Wind Turbine Generator Comparison

Source: Hyong Sik Kim, Dylan Dah-Chuan Lu, 2010, Wind Energy Conversion System from Electrical Perspective – A
Survey, Smart Grid and Renewable Energy, 119-131

As shown on the table, the permanent magnet has the best performance however the
cost is too high because of material issues. For commercial applications SCIG and DFIG are
usually used due to its high reliability and low cost and high technical maturity.
Power Converters
The frequency of generated output from wind turbine generators are still variable
because the generator shaft rpm is not constant even if it is connected to a gearbox. The speed
of the shaft can only be as much as wind speed interacting on the turbine blades which means
the frequency can go as low or high as the threshold level of the grid. The Power converters are
needed to convert the AC generated power into DC and then reconvert again to AC to stabilize
the frequency of the output (Hyong Sik Kim, 2010).
There are three common types of power converters available: The back to back PWM
converter, Multilevel Converter and Matrix Converter.
 Back to back PWM Converter
The back to back PWM converters, also known as two-level PWM converter and the
most conventional types among the converters which make it cheaper than other PWM
converters due to its technical maturity. Figure 17 shows the connection of a back to back PWM
converter:
Figure 17: Back to Back PWM Converter

Source: Hyong Sik Kim, Dylan Dah-Chuan Lu, 2010, Wind Energy Conversion System from Electrical Perspective – A Survey, Smart
Grid and Renewable Energy, 119-131
In the figure above, the PWM converter consists of a capacitor in between two source
voltage inverters. The capacitor provides a separate control in the inverters on the two sides
which is the machine side and the grid side. The disadvantage includes switch losses and
emission of high frequency harmonics, which results in additional cost in filters (Hyong Sik Kim,
2010).
Multilevel Converters
Multilevel converters are an improved version of back to back PWM having three
voltage levels which results to lower harmonic distortion, leaving the additional cost on filters. It
also has higher voltage output, power capability and low switching losses. Figure 12 shows the
connection diagram of multi-level converter.
Figure 12: Connection Diagram of Multilevel Converter

Source: Hyong Sik Kim, Dylan Dah-Chuan Lu, 2010, Wind Energy Conversion System from Electrical Perspective – A Survey, Smart
Grid and Renewable Energy, 119-131

As shown on the figure above, the multilevel converter still consists of DC link capacitors
in between three voltage source inverters. The disadvantage of the multilevel converter is that
the DC link capacitor causes the voltage imbalance and stress on the current due to complexity
of the circuit (Hyong Sik Kim, 2010).
Matrix Converter
 The matrix converter is an AC-AC converter which does not use DC – Link capacitors and
rectifying diodes and inductors. It has a reduced size due to reduced number of components and
able to operate at 300 degrees C. Figure 13 shows the connection diagram of Matrix Converter.
Figure 13: Connection Diagram of Multilevel Converter

Source: Hyong Sik Kim, Dylan Dah-Chuan Lu, 2010, Wind Energy Conversion System from Electrical Perspective – A Survey, Smart
Grid and Renewable Energy, 119-131

The matrix converter involves no DC conversion. As shown on the figure, the matrix
converters are composed of three different switches per phase which operates in a non-
simultaneous sequence. The advantage of this converter aside from it being able to operate at
high temperature, the output voltage is decreased up to 86% and is very sensitive to the grid
since it is directly switched (Hyong Sik Kim, 2010).
The most important concept in the electrical aspect in wind energy conversion is that
the electricity conversion is achieved with the use of AC generators. DC generators can also be
used but most DC generators are structured bulkier and larger than AC generators. Aside from
output, weight and generator size are also considered in the process since the machine will be
placed at higher elevations supported by a truss or a pole. To avoid weight imbalance, the wind
turbine blade assembly and nacelle must be carefully balanced and must sustain abrupt wind
velocities if there will be any.

IV. Wind Energy Thermodynamic Analysis

In the thermodynamic analysis of the wind turbine, the model and analysis which can be used to
check efficiency is the exergy analysis. Exergy is based on second law of thermodynamics where in all
interacting energies on the system are considered such as physical energy, kinetic energy, potential
energy and chemical energy. For wind turbine, only physical energy is considered while other factors are
considered negligible (Abbas Alpaslan Kocer, 2014).
The exergy analysis and derivation of efficiency is as follows:

The physical energy or general flow of exergy of the number of flows:

i= ith flow
o = initial condition
h=specific enthalpy
s=specific entropy

The entalphy difference can be expressed as:

 Where in Cpa are specific heat of air and the two temperatures are the wind chill temperature
at the input and output of wind turbine. the wind chill temperature can also be expressed as:

Where V is the wind speed at 10m elevation. The output wind speed on the other hand can be
expressed as the following:

The entropy changes for the wind turbine system consists of total entropy of the system and the
surrounding entropy difference. The entropy change can be expressed as:

The heat loss from the rotor blade are expressed as follows:

Substituting the entropy and entalphy of the system, the total exergy of the wind turbine is
expressed as:

Or

Using the exergy analysis and energy analysis, the efficiencies obtained from a sample wind
turbine ENERCON E-40/6.44. Figure 14 shows the two plots of the analysis of response of output in kW
and corresponding energy and exergy analysis at certain wind speed(Abbas Alpaslan Kocer, 2014).
Figure 14: Energy and Exergy Efficiencies

Recent Development and Research

Source: bbas Alpaslan KOCER1, Yunus Emre YUKSEL2, Murat OZTURK3, 2014, THERMODYNAMIC AND
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF A WIND
TURBINE SYSTEM, The 5th International Symposium on Sustainable Development
 In the figure above, it can be seen that the exergy efficiency is similar to the conventional
calculation of energy efficiency at high wind speed. The maximum efficiency at maximum wind speed
however is lower in the exergy model than the conventional model but only by 0.05%. Since exergy
analysis considers the overall interaction of energy in the system, it is expected to have a lower value
but have similar trend as characterized by two figures.
V. Recent Studies and Development
For this paper, three recent studies were considered with improvements for output control,
Turbine upgrade assessment and wind turbine with hydrogen production technology. The challenge in
the wind turbine conversion system is that the resource is not constantly available and if it is available,
the quality is not constant during operation.
1. Comparison of Output Power Control Performance of Wind Turbine using PI, Fuzzy Logic and
Model Predictive Controllers by Satyabrata Sahoo, Bidyadhar Subudhi, Gayadhar Panda, June
2018.
The scope of the study involves the mathematical modelling of wind energy conversion
system and simulating three control modes namely proportional integral, fuzzy logic and model
predictive controllers. The performance of three control modes were compared on three
conditions: step up wind, step down wind and variable wind speed.
In the step up wind speed, analysis shows that MPC oscillates at certain milliseconds
before stabilizing while PI control still oscillates more at higher frequency and lower amplitude.
The fuzzy logic on the other hand slowly but steadily stabilized but with certain offset with MPC
and PI control. Figure 15 shows the comparison in graphs of the control modes and the response
of power in watts.
Figure 15: Control Mode comparison for Step up signal of wind speed

In the step down wind speed, analysis shows that the MPC also oscilated for a few
milliseconds before stabilizing while the response of PI is still constant at oscillating at lower
amplitude. Sudden spikes were also observed on the generator output but lower than that of
step up wind signal. Figure 16 shows the comparison in graphs of the control modes and the
response of power in watts in step down signal.
Figure 16: Control Mode comparison for Step down signal of wind speed
 In variable signal wind speed, analysis shows that MPC is stabilized after certain
miliseconds of starting of wind speed while both fuzzy logic and PIC controls are oscillating at
high amplitudes. Fuzzy logic imitates the variability of the wind speed which would be
dangerous for a constant speed generator.
Figure 17: Control Mode comparison for variable signal of wind speed

For simulated wind speeds, fixed or variable, it is the MPC which shows the best
performance as it acts very fast to reach the target set point and stabilize even at variable
speed. As a result Power quality could be improved.
2. Wind Turbine Power Curve Upgrades by Davide Astolfi, Francesco Castellani, ID and Ludovico
Terzi, May 2018.
The scope of the study includes assessment of wind turbine power curve upgrades per
different case studies. In the study, the three different case studies are as follows: Improved
start up through pitch angle adjustment near cut in; Aerodynamic blade refrotting by means of
vortex generators and passive flow control devices; Extension of the power curve through a soft
cut out strategy for very high wind speed. The issue is that the estimation of energy
improvement was made on a controlled laboratory were often used as reference. However in
the three cases it was concluded that post upgrade production should be compared against a
model of pre upgrade production of the same wind turbine under the same conditions to verify
how much the actual improvement of the retrofit is.
3. Current status and development trend of wind power generation-based hydrogen production
technology by Zheng Li, Peng guo, Ruiha Han and Hexu Sun, January 2019.
The scope of the study includes the integration of hydrogen production equipment on a
wind turbine and study its current status in its development. It was considered that the
hydrogen production technology via wind turbine, where in the generated power will supply the
required energy for electrolysis, is still in research stage and commercial applications have not
yet been established due to certain limitations. The limitations include the variability of wind
speed therefore the production amount may as well be variable and dependent on wind
resource availability. The second is that providing considerable amount electricity to the
electrolyser will come from the gross generation of the wind turbine and the net-generation
may not be significant anymore to supply electricity to the wind. The wind turbine may as well
be connected off grid to direct the generated power directly to the electrolyzer for maximum
hydrogen production output.
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