WIND ENERGY

BY Anand Upadhyay
Content
• Basic principles
• Power in wind
• Force on blades and turbines
• Wind energy conversion
• Site selection
• Basic components of wind energy conservation system(WECS)
• Classification of WECS
• Wind energy collectors
• Applications of wind energy
 Wind Power – What is it?
• All renewable energy (except tidal and geothermal power), ultimately comes
from the sun. The earth receives 1.74x1017 watts of power (per hour) from
the sun. About one or 2 percent of this energy is converted to wind energy
(which is about 50-100 times) more than the energy converted to biomass by
all plants on earth.
• When dealing with wind energy, we are concerned with surface winds. A
wind turbine obtains it power input by converting the force of the wind into a
torque (turning force) acting on the rotor blades. The amount of energy
which the wind transfers to the rotor depends on the density of the air, the
rotor area, and the wind speed.
• The kinetic energy of a moving body is proportional to its mass (or weight).
The kinetic energy in the wind thus depends on the density of the air
• A typical 600 kW wind turbine has a rotor diameter of 43-44 meters,
i.e., a rotor area of some 1,500 square meters. Fig 5.1 shows the
power generated by the wind mill with respect to the height.
Why wind energy?
Current scenario of wind energy.
• Wind energy is a large renewable energy source. Global wind power
potential is of the order of 11,000 GW.
• It is about 5 times the global installed power generation capacity.
• This excludes offshore potential as it is yet to be properly estimated.
• About 25,000 MW is the global installed wind power capacity. It is
about 1% of global installed power generation capacity.
Why wind energy?
Current scenario of wind energy.
 Why wind energy?
Current scenario of wind energy.
• As the end of end of 2015, the worldwide total cumulative installed
electricity generation capacity from wind power amounted to 4,32,883
MW, an increase of 17% compared to the previous year. Global wind
power installations increased by 63,330 MW, 51,447 MW and 35,467
MW in 2015, 2014 and 2013 respectively.
• Since, 2010 more than half of all new wind power was added outside
of the traditional markets of Europe and North America, nearly driven
by the continuing boom in China and India. At the end of 2015, China
had 145 GW of wind power installed. In 2015, China installed close to
half of the world’s added wind power capacity.
 Basic principles of wind energy conversion
1. The nature of wind:
• The circulation of air in the atmosphere is caused by the non-uniform heating
of the earth’s surface by the sun.
• The nature of the terrain, the degree of cloud and the angle of the sun in the
sky are all factors which influences this process.
• In general, during the day the air above the land mass tends to heat up more
rapidly than the air over water.
• At night the process is reversed because the air cools down more rapidly over
the land and the breeze therefore blows off shore.
• Average wind speeds are greater in hilly and costal area than they are well
inland.
• The winds also tend to blow more consistently and with greater strength over
the surface of the water where there is a less surface drag.
 Basic principles of wind energy conversion
2. The Power in Wind
• Wind possesses energy by virtue of its motion.
• Any device capable of slowing down the mass of moving air, like a sail or
propeller, can extract part of the energy and convert is into useful work.
• three factors determine the output power generated from the wind mill
(1) The wind speed
(2) The cross section of wind swept by rotor, and
(3) The overall conversion efficiency of rotor, transmission system and
generator or pump.
• No device, however well-designed, can extract all of the wind’s energy because
the wind would have to be brought to a halt and this would prevent the
passage of more air through the rotor.
 Basic principles of wind energy conversion
2. The Power in Wind
• The most that is possible is for the rotor to decelerate the intercepted air to
about one-third of its free velocity.
• A 100% efficient aerogenerator would therefore only be able to convert up to a
maximum of around 60% of the available energy in wind into mechanical
energy.
• A well-designed blades will typically extract 70% of the theoretical maximum,
but losses incurred in the gear box, transmission system and generator or
pump could decrease overall wind tubine efficiency to 35% or less.
 Basic principles of wind energy conversion
2. The Power in Wind
• Calculation of Power in the Wind: The power in the wind can be computed by
using of Kinetics (Kinetic means relating to or resulting from motion). The wind
mill works on the principle of converting Kinetic energy of the wind to
mechanical energy.
 Basic principles of wind energy conversion
2. The Power in Wind
• Power Coefficient
• The fraction of the free-flow wind power that can be extracted by the rotor is
called the power co-efficient; Thus,
• Power Coefficient = Power of wind rotor / Power available in the wind
• Where, power available is calculated from the air density, rotor diameter and
free wind speed as discussed earlier. The maximum theoretical power
coefficient is equal to 16/27 or 0.593. This value cannot be exceeded by a rotor
in free-flow wind-stream.
• An ideal rotor, with propeller-type blades of proper aerodynamic design, would
have a power co-efficient approaching 0.59. But such a rotor would not be
strong enough to withstand the stresses to which it is subjected when rotating
at a high rate in a high-speed wind stream.
 Forces On The Blades And Thrust On Turbines
• As discussed earlier, here blades of The Circumferential Force, or Torque
propeller-type wind turbine is (T) can be obtained from,
considered there are two types of
forces which are acting on the blades.
They are
(1) Circumferential force acting in the
direction of wheel rotation that
provides the torque, and
(2) Axial force acting in the wind
stream that provides an axial thrust
that must be countered by proper
mechanical design.
 Wind Energy Conversion
• Out of many of the uses like electricity generation, the interruption of supply
may be highly inconvenient. Operators or users of wind turbines must ensure
that there is some from of back-up can take the form of
1. Battery storage
2. Connection with the local electricity distribution
3. A stand by generator powered by liquid or gaseous fuels
• For utility responsible for public supply, the integration of medium sized and
large wind turbines into their distribution network could required some
additional plant which is capable of responding quickly to meet fluctuating
demand.
 Wind Energy Conversion
• 1. Small Producers
• Private citizens in several countries have won to right to operate wind
generator and other renewable energy systems and to export power to the
grid. For most small wind generators this requires that the output is
conditioned, so that in the frequency and phase of the mains supply.
• 2. Large Producers
• Large and medium-sized wind generators are designed to give a stable and
constant electrical output over a wide range of wind speeds and to feed
current directly into the grid, they operate primarily as fuel savers, reducing the
utility’s total fuel burn.
• The choice of generator type depends on the size of the local distribution grid
and its associated generating capacity.
 3. Lift and Drag Force
• The extraction of power, and hence energy, from the wind depends on creating
certain forces and applying them to rotate (or to translate) a mechanism.
• There are two primary mechanisms for producing forces from the wind: Lift
and Drag.
• By definition of Lift forces act perpendicular to the air flow, while drag forces
act in the direction flow.
• any change in velocity generates a pressure difference across the lifting
surface. This pressure difference produces a force that begins to act on the
high pressure side and moves towards the low pressure side of the lifting
surface which is called an airfoil.
 3. Lift and Drag Force
• A lot of turbulence results, the lift decreases
and the drag increases quite substantially;
this phenomenon is known as Stalling.
• For efficient operation, a wind turbine blade
needs to function with as much lift and as
little drag as possible because drag
dissipates energy. As lift does not involves
anything more complex than deflecting the
air flow, it is usually an efficient process. The
design of each wind turbine speciies the
angle at which the airfoil should bet set to
achieve the maximum lift to drag ratio.
 3. Lift and Drag Force
• In addition to airfoils, there are two other mechanisms for creating lift. One is
the so-called Magnus Effect, caused by spinning a cylinder in an air stream at a
high-speed of rotation. The spinnings slows down the air speed on the side
where the cylinder is moving into wind and increases it on the other side; the
result is similar to an airfoil.
The second way is to blow air
through narrow slots in a
cylinder, so that it emerges
tangentially; this is known as
a Thwaits Slot.
 3. Lift and Drag Force
The forces acting on the blade and cross section across A-A.
The wind mill blade ‘sees’ the resultant vector ‘Vf’. The blades need to be twisted
because ‘r’ varies in proportion to radius.
Site Selection Consideration For WECS(Wind
Energy Conversion)
• The power available in the wind increases rapidly with the speed, hence wind
energy conversion machines should be located preferable in areas where the
winds are strong and persistent. Although daily winds at a given site may be
highly variable, the monthly and especially annual average are remarkably
constant from year to year.
• the most suitable sites for wind turbines would be found in areas where the
annual average wind speeds are known to be moderately high or high.
• If the WECS sites are wrongly or poorly chosen the net wind electrics generated
energy per year may be sub optimal with resulting high capital cost for the
WECS apparatus, high costs for wind generated electric energy, and low
Returns on Investment.
Site Selection Consideration For WECS(Wind
Energy Conversion)
• Some of the main site selection consideration are given below:
1. High annual average wind speed:
2. Availability of anemometry data:
3. Availability of wind V(t) Curve at the proposed site:
4. Wind structure at the proposed site:
5. Altitude of the proposed site:
6. Terrain and its aerodynamic:
7. Local Ecology
8. Distance to road or railways:
9. Nearness of site to local centre/users:
10. Nature of ground:
11. Favourable land cost:
 Site Selection Consideration For WECS(Wind
Energy Conversion)
12. Other conditions such as icing problem, salt spray or blowing dust
should not present at the site, as they may affect aeroturbine blades
or environmental is generally adverse to machinery and electrical
apparatus.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
 BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
• Aero turbine – convert energy in moving air to rotary mechanical energy.
• They require pitch control and yaw control
• Gearing and Coupling – transmits the rotary mechanical energy into electrical
generator
• Controller – sense the wind speed, wind direction, shafts speeds and torque at
one or more points
• The physical embodiment for such an aero generator is shown in generalized
form in fig.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
• Sub components of the windmill are:
1. Wind turbines or rotor
2. Wind mill head
3. Transmission and control
4. Supporting structure/Tower
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
• (1) Rotors are mainly of two types:
• Horizontal axis rotor
• Vertical axis rotor
• One advantage of vertical axis machines is that they operate
in all wind directions
• The portion of the wind turbine that collects energy from the
wind is called the rotor.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
• 2)Windmill head
• Supports the rotor, housing the rotor bearings
• Also incorporated like changing the pitch of the blades for
safety devices and tail vane to orient the rotor to face the
wind
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
• 3) Transmissions:
• The number of revolutions per minute (rpm) of a wind
turbine rotor can range between 40 rpm and 400 rpm,
depending on the model and the wind speed.
• Generators typically require rpm's of 1,200 to 1,800.
• As a result, most wind turbines require a gear-box
transmission to increase the rotation of the generator to the
speeds necessary for efficient electricity production.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
• Some DC-type wind turbines do not use transmissions.
• Instead, they have a direct link between the rotor and
generator.
• These are known as direct drive systems.
• Without a transmission, wind turbine complexity and
maintenance requirements are reduced.
• But a much larger generator is required to deliver the same
power output as the AC-type wind turbines.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
• 4) Control:
• The modern large wind turbine generator requires a versatile and
reliable control system to perform the following functions:
1. Orientation of the wind in the rotor
2. Start up and cut-in of the equipment.
3. Power control of the rotor by varying the pitch of the pitch of the
blade.
4. Generator output monitoring – status, data computation and storage
5. Shut down and cut out owing to malfunction or very high winds.
6. Protection for the generator.
7. Auxiliary and/or emergency power.
8. Maintenance mode.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEMS (WECS)
• Towers:
• Four types of tower deserve consideration.
1. The reinforced concrete tower.
2. The pole tower
3. The built up shell and tube tower.
4. The truss tower
CLASSIFICATION OF WECS
(1) Based on axis
(a) Horizontal axis machines
(b) Vertical axis machines
(2) According to size
(a) Small size machines (upto 2k W)
(b) Medium size machines (2 to 100k W)
(c) Large size machines (100k W and above)
Two sub classes:
(a) Single generator at single site
(b) Multiple generators
CLASSIFICATION OF WECS
(3) Types of output
(a) DC output
i. DC generator
ii. Alternator rectifier
(b) AC output
i. Variable frequency, variable or constant voltage AC.
ii. Constant frequency, variable or constant voltage AC
CLASSIFICATION OF WECS
(4) According to the rotational speed of the area turbines
(1) Constant speed and variable pitch blades
(2) Nearly constant speed with fixed pitch blades
(3) Variable speed with fixed pitch blades
(a) Field modulated system
(b) Double output indication generator
(c) AC-DC-AC link
(d) AC commentator generator
(e) Other Variable speed constant frequency generating
system.
 CLASSIFICATION OF WECS
(5) As per utilization of output
(a) Battery storage
(b) Direct conversion to an electro magnetic energy
converter
(c) Thermal potential
(d) Inter convention with conventional electric utility
guides
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
• Advantages: • Disadvantages:
• It’s a renewable source if energy • It’s available in dilute and
• Wind power systems are Non- fluctuating in nature.
polluting. So it has no adverse • It needs storage capacity because
influence on the environment. of its irregularity.
• Avoid fuel provision and transport. • It’s noisy in operation.
• On small scale up to few kilowatt • Large areas are needed. Typically,
system is less costly. propellers 1 to 3 m in diameter,
deliver power in the 30 to 300 W
range.
WIND ENERGY COLLECTORS
• Wind aero generators or wind turbines generators of WECS are
generally classified as:
Single bleded
• horizontal axis type
Multi bladed
• vertical axis type
Wind energy applications
Pumping applications:
1. A typical wind powered pumping application is one that might use a
horizontal axis wind machine.
2. Large number of water pumping wind mills have been used on
Indian farms.
3. In aqueduct systems large-scale wind driven units can provide
power for the pumping of water from main reservoir to auxiliary
reservoir in other parts of aqueduct systems.
4. Two main end uses of wind pumps are: irrigation and water supply.
 Wind energy applications
Pumping applications:
1. A typical wind powered pumping application is one that might use a horizontal
axis wind machine.
2. Large number of water pumping wind mills have been used on Indian farms.
3. In aqueduct systems large-scale wind driven units can provide power for the
pumping of water from main reservoir to auxiliary reservoir in other parts of
aqueduct systems.
4. Two main end uses of wind pumps are: irrigation and water supply.
5. In pumped hydro applications, the wind units can be used to supply power to
pump from an auxiliary reservoir below hydro electric dam back in to the main
reservoir above the dam
6. Wind power can also be used to compress the air for use in various applications.
Like, for the operation of gas turbine for electricity generation.
 Wind energy applications
• Wind-powered pumps can be used to de-saline water, using reverse osmosis
units.
• Wind powered pumps can also be used to save fuel and electricity by
compressing the working fluids used in heat pumps for space heating
applications.
 Wind energy applications
• Direct heating applications:
• Mechanical motion derived from wind power can be used to drive heat pumps or to
produce heat from the friction of solid materials or by the churning of water or
other fluids, or in other cases, by the use of centrifugal or other types of pumps in
combination with restrictive orifices that produce heat from friction and turbulence
when the working fluid flows through them.
• This heat may then be stored in materials having high heat capacity. i.e. water,
eutectic salts, stones etc.
• The heat may be directly for such applications as heating and cooling of water and
air space for residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural process-heat
applications.
• Agricultural process heat applications include green house applications, crop drying,
milk processing, food processing, refrigeration, frost protection, ventilation and
waste processing.
 Wind energy applications
• Example of typical industrial processes that might be able to use low
temperature heat produced by wind energy include the following.
1. Production of inorganic chemicals i.e. borax, bromine, chlorine, caustic
soda, potassium chloride and sodium metal.
2. Production of plastic material and synthetics such as Polyethylene, PVC and
polystyrene.
3. Production of organic chemicals such as alcohols and solvents, synthetic
perfumes, flooring materials, rubber processing chemicals etc.
4. Food processing such as meat preparations, packing fruit and vegetable
dehydration, wet corn milling, soybean oil milling etc.
5. Textile processing, primarily steam or hot air, for drying curing and finishing
both yarns and textiles.
 Wind energy applications
• Electric generation applications:
• WECS units can be integrated with existing hydro electrical networks and used
in a “ water-saver” mode of operation.
• Wind power can be used to generate dc electrical power that in turn can be
used for dc applications or space heaters or can be stored inbatteries and
then inverted for used by a.c. load.
REFERENCE

• [1] Energy Sources by G D Rai Khanna Publication New Delhi.