GET 306: Renewable Energy Systems &

Technologies

Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS)

E.Usen

November 2023
 Wind Energy Conversion System
Wind energy conversion systems (WECS) are designed to convert the
energy of wind movement into mechanical power with wind turbine
generators, this mechanical energy is converted into electricity. Wind
power is a clean, emissions-free power generation technology. Wind
energy has a huge potential of becoming a major source of renewable
energy for this modern world. As per the Global Wind Energy Council
(GWEC) 2013 statistics, cumulative global capacity has reached a
total of 318 GW, which shows an increase of nearly 200 GW in the
past 5 years. GWEC predicts that wind power could reach nearly
2000 GW by 2030, supply between 16.7% and 18.8% of global
electricity and help save over 3 billion tons of CO2 emissions annually.
From this scenario, it is clear that wind power is going to dominate
the renewable as well as the conventional energy market in the not-
too-distant future.

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 Characteristics of Wind Energy
Speed: Wind speed is the most important factor influencing the
amount of energy a wind turbine can convert to electricity.
Increasing wind velocity increases the amount of air mass passing
the rotors; so increasing speed will also have an effect on the power
output of the wind system. The energy content of the wind varies with
the cube (the third power) of the average wind speed.
Wind Rose: Strong winds usually come from a particular direction;
to show the information about the distributions of wind speeds, and
the frequency of the varying wind directions, we can draw a so-called
wind rose on the basis of meteorological observations of wind
speeds and wind directions. A wind rose gives information on the
relative wind speeds in different directions (i.e., each of the three
sets of data—frequency, mean wind speed, and mean cube of wind
speed) has been multiplied by a number, which ensures that the
largest wedge in the set exactly matches the radius of the outermost
circle in the diagram. Wind roses vary from one location to the next;
they actually are a form of meteorological fingerprint.

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 Characteristics of Wind Energy
Wind roses from neighboring areas are often fairly similar, so in
practice it may sometimes be safe to interpolate (take an average) of
the wind roses from surround- ing observations. The wind rose, once
again, only tells us the relative distribution of wind directions, not the
actual level of the mean wind speed.
Wind Shear and Gusts: In the wind industry, one distinguishes
between the roughness of the terrain, the influence from obstacles,
and the influence from the terrain contours, which is also called the
orography. We will be dealing with orography when we investigate
the so-called speed up effects, i.e.; however, the roughness will not
fall neatly into any of the roughness classes, so a bit of averaging is
necessary. We have to be very concerned with the roughness in the
prevailing wind direction. In those directions, we look at a map to
measure how far away there is unchanged roughness. Gust is defined
as the rapid increase in wind speed over a very short period of time;
20 sec is standard time. One must design the wind turbine structure
to withstand peak gust conditions.

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 Wind Energy Systems

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
The WECSs fall into various categories depending on different factors.
The most common classification of WECS is based on the axis of rotation
of the system or rotational axis, turbine, power control, and rotational
speed control criteria.
Rotational Axis: There are two basic axes of rotation possible for a
turbine with respect to the ground, such as the horizontal axis wind
turbine (HAWT), which rotates in an axis parallel to the ground, and the
vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT), which rotates in an axis perpendicular
to the ground. The function of both types of turbine systems is to
produce kinetic energy through wind pressure generated by the turbine
and convert this into electrical energy.
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine(HAWT): The shaft of the turbine and
the shaft of the generator are placed parallel to the plane of the ground
and mounted to a certain height to face the required wind speed
depending on the geography. The elevated height of the turbine also
facilitates the turbine to rotate with enough clearance to the ground. The
mechanical components of the turbine are enclosed in a housing, which is
shaped aerodynamically called a nacelle. The nacelle in this case is
directly behind the rotor. According to the placement of the nacelle with
respect to the turbine and tower, there are upwind and downwind HAWTs.

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
Upwind HAWTs have the turbine facing the direction from which the
wind is blowing. The direction is adjusted automatically by the use of
rudders. The downwind HAWTs have the turbine facing away from the
direction of the wind flow. This type of HAWT faces the problem of
vibrations in the blades due to the wind interacting with the nacelle
first, making the wind turbulent. Commercial turbines incorporate the
HAWT design mostly with three blades. However, two blade designs
are also used on a tiny scale. HAWTs demand high structural strength
since the turbine, gearbox, generator, and so on are placed high
above the ground.
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT): This type of turbine has the
turbine mounted on the shaft, which doubles up as the tower of the
turbine structure and the rotor’s blades are vertically placed aerofoil
sections. However, various designs of VAWTs are available, like
Darrious and Savonious rotor turbines. The installation and
maintenance of these types of turbine are relatively cheaper and
easier than other types.

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
Since the turbine blades do not have to clear the distance between
the ground and the hub of the rotor, the length of the tower can be
kept short, which also helps to reduce the vibration of the shaft due
to the rotating mass. However, the shaft does not need to hold the
weight of the entire gearbox and control mechanisms as those
components are placed at the base of the shaft near the ground.
VAWTs are subjected to varying wind loads, differing with the height
of the blade. Higher wind loads are experienced at the top of the
turbine than the loads experienced at the bottom, rendering lower
energy conversion efficiency. Thus, their uses for high-power
application are restricted commercially.

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
Turbines: Turbines are also categorized based on their electrical
output. The output power determines the size of the wind farm.
Based on this, the prevailing turbine system technologies can be
divided into three categories which are:
Low Power turbines: These are turbine systems capable of
producing on average a maximum of 30 kW. These systems find use
in remote locations for household electricity demands and charging
up of batteries. They are also used in the case of an emergency to
reduce dependence on primary power sources;
Medium Power Turbines: Turbines pushing out in the spectrum of
30 kW to 300 kW fall in this segment. However, they are mostly used
to power up the homes in small localities. They are used along with
other sources of renewable energy or other power storage devices;

High Power Turbines: These refer to the systems where a large

production of elec- tricity is undertaken. These are incorporated in
the large size wind farms that are associated to the power grids
responsible for transporting the energy throughout cities.

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
Power Control: Power control ability plays an important part in the
design of turbines, since they are completely dependent on wind flow
for generating power. As mentioned earlier, each turbine is rated for
producing certain power. This power gets overshot when the turbine
is subjected to stronger winds than they were designed to withstand.
While, this produces more power, there are possibilities of mechanical
failures due to increased vibrations and resulting unbalanced loads.
Thus, power production is restricted under increased wind speeds,
which can be achieved by three controlling methods, namely passive
stall, active stall and pitch controllers. The other control methods
include grid side controller and phase lock loop controller. Besides, a
crow bar circuit is also used to act as protection for the whole
electrical circuitry. To obtain optimal maximum energy from the wind
resource, different optimization techniques are utilized. These are
done by modeling the different components of the WECS and
simulating the results.

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
A passive stall controller of WECS controls the input power of the
wind by virtue of the aerodynamics of the blades and does not
include sensors or actuators to stop the motion of the blades. In such
WECS, the blades are fixed so that there is no relative motion with
the hub, generally incorporating bolted or riveted connection. The
design poses a stall when the wind flowing through the rotor exceeds
a certain speed. This takes place since the first blade that comes in
contact with the wind turns the flow into a turbulent one and the
other blades continue to rotate within the wake of the first blade,
thus significantly reducing the lift force experienced by those blades,
stalling the turbine. Mostly used in fixed type fixed speed WECS,
these are the cheapest and simpler designs than other types of
WECS;

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
An active stall control system is similar to the passive system;
however, it uses sensors to predict the wind speeds and changes the
pitch of the blades by means of motors or hydraulic actuators to
interfere with the wind in a certain manner that induces a high
turbulence and thus creating a stall. Active stall control systems are
observed in high-power turbines;
Another type of WECS in this category uses similar mechanism as
the active stall-controlled design, but the action is slightly different.
Unlike the active stall controller, the pitch controller changes the
pitch of the blades so that they don’t produce lift by reducing
interaction with the flow of wind. This is different than the previous
type which depended on increased turbulence, which still utilizes the
aerodynamics of the blade. This control system produces faster
response times and thus, it is used extensively at present in high-
power turbine systems.

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
Rotational Speed Control: The criteria of rotational speed control
classify the grid connected with wind energy conversion devices into
fixed- and variable- speed systems. Here, tip speed ratio is a
required concept to explain the classification effectively. In a wind
turbine, the tip speed ratio is defined as the ratio of tangential
velocity of the blade-tip to that of the wind driving speed of the
turbine. When the turbine of radius (rT) is rotating at an angular
velocity (ωT rad/s) and the velocity of wind (νw) acting upon it, the
tip speed ratio (λ) can be expressed by Equation 1, which identifies
the relation between the λ and the design parameters of the turbine
Tip speed ratio is the ratio of the circumferential velocity of the rotor
at the end of the blade.
Fixed Speed WECS: This type of turbine system composes the first
generation of commercially set-up grid-connected turbines. They are
well proven over the ages and have reliable and simple construction.
However, the simple nature of these turbines makes them operable
only at a certain rated wind velocity, thus the name fixed-speed
WECS.

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
Winds at a faster velocity reduce the power coefficient (Cp) of the
turbine. The Cp of a turbine is a unitless constant, particular to the
design of the turbine. It is a ratio of power captured by the turbine
and the available power in the wind due to the flow. The
mathematical representation of the power coefficient is expressed in
Equation (2): Equation (5) demonstrates that the value of Cp is
directly proportional to the ω and inversely to the velocity of wind
stream (νw). This implies that at a constant wind stream velocity,
higher turbine speed yields higher coefficient of power. This equation
demonstrates that with increasing wind velocity the coefficient of
performance decreases. Since power generated by the turbine is a
function of Cp, the power produced decreases as well. Thus, the
drivetrain experienced an increased mechanical stress, while the
power conversion efficiency falls significantly, nullifying the use of
fixed speed turbines in commercial purposes.

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 Classification of Wind Energy Conversion
Systems
Variable Speed WECS: The variable speed WECS were
innovated from the older designs, that is the fixed speed WECS,
considering the limitations of the latter, as utilization of wind
power in power systems started to grow. Components of WECS
are depicted in Figure 2 . The limitations of the older designs
were pronounced in places where the grids were not as strong to
compensate for loss of power at higher speeds of wind. The
development of power electronic converters paved the way for
large-scale applications of the variable speed WECS. Power
electronics are employed to make a connection between the
turbines and the grid. The main advantage obtained by this
system was that the rotor speed can be controlled according to
the speed of wind. Thus, this system is able to maintain the
optimum tip speed ratio by producing even and smooth power
throughout the operational range.

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 Classification of Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
Since the optimum ‘λ’ is maintained, the system can thus maintain
the designed value of Cp, which indicates maximum aerodynamic
efficiency. It is a relatively complex and costly system, however, the
high yield of the system compensates for these shortcomings.
Present wind energy systems use them on a large scale.

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 Thank you

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