Wind Turbines

CO: Understand the issues related to the solar technologies and wind topologies.

Introduction, Origin of Winds, Nature of Winds, Classification of Wind Turbines -Wind

Turbine Aerodynamics - Basic principles of wind energy extraction, Extraction of wind
turbine power, Weibull Distribution, Wind power generation Curve, Betz’s Law.

Wind :

Wind is the movement of air, caused by the uneven heating of the Earth by the sun and the
Earth's own rotation.

Origin of Wind

Wind is simply the air in motion. Usually when we are talking about the wind it is the
horizontal motion we are concerned about. If you hear a forecast of west winds of 10 to 20
mph that means the horizontal winds will be 10 to 20 mph FROM the west. Although we
cannot actually see the air moving we can measure its motion by the force that it applies on
objects. For example, on a windy day leaves rustling or trees swaying indicate that the wind
is blowing. Officially, a wind vane measures the wind direction and an anemometer
measures the wind speed. The vertical component of the wind is typically very small
(except in thunderstorm updrafts) compared to the horizontal component, but is very
important for determining the day to day. weather. Rising air will cool, often to saturation,
and can lead to clouds and precipitation. Sinking air warms causing evaporation of clouds
and thus fair weather.
You have probably seen a surface map marked with H's and L's which indicate high and low
pressure centers. Surrounding these "highs" and "lows" are lines called isobars. "Iso"
means "equal" and a "bar" is a unit of pressure so an isobar means equal pressure. We
connect these areas or equal pressure with a line. Everywhere along each line is constant
pressure. The closer the isobars are packed together the stronger the pressure gradient is.
Pressure gradient is the difference in pressure between high and low pressure areas. Wind
speed is directly proportional to the pressure gradient. This means the strongest winds
are in the areas where the pressure gradient is the greatest.

There are three forces that cause the wind to move as it does. All three forces work
together at the same time.

1. The pressure gradient force (Pgf) is a force that tries to equalize pressure differences.
This is the force that causes high pressure to push air toward low pressure. Thus air would
flow from high to low pressure if the pressure gradient force was the only force acting on it.
2.Because of the earth's rotation, there is second force, the Coriolis force that affects the
direction of wind flow. Named after Gustav-Gaspard Coriolis, the French scientist who
described it mathematically in 1835, this force is what causes objects in the northern
hemisphere to turn to the right and objects in the southern hemisphere to turn to the left.

3. There is one other force, called Friction, which is the final component to determining the
flow of wind. The surface of the earth is rough and it not only slows the wind down but it
also causes the diverging winds from highs and converging winds near lows.
Properties / Behavior of Wind

The wind is the vertical and horizontal motion of air masses in the atmosphere. Global
winds are caused by pressure differences, due to the non uniform heating of the Earth
surface by solar radiation. The different pressure zones are due to the vertical movement of
the air. For example, at the Equator the strong solar radiation warms the ground surface.
The air in contact with the ground surface gets warmer an lighter, rising up, generating a
low pressure zone. At cold places, for examples the poles, the air is falling generating
(relatively) high pressure zones (Figure 2.1). Usually high pressure zones are characterized
by good weather conditions while low pressure zones are more rainy.

The difference in pressure between geographical areas gives rise to a pressure gradient
force. The pressure gradient force is perpendicular to the isobar lines, hence the air mass
start the motion in the opposite direction of the pressure gradient. This large scale motion
is also influenced by the Earth rotation which causes, among others, the Coriolis force. For
example, a particle of air moving from the latitude 1 towards latitude 2 (figure 2.2, valid for
northern hemisphere) have a velocity component parallel to the equator which is greater
than the same velocity component of the particles at the latitude 2. This determine that the
moving air particle is leading the other particles. For an external observer this looks like
that the particle turns right. A particle moving in the other direction (from latitude 1
towards latitude 2) will be lagging the other particles at latitude 1, hence it is, again,
turning right respect to the direction of motion (Figure 2.2).
The Coriolis force deflects the wind to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left
in the southern hemisphere until the equilibrium between the pressure gradient force and
the Coriolis force is reached (point c of figure 2.3).

When there is a balance between the pressure gradient force and the Coriolis force the
wind is called the geostrophic wind. This happens often above the ABL (Atmospheric
Boundary Layer), but not always since the isobars are curved contours (Figure 2.3), which
also gives rise to centrifugal force.
The circulation from the Equator to the poles is in the reality divided in several cells
(Hadley cells, figure 2.4) because the air that rise at the equator, on the way to the poles
cools down (thanks to the expansion and to heat exchange) and fells towards the ground.

Fig.ure: 2.4 Earth Global Circulation

In the atmospheric boundary layer the Coriolis force also gives rise to a change of direction
with height (wind veer), clockwise moving upwards: at the surface the roughness of the
terrain generates a drag force that alter the equilibrium between pressure gradient force
and Coriolis force. In the new equilibrium condition, the drag force and the Coriolis force
are counterbalanced by the the pressure gradient force, and the wind direction is to the left
of the wind direction at the top of the ABL.

Hills and mountains generates local increases and reductions of the wind speed. The sea
has a large heat capacity, therefore the land warms up much more rapidly than the sea.
Ocean streams move heat from one region to another. Local heating or cooling can produce
seasonal winds (like monsoons in India) or daily winds (like katabatic wind in Chile), or
other variations of wind speed.

Classification of Wind Turbine

There are two basic types of wind turbines:
 Horizontal-axis turbines
 Vertical-axis turbines
The size of wind turbines varies widely. The length of the blades is the biggest factor in
determining the amount of electricity a wind turbine can generate. Small wind turbines
that can power a single home may have an electricity generating capacity of 10 kilowatts
(kW). The largest, utility-scale wind turbines in operation have electricity generating
capacities of around 15,000 kilowatts (15 megawatts), and larger turbines are in
development. Large turbines are often grouped together to create wind power plants,
or wind farms, that provide power to electricity grids.

Horizontal-axis turbines Vertical-axis turbines

Horizontal-axis turbines are similar to propeller airplane engines

Horizontal-axis turbines have blades like airplane propellers, and they commonly have
three blades. The largest horizontal-axis turbines are as tall as 20-story buildings and have
blades more than 100 feet long. Taller turbines with longer blades generate more
electricity. Nearly all of the wind turbines currently in use are horizontal-axis turbines.

Vertical-axis turbines look like egg beaters

Vertical-axis turbines have blades that are attached to the top and the bottom of a vertical
rotor. The most common type of vertical-axis turbine—the Darrieus wind turbine, named
after the French engineer Georges Darrieus who patented the design in 1931—looks like a
giant, two-bladed egg beater. Some versions of the vertical-axis turbine are 100 feet tall
and 50 feet wide. Very few vertical-axis wind turbines are in use today because they do not
perform as well as horizontal-axis turbines.