MODULE 5

Basic Components of Wind Energy Conversion (WEC) System

Classification of Wind Energy Conversion (WEC) System

1. First, there are two broad classifications:

(i) Horizontal Axis Machines. The axis of rotation is horizontal

and the aeroturbine plane is vertical facing the wind.

(ii) Vertical Axis Machines. The axis of rotation is vertical. The sails or
blades may also be vertical, as on the ancient Persian windmills, or nearly
so, as on the modern Darrievs rotor machine.

2. Then, they be classified according to size as determined by their

useful electrical power output.
Large Scale or Large Size Machines (100 kW and up). Large
wind turbines are those of 100 kW rated capacity or greater. They are
used to generate power for distribution in central power grids. There
are two sub classes:
(a) Single generator at a single site.
(b) Multiple generators sited at several places over an area.

3. As per the type of output power, wind aerogenerators are

classified as:
(i) DC output
(a) DC generator
(b) Alternator rectifier
(ii) AC output
(a) Variable frequency, variable or constant voltage AC.
(b) Constant frequency, variable or constant voltage AC.

4. As per the rotational speed of the aeroturbines, these are classified

as:
(i) Constant Speed with variable pitch blades. This made implies
use of asynchronous generator with its constant frequency output.
(ii) Nearly Constant Speed with fixed pitch blades. This mode
implies aninduction generator.
(iii) Variable Speed with fixed pitch blades. This mode could imply,
for constant frequency output:
(a) Field modulated system
(b) AC-DC-AC link
 (c) Double output induction generator
(d) AC commutator generators
(e) Other variable speed constant frequency generating systems.
5. Wind turbines are also classified as per how the utilization of
output is made:
(i) Battery storage.
(ii) Direct connection to an electromagnetic energy converter.
(iii) Other forms (thermal potential etc.) of storage.
(iv) Interconnection with conventional electric utility grids.
The system engineer seeking to integrate WECS will, naturally
be most interested in the latter case but should be aware that WECS offer
other options as well.

What are the advantages & disadvantages of wind energy conversion system
Advantages of WECS
Advantages of wind energy are:

(i) It is a renewable source of energy.

(ii) Like all forms of solar energy, wind power systems are non- polluting,
soit has no adverse influence on the environment.
(iii) Wind energy systems avoid fuel provision and transport.

(iv) on a small scale upto few kilowatt system is less costly. On a

large scale cost can be competitive with conventional electricity & lower costs
could be achieved by mass production.

Disadvantages of wind energy are:

(i) Wind energy available in dilute & fluctuating in nature

(ii) Unlike water energy wind energy needs storage capacity because of
its irregularity

(iii) Wind energy systems are noisy in operation; a large unit can be
heard many kilometres away.
(iv) Wind power systems have a relatively high overall weight, because
they involve the construction of a high tower and include also a gearbox, a hub
and pitch changer, a generator coupling shaft etc. For large systems a weight of
110 kg/kW (rated) has been estimated.

(v) Large areas are needed, typically, propellers 1 to 3 min diameter,

deliver power in the 30 to 300 W range.

(vi) Present systems are neither maintenance free not-practically

reliable. However, the fact that highly reliable propeller engines are built for aircraft
suggest that the present troubles could be overcome by industrial development
work.
CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF WIND MACHINES

The basic wind energy conversion device is the wind turbine. Although various designs and
configurations exist, these turbines are generally grouped into two types depending on the
position of the rotor axis. Figure 6.8 illustrates the two types of turbines and typical
subsystems for an electricity generation application.

Two important wind rotor configurations are as follows:

1. In vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT), the axis of rotation is vertical with respect to the
ground (and roughly perpendicular to the wind stream), as shown in Figure 6.8(a). The
following are the two main types of VAWT:

(a) Darrieus (which uses lift forces generated by aerofoils)

(b) Savonius (which uses drag forces)

2. Horizontal-axis turbines(HAWT), in which the axis of rotation is horizontal with respect

to the ground (and roughly parallel to the wind stream), as represented in Figure 6.8(b).
Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) can be further divided into three types:

(a) Dutch windmills

(b) Multi-blade water-pumping windmills

(c) High-speed propeller-type wind machines

Sketch the diagram of Horizontal-axis Wind Turbines & explain the function
of its main components

Horizontal-axis Wind Turbines

HAWTs have emerged as the most successful type of turbines. These are being used for
commercial energy generation in many parts of the world.

1. Main Components The constructional details of most common, three-blade rotor,

horizontal axis wind turbine are shown in Fig. Main parts are as follows:
(a) Turbine Blades Turbine blades are made of high-density wood or glass fiber and epoxy
composites. They have airfoil type cross-section. The blades are slightly twisted from the
outer tip to the root to reduce the tendency to stall. In addition to centrifugal force and fatigue
due to continuous vibrations there are many extraneous forces arising from wind turbulence,
gust, gravitational forces and directional changes in the wind, etc.

(b) Hub The central solid portion of the rotor wheel is known as hub. All blades ate attached
to the hub. Mechanism for pitch angle control is also provided inside the hub.

(c) Nacelle The term nacelle is derived from the name for housing containing the engines of
an aircraft. The rotor is attached to nacelle, mounted at the top of a tower. It contains rotor
brakes, gearbox, generator and electrical switchgear and control. Brakes are used to stop the
rotor when power generation is not desired. Gearbox steps up the shaft rpm to suit the
generator. Protection and control functions are provided by switchgear and control block. The
generated electrical power is conducted to ground terminals through a cable.

(d) Yaw Control Mechanism The mechanism to adjust the nacelle around vertical axis to
keep it facing the wind is provided at the base of nacelle

(e) Tower supports nacelle and rotor. For medium and large sized turbines, the tower is
slightly taller than the rotor diameter. In case of small sized turbine, the tower is much larger
than the rotor diameter as the air is erratic at lower heights. Both steel and concrete towers are
being used. The construction can be either tubular or lattice type.

2. Types of Rotors
Depending on the number of blades, wind speed and nature of applications, rotors have been
developed in various types of shapes and sizes.

Large HAWTs have been manufactured with two and three blades. A single-blade rotor, with
a balancing counterweight is economical, has simple controls but it is noisier and produces
unbalanced forces. It is used for low-power applications.

Yaw Control System Adjusting the nacelle about vertical axis to bring the rotor facing the
wind is known as yaw control. The yaw control system continuously orients the rotor in the
direction of wind.

Pitch Control System Pitch of a blade is controlled by rotating it from its root, where it is
connected to the hub. Pitch control mechanism is provided through the hub using hydraulic
jack in the nacelle. The control system continuously adjusts the pitch to obtain optimal
performance.

Discuss the advantages & disadvantages of HAWT

Advantages of Horizontal-axis Wind Turbines

1. Stability: Blades are to the side of the turbines’ centre of gravity, helping stability.

2. Ability to wing warp: This gives the turbine blades the best angle of attack.

3. Ability to pitch the rotor blades in a storm to minimize damage: Variable blade pitch,
which gives the turbine blades the optimum angle of attack. Allowing the angle of attack to
be remotely adjusted gives great control, so the turbine collects the maximum amount of
wind energy for the time of day and season.

4. Tall tower allows access to strong wind in sites with wind shear: In some wind shear sites,
every 10 m up, the wind speed can increase by 20% and the power output by 34%.

5. High efficiency: Since the blades always move perpendicularly to the wind, and receives
power through the whole rotation. In contrast, all VAWT, and the most proposed airborne
wind turbine designs involve various types of reciprocating actions, requiring airfoil surfaces
to backtrack against the wind for part of the cycle. Backtracking against the wind leads to
inherently low efficiency.

6. Tall tower allows placement on uneven land or in offshore locations.

7. Can be sited in forest above tree-line.

8. Most are self-starting

Disadvantages of Horizontal-axis Wind Turbines

1. It is difficult to transport (20% of equipment costs) and install. Tall masts and blades are
more difficult to transport and install. Transportation and installation can now cost 20% of
equipment costs. Further, it requires tall cranes and skilled operators.

2. Strong tower construction is required to support the heavy blades, gearbox, and generator.

3. Effect radar in proximity reflections from tall HAWTs may affect side lobes of radar
installations creating signal clutter, although filtering can suppress it.

4. Local opposition to aesthetics mast height can make them obtrusively visible across large
areas, disrupting the appearance of the landscape, and sometimes creating local opposition.

5. Fatigue and structural failure caused by turbulence downwind variants suffer from fatigue
and structural failure caused by turbulence when a blade passes through the tower’s wind
shadow (for this reason, the majority of HAWTs use an upwind design, with the rotor facing
the wind in front of the tower).

6. Difficult to maintain.

7. They require an additional yaw control mechanism to turn the blades toward the wind

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)

Main Importance of a VAWT are:

(i) it can accept wind from any direction, eliminating the need of yaw control.

(ii) gearbox, generator etc. are located at the ground, thus eliminating the heavy nacelle at the
top of the tower. This simplifies the design and installation of the whole structure, including
tower.

(iii) the inspection and maintenance also gets easier and

(iv) it also reduces the overall cost.

1. Main Components

The constructional details of a vertical axis wind turbine (Darrieus type rotor) are shown in
Fig. 7.23. The details of main components are as follows:
(a) Tower (or Rotor Shaft) The tower is a hollow vertical rotor shaft, which rotates freely
about vertical axis between top and bottom bearings. It is installed above a support structure.
In the absence of any load at the top, a very strong tower is not required, which greatly
simplifies its design. The upper part of the tower is supported by guy ropes. The height of the
tower of a large turbine is around 100 m.

(b) Blades It has two or three thin, curved blades shaped like an eggbeater in profile, with
blades curved in a form that minimizes the bending stress caused by centrifugal forces-the so-
called ‘Troposkien’ profile. The blades have airfoil crosssection with constant chord length.

(c) Support Structure Support structure is provided at the ground to support the weight of
the rotor. Gearbox, generator, brakes, electrical switchgear and controls are housed within
this structure.

2. Types of Rotors Various types or rotors for VAWTs are shown in Fig. 7.24.

The Savonius or S-rotor consists of two half cylinders attached to a vertical axis and facing in
opposite directions to form a two-vaned rotor. It has high starting torque, low speed and low
efficiency. It can extract power even from very slow wind, making it working most of the
time. These are used for low power applications. High starting torque particularly makes it
suitable for pumping applications, using positive displacement pumps

Darrieus rotor is used for large-scale power generation. Power coefficient is considerably
better than S-rotor. It runs at a large tip-speed ratio. The aerodynamic force on the blade
reverses in every revolution causing fatigue. This along with centrifugal force complicates
the design of the blade. One of the drawbacks of this rotor is that it is usually not self-starting.
Movement may be initiated by using electrical generator as motor.

Advantages of Vertical-axis Wind Turbines (VAWT)

1. The turbine generator and gearbox can be placed lower to the ground, thus facilitating
easy maintenance and low construction costs.

2. The main advantage of VAWT is it does not need to be pointed towards the wind to be
effective. In other words, they can be used on the sites with high variable wind direction.

3. Since VAWT are mounted close to the ground, they are more bird friendly and do not
destroy the wildlife.

4. VAWT is quiet, efficient, economical, and perfect for residential energy production,
especially in urban environments.

Disadvantages of Vertical-axis Wind Turbines (VAWT)

Despite the abovementioned advantages, VAWT suffer from the following serious
drawbacks.

1. As the VAWT are mounted close to the ground, less wind speed is available to harness,
which means less production of electricity.

2. VAWT are very difficult to erect on towers, which means they are installed on base, such
as ground or building.

3. Another disadvantage of VAWT is the inefficiency of dragging each blade back through
the wind

Generating System

The basic components of a wind electric conversion system are shown in Fig.
 Aeroturbines convert wind energy into rotary mechanical energy. A
mechanical interface, consisting of a step-up gear and a suitable coupling
transmits the energy to an electrical generator. The output of this generator
is connected to the load or system grid.
The controller senses the wind direction, wind speed, power output of the
generator and other necessary performance quantities of the system and
initiates appropriate control signals to take suitable corrective actions. The
system should be protected from excessive temperature rise of the
generator, electrical faults and extra wind conditions.
The choice of an electrical generator and control method to be
employed can be decided by consideration of the following three factors:
(i) the basis of operation i.e., either constant tip speed or constant tip
speed ratio.
(ii) the wind-power rating of the turbine and
(iii) the type of load demand e.g., battery connection.

Wind power ratings can bedivided into three convenient grouping, small to 1 kW,
medium to 50 kW and large 200 kW to megawatt frame size.

Electrical generators types applicable to each of these ratings are:

Small-permanent, magnet, d.c. generators.

Medium-permanent magnet, d.c. generator, induction generator, synchronous
generator.
Large-induction generator, synchronous generator.

Schemes for Electric generation

Several schemes for electric generation have been developed. These schemes
can be broadly classified under three categories:
(i) Constant speed constant frequency systems (CSCF)
(ii) Variable speed constant frequency systems
(iii) Variable speed variable frequency systems
(1) Constant speed constant frequency system (CSCF). Constant speed
drive has been used for large generators connected directly to the grid
where constant frequency operation is essential.
(a) Synchronous Generator. For such machines the requirement of constant
speed is very rigid and only minor fluctuations about 1 % for short durations
(fraction of a second) could be allowed. Synchronization of wind driven
generatorwith power grid also will pose problems with gusty winds.
(b) An induction generator is a type of electrical generator that is mechanically
and electrically similar to an induction motor. Induction generators produce
electrical power when their shaft is rotated faster than the synchronous
frequency of the equivalent induction motor.
Induction generators are often used in wind turbines and some
 micro-hydro installations. Induction generators are mechanically and
electrically simpler than other generator types. They are also more rugged,
requiring no brushes or commutator.
(ii) Variable speed constant frequency scheme. (VSCF Scheme).
Variable speed drive is typical for most small wind generators used in
autonomous applications, generally producing variable frequency and
variable voltage output. The variable speed operation of wind electric
system yield higher outputs for both low and high wind speeds. This results
in higher annual energy yields per rated installed kW capacity. Both
horizontal axis and vertical axis turbines will exhibit this gain under
variable speed operation.
The popular schemes to obtain constant frequency output are as
follows:
(a) AC-DC-AC link. With the advent of high powered thyristors and high voltage
d.c. transmission systems, a.c. output of the 3-phase alternator is rectified using a
bridge rectifier and then converted back to a.c. using line commutated inverters.
They utilise an a.c. source (power lines) which periodicallyreverses polarity and causes
the commutation to occur naturally. Since frequency is automatically fixed by the
power line, they are also known as synchronous inverters. The block diagram of the
system is shown in Fig. (6.32).

(b) Double output Induction generator. In this system a slip ring induction motor is used as
shown in fig.

Rotor power output at slip frequency is converted to line frequency power by

rectification & inversion output power is obtained both from stator & rotor &
hence this device is called Double output Induction generator
(c) A.C. commutation generator. This system is also known as Scherbius
system employs two polyphase windings in the stator and a commutator
winding on the rotor. Basic problems in employing this device for wind
energy conversion are the cost and the additional maintenance and the care
required by the commutator and the brush gear.

(iii)Variable Speed Variable Frequency (VSVF) Schemes. Since

resistive heating loads are essentially frequency insensitive, the a.c.
generator can be effected at a variable frequency corresponding to the
changing derive speed. For this purpose capacitor excited (self-excited)
squirrel case induction machines can be conveniently used. Such a scheme
is shown in Fig. (6.34).

These systems are gaining importance for stand alone wind power
applications. The magnitude and frequency of the emf depends on the value
of the load impedance, prime-mover speed and excitation capacitance.

Energy Storage
 Storage adds flexibility to use of WECS in that it permits peak
shaving and capacity saving as well as fuel saving.
 Storage makes it possible to deliver electric load power demand
during times when wind is below normal or non-existent.
 It improves the reliability of the wind electric system. The energy
may be used in a variety of forms, e.g., as heat, mechanical,
electrical chemical and magnetic.
 For wind turbines with power outputs upto about 20 kW, direct-
current generators can be used to charge batteries directly. For
higher powers, alternating current, generators are required and the
current must be rectified for battery charging.
 The chemical reaction taking place in the cell or battery when it is
charged is reversed when the cell is discharged. Thus in the charged
cell, electrical energy is stored as chemical energy, which can be
recovered as electrical energy when the cell is discharged.
 In water power storage or mechanical storage, high-power
aerogenerators are integrated with an electric utility, a favorable
situation would be operation of several wind turbines in connection
with a hydroelectric power plant.
 Another alternative; for possibly storing energy, is to store the
energy in a volume of compressed air.

Derive relationship between Torque coefficient C T, Power coefficient CP &

tip speed ratio λ
A wind turbine will always operate at a speed that produces enough torque
to balance the load's torque requirement exactly. Hence, if the
characteristics of both the load and the rotor torque speed are known, the
 system performance can be defined.
Torque coefficient CT is defined as

where, T = shaft torque, and Tmax = torque at maximum efficiency.

The maximum conceivable torque T on a turbine rotor would occur if the

maximum thrust could some how be applied at the blade tip furthest from
the axis. For a propeller turbine of radius R

For a working machine producing a shaft torque T, the torque coefficient CT

is defined by

We know the tip speed, ratio λ is defined as the ratio of the outer blade tip
speed Vt to the unperturbed wind speed Vi;

where R is the outer blade radius and ω is the rotational frequency.

Now substituting for R in Tmax formulae

= Pa λ/ω
where Pa is the power in the wind.
The shaft power is the powerderived from the turbine Pt, so

Now from equation Pt = CpPa, and thus using above equation

C P Pa = C T Pa λ
CP = CT λ
By the Betz criterion the maximum value of CP is 0.593, so in the 'ideal' case

The torque coefficient CT is numerically equal to CP/ω, where ω is the

rotational speed radian/second. Machines with higher speeds have a slightly
higher maximum CP but a much lower CT, particularly for starting.