Joseph R. BoogPhysics 3150

WIND POWER

TEMPERATURE IN SYSTEM EARTH.

[1]

AVERAGE WIND “HOT” SPOTS.

[9]

The picture on the left is the macroscopic tendency of wind patterns on Earth.These are the major zones of wind movement.The picture on the right is lower level (200m or less height from ground)

TURBINES There are many types of turbines as you will soon

see however as far as principals for removing energy form the wind there are really only two.

Lifting principals. Where blades are shaped such that “lift” is created in the direction of wanted rotation. Much like an air plane.

Drag principals. Simply work off of “cupping” the wind or allowing the wind to push the blade.

HAWT – HORIZONTAL AXIS[3] Evanston, WY. [1] Typically 20% efficient

VAWT – VERTICAL AXIS DARIUS[1] At most are 50% as efficient as the HAWTAlso known as a Darius.

LOOP WING – NEW HYBRID[10] Very promising. 40% efficient at 8m/s Gains energy from front and behind andIs virtually silent. Also starts moving at a very low 1.6 m/sHowever needs a proprietary DC motor to deal with torque.

WINDMOTOR’S[4] Called WindMotors they are small scalable and 100% recyclable. They areCost effective and simple. Advantages are low startup speed of around 1 m/sAnd the easy of scaling and operation. Great for saving or greatly droppingHousing electric consumption.

VAWT - SAVONIUS[1] This is another version of a VAWT however it is different enough to be aIn a different category. These are known as a Savonius. They are typically used whenReliability and cost are the primary concern and not power output. They are a dragStyle device meaning the extract much less energy. Most anemometers are thisStyle.

BETZ LAW. THEORETICAL LIMITS

[2] Wind Power. A Danish Company.

Theoretical Earth wind potential at 72 TW.

MORE EFFICIENCY PLEASE… Betz Law at 16/27th’s or 59.3% Placing turbines in a group to

average out wind bursts and variation.

Install turbines by the Park efficiency concepts to avoid any interference between adjacent turbines.

Capitalize on bottlenecks and hills. Minimize shearing.

Total Earth “Potential Energy”

Using Betz and “Earth Wind Potential”Theoretical potential at 42.7 TW

POWER GENERATION Large Scale

Typically Asynchronous induction motors are used to generate power. They are self limiting and perfect for wind applications

Most times high AC voltage (300v to 600v) is created directly from the generator and is rectified, filtered, synchronized and fed back into the grid.

Small Scale Typically Asynchronous 3 phase motors are used.

They have onboard rectifiers that output unregulated 12 to 48 vDC. These are perfect for home installations and integration with 12vDC systems.

PRO’S TO WIND POWER Free 24 hour Energy minus install costs and

maintenance. Negative Emissions effect. Meaning in 9 months

operational time they have made enough power to offset the power needed to create it [3].

Very small land foot print. Farmers could farm around the base of one.

Cheaper per kWh than Nuclear and competitive with Coal power.

Simple enough to build your own. Growing community of people believe they add to

the landscapes aesthetics.

CON’S TO WIND POWER Major downfall is intermittent or variable output. This

is the major factor limiting 100% wind power. Noisy depending on make/model. Typically 40 to 60

decibels or a refrigerators hum to someone practicing the piano.

Growing community disliking their aesthetics Hazard to flying creatures. However realize that

statistically more birds and bats are killed by cars than windmills[7].

For large scale models they are costly to install.

HORN’S REEF – OFFSHORE CASE STUDY

HORNS REEF - OFFSHORE

2002: 160MW2009: 209MW

GLOBAL FORECAST

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HIGHLIGHTS OF WIND 2008.  Worldwide capacity reaches 122 MW. Nearly 28MW added in 2008 Wind grows 28% in 2008 All wind turbines installed by the end of 2008 worldwide are generating 260

TWh per annum, equaling approx. 1.5 % of the global electricity consumption The wind sector became a global job generator and has created 440,000 jobs

worldwide. The wind sector represented in 2008 a turnover of 40 billion €. For the first time in more than a decade, the USA took over the number one

position from Germany in terms of total installations. China continues its role as the most dynamic wind market in the year 2008,

more than doubling the installations for the third time in a row, with today more than 12 GW of wind turbines installed.

North America and Asia catch up in terms of new installations with Europe which shows stagnation.

Based on accelerated development and further improved policies, a global capacity of more than 1’500’000 MW is possible by the year 2020. 

CONCLUSION Realize unless the leveling factors, or surging factors of

wind power are solved wind power sadly may never be a primary 100% source for energy. Ways to solve this are : 1) have many windmills tied together. The surge when averaged

over many windmills over an area is much less. 2) Store energy in any means possible

Batteries, Pumped Water, Flywheels, or new storage technologies. Thus far the best combination of turbine geometry,

motor design, and installation is the horizontal axis three bladed wind work horse.

The global out look is excellent. Wind power is increasing with leaps and bounds.

CONCLUSION CONTINUED Currently wind power is an excellent fuel saver and

is critically un-utilized. Study shows we currently could supplement 70% of current power consumption using wind essentially reducing power generation emissions by approx 60%. [5]

It is the fastest growing energy section [2]. The ultimate goal is to be independent of oil and

coal energies and move on to renewable long term energy sources.

Wind power can be a key part of the hybrid power generation model needed to break the addiction.

REFERENCES [1] wikipedia.org [2] windpower.org [3] vestas.com [4] haikoenergy.com [5] totalalternativepower.com [6] wwindea.org [7] world-wind-energy.info [8] wind-energie.de [9] howstuffworks.com [10] loopwing.co.jp [11] gwec.net

QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION ASK AWAY!

Turns out that the optimal case of efficiency with generators, properties of wind and manufacturing costs is HAWT’s with 3 blades.

Also because of Inertial moments it is a very poor decision to have an even number of blades. Will wreak havoc on bearings because of wobble.

Less blades mean less torque and more speed. In the case of power generation this is optimal.

More blades equals more torque, slower speed and more stress on the mechanical parts. Configuration is good for slow high torque applications like grinding grain, or pumping water.

WHY DO WE ONLY SEE 3 BLADE HAWT’S?

[2] Wind Power.

Hydroelectric Nuclear Coal Natural Gas Wind Geothermal Biomass Fuel Cell Solar$0.00$0.05$0.10$0.15$0.20$0.25$0.30$0.35

Low High

Cost per KwH for different energy types.

COST AND WATTAGE

0 5 10 15 20 25 300

100200300400500600700800 Kw vs Wind velocity