WIND TURBINES

STUDY ABOUT RESIDENTIAL WIND TURBINES

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Prepared by 4th year Mechanical Engineering Students
Lebanese University Faculty of Engineering Roomieh
EliaTohme
WadihKhater Jamil Chibany
INSTRUCTOR
Elias Kinnab, PhD
Professor
Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Definition:
A wind turbine is a machine for converting the kinetic
energy in wind into mechanical energy.
Types of wind turbines:
Windmills: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

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 VERTICAL WIND TURBINES

FLAPPING PANEL WIND DARRIEUS WIND

 SAVONIUS WIND TURBINE TURBINE TURBINE
It is useful for grinding grain, pumping This illustration shows the wind coming It is characterized by its C-shaped rotor
water, and many other tasks, but its slow from one direction, but the wind can blades which give it its eggbeater appear­
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rotational speeds make it unsuitable for actually come from any direction and the ance. It is normally built with two or
generating electricity on a large-scale. wind turbine will work the same way. three blades.
 HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINES

SHROUDED WIND
UP-WIND TURBINES DOWN-WIND TURBINES TURBINES
Some wind turbines are designed to Other wind turbines operate in a downwind Some turbines have an added structural
operate in an upwind mode (with the mode so that the wind passes the tower design feature called an augmenter. The
blades upwind of the tower). Smaller before striking the blades. Without a tail augmenter is intended to increase the
wind turbines use a tail vane to keep the vane, the machine rotor naturally tracks the amount of wind passing through the
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blades facing into the wind. wind in a downwind mode. blades.
 CHARACTERISTICS

Turbine size
Cut-in Speed Cut-out Speed

Rated Speed
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 Betz’s Law

According to Betz's law, no turbine can capture more than

16/27 (59.3%) of the kinetic energy in wind

( )( )
2
power 1 Ud Ud
η= = 1− 1+
1 3 2 Uu Uu 7
ρ At U u
2
 EQUATIONS

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Available Wind Power: P   a AT V 3
2

PT
Cp 
Wind Turbine Power and Efficiency 1
 a AT V 3
2
1
F   a AT V
Wind Turbine Torque 2
1
T   a AT V 2
2
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 Tr
CT 
1
Rotor Torque  a AT V 2T
2

R 2NR
Vrw  
V V
Rotor Tip Relative Speed
CP R
 Vrw 
CT V
ρ = Density of air = 1.2 kg/m3 (.0745 lb/ft3), at sea level, 20 oC and dry air
A = swept area = (radius)2, m2
V = Wind Velocity, m/sec.
ρ = 1.16 kg/m3, at 1000 feet elevation
ρ = 1.00 kg/m3, at 5000 feet elevation 9
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 ENERGY CONVERSION
Wind energy is created when the atmosphere is heated
unevenly by the Sun, some patches of air become warmer
than others. These warm patches of air rise, other air
rushes in to replace them – thus, wind blows.
A wind turbine extracts energy from moving air by slowing
the wind down, and transferring this energy into a
spinning shaft, which usually turns a generator to produce
electricity. The power in the wind that’s available for
harvest depends on both the wind speed and the area
that’s swept by the turbine blades.

• the wind is used to generate mechanical energy or electrical energy.

• Wind turbines converts the kinetic energy of the wind into
Hot air goes up
and creates low mechanical energy first and then into electricity if needed.
pressure region
• The energy in the wind turns propeller like blades around a rotor
shaft.
Cooler air moves
from high pressure • It is the design of the blades that is primarily responsible for
region
converting the kinetic energy into mechanical energy.
• The rate of change of angular momentum of air at inlet and outlet11
of
a blade gives rise to the mechanical torque.
 Power Generated by Wind Turbine
Wind turbines with rotors (turbine blades and hub) that
are about 8 feet in diameter (50 square feet of swept
area) may peak at about 1,000 watts (1 kilowatt; kW),
and generate about 75 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month
with a 10 mph average wind speed.

Homes typically use 500-1,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity

per month. Depending upon the average wind speed in
the area this will require a wind turbine rated in the range
5-15 kilowatts, which translates into a rotor diameter of
14 to 26 feet.

Doubling the tower height increases the expected wind

speeds by 10% and the expected power by 34%.

doubling the altitude may increase wind speed by 20% to

60%.

Tower heights approximately two to three times

the blade length have been found to balance material 12
costs of the tower against better utilization of the more
expensive active components.
 THE INSIDE OF A WIND TURBINE:
Nacelle
Anemometer Blades

Wind vane Yaw drive

Brake Controller

Tower Wind direction

Gear box Low-speed shaft

Pitch Rotor
Generator High-speed shaft
Yaw motor 13
RESIDENTIAL WIND TURBINE

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 BLADES DESIGN: NUMBER OF BLADES

NUMBER OF BLADES : NUMBER OF BLADES : NUMBER OF BLADES :

ONE TWO THREE
 Blades easier to install because entire rotor can be  Advantages & disadvantages similar to one  Balance of gyroscopic forces.
assembled on ground.
blade.
 Captures 10% less energy than two blade  Slower rotation.
 Need teetering hub and or shock absorbers
design.
because of gyroscopic imbalances.  Increases gearbox & transmission costs.
 Ultimately provide no cost savings.
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 Capture 5% less energy than three blade  More aesthetic, less noise, fewer bird
Higher speed means more noise, visual, and wildlife
impacts. designs. strikes.
 BLADES DESIGN: BLADE COMPOSITION

WOOD METAL FIBERGLASS

 Strong, light weight, cheap,  Steel: Heavy & expensive.  Lightweight, strong, inexpensive, good fatigue
characteristics
abundant, flexible.
 Aluminum: Lighter-weight and easy to Variety of manufacturing processes:
 Solid plank. work with.  Cloth over frame.
 Laminates.  Pultrusion .
 Expensive. 16
 Veneers.  Filament winding to produce spars.
 Subject to metal fatigue.
 Composites.  Most modern large turbines use fiberglass.
 Lift/Drag Forces Experienced by Turbine Blades

Airfoil Shape

Fastest
Twist & Taper Faster

Fast

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Tip-Speed Ratio

There is an optimum angle of attack which creates the

highest lift to drag ratio.
Because angle of attack is dependent on wind speed,
there is an optimum tip-speed ratio
TSR=Ω𝑅/𝑉

Performance over Range of Tip Speed Ratios

• Power Coefficient Varies with Tip Speed Ratio.

• Characterized by Cp vs Tip Speed Ratio Curve.

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 Rotor Solidity
 Solidity is the ratio of total rotor platform area to total
swept area.

1-Low solidity (0.10) = high speed, low torque 2-High solidity (>0.80) = low speed, high torque
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 Location for a small or micro-scale wind turbine

Many residential areas are not suitable for wind turbines

as buildings and trees shade the wind and create
turbulence which can reduce the efficiency and lifespan of
a turbine considerably. Generally speaking, the ideal
location is on top of a high mast on a south westerly
facing hill with gently sloping sides surrounded by clear
countryside which is free from obstructions such as trees,
houses or other buildings. Here the wind flows relatively
smoothly and steadily enabling it to drive wind turbines
with greater efficiency.

Ideally, the turbine should be 10m above any obstacle

within 100m. As a rule of thumb, a wind generator should
be installed no closer to an obstacle than at least ten
times the object's height, and on the downwind side. The
preferred distance is twenty times the height of the 20

object.
 Calculation of the energy produced over a year:

Here is a chart that estimates annual energy production

for different sized turbines in different annual mean wind
speeds.

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The figure below shows the data from which the power curve (the green line) was obtained as
an average of the binned power and wind speed readings. The peak power is obviously
electronically regulated so that there is a sharp cut-off at 5.2 kilowatts.

The table below shows the equivalent annual energy production in kilowatt-hours obtained by
multiplying the mean power results by 8,760 - the number of hours in a year.

Annual energy production in kilowatt-hours

Mean wind speed (m/s) = 5 6 7 8 9 10
Power calculation 8,669 13,101 17,378 21,222 24,544 27,341
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Economical Approach:
Leading Manufacturers of Wind Turbine:
1. Vestas (Denmark) - 35,000 MW
2. Enercon (Germany) - 19,000 MW
3. Gamesa (Spain) – 16,000 MW
4. General Electric (USA, Germany) – 15,000 MW
5. Siemens (Denmark, Germany) – 8,800 MW
6. Suzlon (India) – 6,000 MW
7. Nordex (Germany) – 5,400 MW
8. Acciona (spain) – 4,300 MW
9. Repower (Germany) – 3,000 MW
10. Goldwind (china) – 2,889

1.0 – 2.5 million per MW for large scale

- Most commercial wind turbine are in the range of 2 MW
$3,000 – 5000 per kW in range less than 10kW
- $15,000 - $25,000 for residential home application
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References:
American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). 2013a. AWEA U.S.
Wind Industry Annual Market Report: Year Ending 2012.
Washington, D.C.: American Wind Energy Association.
Anderson, D. A., Tannehill, J. C., Pletcher, R. H., 1984:
Computational Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer. New York:
Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, pp. 599.
Wind Turbines Theory - The Betz, Equation and Optimal Rotor Tip
Speed Ratio, Magdi Ragheb1 and Adam M. Ragheb2,
1Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering,
2Department of Aerospace Engineering
en.wikipedia.org
IEEE PES Wind Plant Collector System Design Working Group
National Energy Education Development Project (public domain)
University of Tennessee, October 28, 2009 at 11:26 from IEEE
Xplore
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 216 Talbot
Laboratory, USA
www.telosnet.com
www.whirlopedia.com
www.windenergy.gov
Xcel Energy and EnerNex Corp. 2011. Public Service Company of
Colorado 2 GW and 3 GW Wind Integration Cost Study. Denver, 24
Colorado: Xcel Energy.
THANKS FOR YOUR
ATTENTION

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