Wind Energy

Under the Supervision of:

Prof. S.K. Shukla
Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT (BHU), Varanasi-221005
Introduction
 Wind – Atmospheric air in motion.
 It has become an energy source.
 Sun produces 4 x 1026 joules of electromagnetic radiation every second
that is radiated into space.
 About 2% of the sunlight that falls on the earth is transformed to wind
energy.
 Wind provides around 1% of the world’s electricity.
 Global installed wind-generation capacity onshore and offshore has
increased by a factor of almost 75 in the past two decades, jumping
from 7.5 gigawatts (GW) in 1997 to some 564 GW by 2018,
according to IRENA's latest data.
 Global 2019: 594 GW onshore & 28 GW offshore
India: 37.5 GW installed capacity
onshore
Origin of Winds
 Global Winds:
Primary force for global winds is developed due to differential heating of earth
at equator and polar regions. In this mechanism, equator region goes through net
gain and polar region goes through net loss of heat.
Spinning of earth about its axis produces Coriolis force, which is responsible for
deviation of air currents toward west.
 Local Winds:
The differential heating of land and water bodies due to solar radiation. During
day, solar energy is converted into sensible heat for land portion whereas the
water bodies does react like land surface due to its evaporation phenomenon and
eventually it causes temperature difference.
The differential heating of slope on the hill slides and that of low lands. In this
mechanism sloped hill get heated and cooled more quickly than low land side.
Beaufort scale
The Beaufort scale, officially
known as the Beaufort wind force
scale, is a descriptive table. It
depicts the force of wind by a
series of numbers from 0 to 12.

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane

Wind Scale is a rating system that
classifies hurricanes based on
their sustained wind speed.
Wind as a source of energy
 Wind energy is produced by the movement of air (wind) and converted into
power for human use. Wind has been used as a source of energy for more
than a thousand years, but was replaced by fossil fuels for much of the 20th
century. Today, wind is making a comeback as a source of electricity and
power.
 For thousands of years, people have harnessed the energy of the wind. Five
thousand years ago, wind-powered boats transported people and cargo
along the Nile River. Thousands of years before air conditioning, ancient
engineers used a series of windows and thin slats—a process called
natural ventilation—to provide cool breezes to people inside homes or other
buildings. The ancient Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria is credited with
designing the world’s first windmill.
Major application of wind power

➢ Application requires mechanical power

• Wind power
• Heating
• Sea transport

➢ As off grid electrical power source

➢ As grid connected power source

 Wind mill and Wind turbine
Windmills function similarly to
wind turbines, and ancient cultures
had both horizontal-axis windmills
and vertical-axis windmills. In
fact, the only difference between
windmills and wind turbines is in
how the energy they harness is
used.
Wind turbines generate electricity.
Windmills were originally
designed to grind (mill) grain and
pump water.
 Vertical axis Horizontal axis
➢ Rotating axis of the wind turbine is ➢ Rotating axis of the wind turbine is
vertical or perpendicular to the ground. horizontal or parallel to the ground
➢ Primarily used in big wind application
➢ Primarily used in small wind projects and
➢ Able to produce more electricity from a
residential applications.
given amount of wind.
➢ Powered by wind coming from all 360 ➢ Yaw mechanism
degrees, no yaw mechanism. ➢ Disadvantage of horizontal axis however is
➢ Ideal for installations where wind that it is generally heavier and it does not
conditions are not consistent, or due to produce well in turbulent winds
public ordinances the turbine cannot be
placed high enough to benefit from steady
wind
A B C A= Savonius rotor
B= Modern turbine
C= H-Darrieus rotor
Darrieus Rotor-
Vertical axis wind Modern Horizontal
turbine wind turbine

Savonius Rotor’s cross sectional

view
Comparison of HAWT and VAWT
Process of Wind Creation
 Wind is caused by differences in the atmospheric pressure i.e. when a
difference in atmospheric pressure exists, air moves from the higher to the
lower pressure area, resulting in winds of various speeds.
 The two major driving factors of wind patterns are the differential heating
between the equator and the poles (difference in absorption of solar energy )
and the rotation of the planet.
 Each second, the sun releases an enormous amount of radiant energy into the
solar system.
 Some of it reaches the earth:
➢ strikes the equator directly (giving it the most radiation)
➢ Diffuses along the Northern and Southern Hemisphere
➢ the poles receive the lowest amount of radiation
Variation of wind speed with height
• Wind velocity at the earth surface is zero.
• As height increases from the ground, due to minimization
of shear force due to frictional force that comes due to air
motion.

• Gradient height: It is the height along which the mean

air speed keep on changes. Around 2000 m from the
ground mean speed of air keep on changes from zero to
maximum. The boundary layer formed during this zone is
known as Planetary boundary layer that consist of
Surface layer and Ekman layer.

• Free Atmosphere: The region where mean wind speed

keep on constant i.e. its value does not affected by the
surface conditions.
In the surface layer the variation of mean wind velocity can be neglected.
Whereas, in Ekman layer the wind velocity is calculated by Prandtl logarithmic
law model.

V is characteristic speed; d is zero plane displacement; its magnitude little less

than the height of local obstruction; z0 is roughness length; (z0+d) is the height
of local disturbance.
 The standard wind speed are often taken at a height of 10 m of the ground,
but wind turbines often operate at a height above this. A simple empirical
law model can be used to estimate the wind speed uz at a height z relative
to that available at standard refence height H.

 Alpha depend upon surface roughness and the range of height covered, is
taken as 0.14 for open sites, it varies with season and time. H is usually
taken as 10 m. Good sites should have low value of alpha.
 Best site are those where available wind speed lies between 5-25 m/s for
electric power generation.
 Terminology
 Blade Element: Incremental cross section of the rotor blade. Width of the
blade or distance from one edge of the blade toot eh other.
 Wind velocity, u0 : Velocity of free air in the neighborhood of a wind turbine
(at a distance where the disturbance due to the rotation of a turbine does not
reach).
 Incident wind velocity, u1: Velocity of air passing through the rotor, i.e., the
velocity at which the wind strikes the blade. It is slightly less than u0.
 Blade element linear velocity , v: Linear circumferential velocity of the blade
element due to rotation of blade.
 Angular speed-
 Angle of attack (angle of incidence, 𝛼): Angle between central of the blade
element and relative wind velocity vr.
 Blade setting angle (or pitch angle, 𝛾):
Angle between central line of the blade
element and direction of linear motion of
the blade element or angle between relative
wind velocity vr and normal to the plane of
blade.
 Drag force:
 Lift force:
 Axial force:
 Tangential force:
 Solidity: Solidity is defined as the ratio of
the projected area of the rotor blades on the
rotor plane to the swept area of the rotor.
Betz Criteria for maximum efficiency of wind
turbine =(16/27)= 59.3 %
 Parts of wind turbine

i. Blades
ii. Rotor
iii. Pitch system
iv. Low speed shaft
v. Brake
vi. Gear box
vii. High speed shaft
viii. Generator
ix. Controller
x. Anemometer
xi. Wind vane
xii. Yaw drive
➢ Turbine blades:
• These 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.
• Modern wind turbines have two or three blades.
These two/three blade rotor HAWT are also known
as propeller type wind turbine.
• Compared to two-blade design, the three blade
machine has smoother output and balanced
gyroscopic force.
• Adding third blade increase the power output by
about 5% only, while the weight and cost of rotor
increases by 50%, thus giving a diminished rate of
return for additional 50% weight and cost.
➢ Hub:
All blades are attached to the hub. The mechanism for pitch angle is also
provided inside the hub.
➢ Nacelle:
It is housing that contain rotor brakes, gearbox, generator and electrical
switchgear and control. Gearbox steps up the shaft rpm to suit the generator.
➢ 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.
➢ Tower:
It support the nacelle and rotor. For medium and large sized turbines, the tower
is slightly taller than the rotor diameter. The tower vibrational and resulting
fatigue cycle under wind speed fluctuation are avoided careful design.
Wind turbine Aerodynamics
 Energy available in wind
If u0 is the speed of free wind in unperturbed state, the volume of air column passing
through an area A1 per unit time is given by A1u0. If 𝜌 is the density of the air, the air
mass flow rate, m’ through area A1 is given by,
m’= 𝜌 A1u0 kg/s
Power available in wind, P0 is equal to the kinetic energy associated with the mass of
moving air, i.e.
P0= (1/2)(𝜌 A1u0)u20
Power available in wind per unit area;
P0/A1= (1/2) 𝜌 u30 W/m2
Assuming wind density, at 15 ℃ and sea level to be, 1.2 kg/m3, power available in moderate
wind of 10 m/s is 600 W/m2.
 Power extraction from the wind
 A horizontal axis wind turbine rotor. As air mass
across which there is reduction of pressure as energy
is extracted. As air mass flow rate must be same
everywhere within the stream tube the speed must
decrease as air expands. The stream tube model, also
known as Betz model of expanding air stream tube.
 The force or thrust on the rotor is equal to the
reduction in momentum per unit time from the air
mass flow rate m’.
F= m’u0 – m’u2
 This force is applied by the air at uniform airflow
speed of u1, passing through actuator disk (turbine),
the power extracted by the turbine is:
PT= F.u1=m’(u0-u2)u1
 The power extracted from wind is also equal to loss in K.E. per unit time,
thus;
Pw= (1/2)m’(u20 – u22)
From above two power equation we can calculate the u1
u1= (u0+u2)/2
As an extreme case, considering u2 to be zero (which is not practical as
downstream air must have some kinetic energy to leave the turbine region),
u1=(u0/2). Thus, according to this linear momentum theory, the air speed
through the actuator disk cannot be less than half the speed of upstream air.
An interference factor, induction or perturbation factor ‘a’ is defined as
fractional wind speed decrease at the turbine thus;
a= (u0-u1)/u0 ; u1=(1-a)u0
or, a= (u0-u2)/2u0 ; u2= (1-2a)u0
 PT= 4a (1-a)2(1/2)(𝜌A1u30)

From equation, PT= CPP0

Cp is the fraction of available power in the

wind that can be extracted and is known as
power coefficient. CP is given as,
Cp = 4a (1-a)2

The variation of power coefficient, Cp with

interference factor ‘a’.
 Let’s discuss here, the 4 cases:

Maximum value of power coefficient (Cp) i.e. maximum fraction of

energy that can be obtained from wind in case of interference factor;
a=(1/3) i.e.

Cp (at a=1/3) = 4a(1-a)2

𝟏𝟔
= ( Betz Criterion)
𝟐𝟕
 Power v/s wind speed characteristic curve

➢Low speed region (zero to cut-in

speed)
➢Maximum power coefficient
region
➢Constant power region (constant
turbine speed region)
➢Furling speed region (cut-out
speed and above)
Speed control mechanism
 No speed control at all.
 Yaw and tilt control, in which the rotor axis is shifted out of wind
direction, either by yaw control or by tilting the rotor plane with
respect to normal vertical plane when the wind exceeds the design
limit.
 Pitch control, in which the pitch of the rotor blades is controlled
to regulate the speed.
 Stall control, in which the blades are shifted toa position such that
they stall when wind speed exceeds the safe limit.
Axial thrust on turbine, FA

 With no energy extraction, Bernoulli’s equation for upstream and downstream

may be written as,
p0/𝜌0 +gz0+u02/2= p2/𝜌2+gz2+u22/2
As z0=z2;
∆p= p0-p2=(u02-u22)𝜌/2
Maximum value of static pressure difference occurs when u2 approaches zero
(which will be the condition for a solid disk).
∆pmax = 𝜌 u02/2, and the maximum thrust on the disk
∆Fmax = A1 𝜌 u02/2
The axial thrust must be equal to loss of momentum of the air stream as given;
FA= m’u0 – m’u2
 By putting the value of u2
FA = 4a (1-a) (A1 𝜌 u02/2)
FA= CF FA max
CF = 4a(1-a)
Maximum axial thrust occurs when CF = 1; when a= ½
Maximum power extraction occurs when CP = 1; when a = 1/3
(corresponding CF = 8/9)
Torque developed by Turbine, T
 Maximum conceivable torque Tmax on an ideal turbine rotor would occur
if maximum circumferential force acts at the blade with radius R.
Tmax = Fmax R
P0
Tmax = R
u0

Now, if the tip speed ratio (λ) is defined as;

Speed of tip of the rotor blade Rω
λ= =
Speed of incoming air u0
Then, Tmax can be written as;
P0λ
Tmax =
ω
For the working machine producing shaft torque T;
T = CT Tmax
Where CT is torque coefficient;
As the product of the shaft torque and angular speed equals power developed by
the turbine
Tω = PT
CT Tmax ω = CP P0
Subsituting for Tmax;
CT P0 λ = CPP0
𝐶𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥
CT =
λ
Thus, machine with high speeds have low value of CT max or low staring torque.
Relation between tip speed ratio and Cp
For constant wind speed the power extraction by a turbine will
decreases if-

1. The blades are so close together, or rotating so rapidly that a blade

moves into the turbulence created by a preceding blades.
2. The blades are so far apart or rotating so slowly that much of the air
passes through the cross-section of the device without interacting
with the blades.

Thus, for a particular wind speed there exist an optimum turbine speed
to produce maximum output. Therefore, to obtain optimum efficiency,
it is important to match the rotational frequency of the turbine to the
corresponding wind speed.
Important mechanism and concepts
 Yaw mechanism
 Blade pitch control mechanism
 Teetering
 Upwind and downwind machines
 Yaw mechanism
➢ The wind turbine Yaw mechanism. The wind
turbine yaw mechanism is used to turn the wind
turbine rotor against the wind. The wind turbine is said
to have a yaw error, if the rotor is not perpendicular to
the wind.

➢ 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. For localities with prevailing wind in one direction only, the rotor can be in a fixed
orientation. Such a machine is said to be yaw fixed. Most wind turbines however, are yaw
active. In small wind turbines, a tail vane is used for passive yaw control. In large turbines
however, an active yaw control with power steering and wind direction sensor is used to
maintain the orientation.
Blade pitch control mechanism
 Pitch of a blade is controlled by rotating it from its roots, where it is connected to
the hub as shown in figure. Pitch control mechanism is provided through the hub
using hydraulic jack in the nacelle. The control system continuously adjust the pitch
to obtain optimal performance. In modern machines, pitch control is incorporated by
controlling only 20% length of the blade (i.e. tip), keeping remaining part of the
blade as fixed.
Teetering
 As wind speed rises with height, the axial force on the blade
when it attains the upper position is significantly higher as
compared to that when it is at a lower position. For one end
two blade rotors this causes cyclic (sinusoidal) load on a rigid
hub leading to fatigue. This is greatly relieved by providing a
teeter hinge (a pivot within the hub) that allow a see-saw
motion to take place out of the plane of the rotation (i.e.
vertical plane). The rotor leans backwards to accommodates
the extra force.
 This also reduces blade loads near the root by approximately
40%. The use of third blade has approximately the same
effects as a teeter hinge on the hub moments, since the polar
symmetry of the rotor averages out the applied sinusoidal
loads.
Upwind and downwind
 In upwind machine, rotor is located upwind (in front) of the tower, whereas in
downwind machine, the rotor is located downwind of (behind) the tower.
 Downwind machine allows the use of free yaw system (in low rating machines). It
also allows the blades to deflect away from the tower when loaded. However, it
suffers from wind shadow effects of the tower on the blades as they pass through
tower’s wake, in a region of separated flow.
Aerodynamic
Principle
Modern Wind
turbines are working
on this principle
Lift and Drag type machines
➢ Wind turbine make use of either lift force or drag force predominantly to cause
motion and accordingly known as lift or drag type machines. In Lift type
machines the ratio of lift to drag forces may be as high as 30:1.
➢ Drag Devices are less efficient and turn slower than wind. They produces high
torque and thus are suitable for pumping application. At high wind speeds they
spill wind instead of producing more energy. Thus, they do not benefit from
high energy density available in wind.
➢ Lift machines on the other hand are more efficient and turn faster than wind.
They are able to benefit from high power densities available in strong winds.
The ratio of power extracted from wind by a lift device to that of a drag device
is usually greater than 3:1 from the same swept area.
➢ Lift type rotors are often used as tapered and/or twisted blades to reduce
bending strains and improve the stalling performance.
Effect of Solidity
High solidity rotors use drag force and turn slower. Solidity of
Savonius rotors is unity and that of that of American multiblade
rotor it is typically 0.7. Low solidity rotors, on the other hand, use
lift force. Lift devices usually have solidity in the range of 0.01-.1.
They have slender airfoil blades. When solidity is less than 0.1,
the device will usually not start up without first being rotated to
generate lift.
Disadvantage
 Wind turbines can be harmful for wildlife like birds.
 Wind energy creates less power of electricity then the fossil fuels.
 Wind energy available is fluctuating in nature and it varies from zero to
storm force (unreliable).
 Wind energy systems are noisy in operation and a large unit can be heard
many kilometers away.
 Birds and bats have been killed by flying into the rotors.
 Good wind sites are often located in remote locations, far away from cities
where the electricity is needed.
 Installation & Maintenance cost of wind turbine is high.
 In practice, the collection efficiency of a rotor is not as highas 59%. A more typical
efficiency is 35% to 45%.
 A complete wind energy system, including rotor, transmission, generator, storage and
other devices, which all have less than perfect efficiencies, will deliver between 10%
and 30% of the original energy available in the wind.
References:

 https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/putting-wind-
work/?utm_source=BibblioRCM_Row
 https://www.irena.org/wind#:~:text=Global%20installed%20wind%2Dgeneratio
n%20capacity,according%20to%20IRENA's%20latest%20data
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejPrZj8dZJE&ab_channel=PengpengCao
(Yaw mechanism)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNWVaKjLLyA&ab_channel=PengpengCao
(Blade pitch control)
 https://mercomindia.com/india-offshore-wind-target-unfeasible/