Field Engineering Sciences: Wind Storage MEC453)
Field Engineering Sciences: Wind Storage MEC453)
• Drag devices are inherently limited in efficiency because the speed of the device or blades
cannot exceed the wind speed.
• The wind pushes on the blades of a drag turbine, forcing the rotor
to turn on its axis.
Examples of drag devices are cup anemometers, vanes, and paddles that are shielded from
the wind or change parallel to the wind on half the rotor cycle
WE 5.3
LIFT DEVICES
Most lift devices use airfoils similar to propellers or airplane wings for
blades, but other concepts have also been used.
Using lift, the blades can move faster than the wind and are more efficient in terms of
aerodynamics and amount of material needed.
The tip speed ratio is the speed of the tip of the blade divided by the wind speed.
At the point of maximum efficiency for a rotor, the tip speed ratio is
around 7 for a lift device and 0.3 for a drag device.
The ratio of amount of power per material area for a lift device is
around 75, again emphasizing why wind turbines using lift are used to
produce electricity.
The optimum tip speed ratio also depends on the solidity of the rotor.
Solidity is the ratio of blade area to rotor swept area
ORIENTATION OF ROTOR AXIS
Wind turbines are further classified by the orientation of the axis of the
rotor to the ground: horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) and vertical
axis wind turbine.
BLADE
OIL COOLER
GEAR BOX
TOWER
HUB
WTAMU WE 5.9 S2
AERODYNAMICS
The moving blades of a wind
turbine convert part of the
power in the wind to
rotational power.
Wind Power and Turbine Efficiency
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Tips speed ratio (TSR):
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Wind Turbine Power
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Rotor Solidity
• The wind turbine efficiently intercepts the wind energy flowing
through the entire swept area even though it has only two or three
thin blades with solidity between 5 to 10 percent.
• The solidity is defined as the ratio of the solid area to the swept area of the
blades. The modern 2-blade turbine has low solidity ratio. Hence, it
requires little blade material to sweep large areas.
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To calculate the rotational speed: “ 𝝎𝝎”
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Solved Examples
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