Yaw system

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The yaw system of wind turbines is the component responsible for the
orientation of the wind turbine rotor towards the wind.

Contents
1 History
2 Types
2.1 Active yaw systems
2.2 Passive yaw systems
3 Components
3.1 Yaw bearing
3.2 Yaw drives
3.3 Yaw brake
3.4 Yaw vane (passive systems) Schematic representation of the
4 See also main wind turbine components.
5 References The yaw system is located
6 Further reading between the wind turbine nacelle
and tower.

History
The task of orienting the rotor into the wind was a complicated issue already for historical windmills. The first
windmills able to rotate in order to "face" the wind appeared in the mid-18th century.[1] Their rotatable nacelles
were mounted on the main structure of the windmill using primitive wooden gliding bearings lubricated with
animal fat. The necessary yawing torque was created by means of animal power, human power or even wind
power (implementation of an auxiliary rotor known as fantail).

Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) do not need a yaw system since their vertical rotors can face the wind from
any direction and only their self rotation gives the blades a clear direction of the air flow.[1] Horizontal axis
wind turbines however need to orient their rotors into and out of the wind and they achieve that by means of
passive or active yaw systems.

Horizontal axis wind turbines employ some sort of yaw system which can be passive or active. Both passive
and active systems have advantages and disadvantages and various design solutions (both active and passive)
are being tried in order to find the optimal design for each wind turbine depending on its size, cost and purpose
of operation.

Types
Active yaw systems

The active yaw systems are equipped with some sort of torque producing device able to rotate the nacelle of the
wind turbine against the stationary tower based on automatic signals from wind direction sensors or manual
actuation (control system override). The active yaw systems are considered to be the state of the art for all the
modern medium and large sized wind turbines, with a few exceptions proving the rule (e.g. Vergnet). The
various components of the modern active yaw systems vary depending on the design characteristics but all the
active yaw systems include a means of rotatable connection between nacelle and tower (yaw bearing), a means
of active variation of the rotor orientation (i.e. yaw drive), a means of restricting the rotation of the nacelle
(yaw brake) and a control system which
processes the signals from wind direction
sensors (e.g. wind vanes) and gives the
proper commands to the actuating
mechanisms.

The most common types of active yaw

systems are:

Roller yaw bearing - Electric yaw

drive - Brake: The nacelle is mounted
on a roller bearing and the azimuth
rotation is achieved via a plurality of
powerful electric drives. A hydraulic
or electric brake fixes the position of
the nacelle when the re-orientation is
completed in order to avoid wear and a) Upwind wind turbine equipped with an active yaw system, b) Upwind
high fatigue loads on wind turbine wind turbine equipped with a passive yaw system, c) Downwindwind
components due to backlash. Systems turbine equipped with a passive yaw system.
of this kind are used by most of the
wind turbine manufacturers and are
considered to be reliable and
effective but also quite bulky and expensive.
Roller yaw bearing - Hydraulic yaw drive: The nacelle is mounted on a roller bearing and the azimuth
rotation is achieved via a plurality of powerful hydraulic motors or ratcheting hydraulic cylinders. The
benefit of the yaw system with hydraulic drives has to do with the inherent benefits of the hydraulic
systems such as the high power-to-weight ratio and high reliability. On the downside however the
hydraulic systems are always troubled by leakages of hydraulic fluid and clogging of their high pressure
hydraulic valves. The hydraulic yaw systems often (depending on the system design) also allow for the
elimination of the yaw brake mechanism and their replacement with cut-off valves.
Gliding yaw bearing - Electric yaw drive: The nacelle is mounted on a friction based gliding bearing and
the azimuth rotation is achieved via a plurality of powerful electric drives. The need for a yaw brake is
eliminated and depending on the size of the yaw system (i.e. size of the wind turbine) the gliding bearing
concept can lead to significant cost savings.
Gliding yaw bearing - Hydraulic yaw drive: The nacelle is mounted on a friction based gliding bearing
and the azimuth rotation is achieved via a plurality of powerful hydraulic motors or ratcheting hydraulic
cylinders. This system combines the characteristics of the aforementioned gliding bearing and hydraulic
motor systems.

Passive yaw systems

The passive yaw systems utilize the wind force in order to adjust the orientation of the wind turbine rotor into
the wind. In their simplest form these system comprise a simple roller bearing connection between the tower
and the nacelle and a tail fin mounted on the nacelle and designed in such a way that it turns the wind turbine
rotor into the wind by exerting a "corrective" torque to the nacelle. Therefore, the power of the wind is
responsible for the rotor rotation and the nacelle orientation. Alternatively in case of downwind turbines the tail
fin is not necessary since the rotor itself is able to yaw the nacelle into the wind. In the event of skew winds the
"wind pressure" on the swept area causes a yawing moment around the tower axis (z-axis) which orients the
rotor.[1]

The tail fin (or wind vane) is commonly used for small wind turbines since it offers a low cost and reliable
solution. It is however unable to cope with the high moments required to yaw the nacelle of a large wind
turbine. The self-orientation of the downwind turbine rotors however is a concept able to function even for
larger wind turbines. The French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet has several medium and large self-
orienting downwind wind turbines in production.
Passive yaw systems have to be designed in a way that the nacelle does not follow the sudden changes in wind
direction with too fast a yaw movement, in order to avoid high gyroscopic loads. Additionally the passive yaw
systems with low yaw-friction are subjected to strong dynamic loads due to the periodic low amplitude yawing
caused by the variation of the inertia moment during the rotor rotation. This effect becomes more severe with
the reduction of the number of blades.

The most common passive yaw systems are:

Roller Bearing (free system): The nacelle is mounted on a roller bearing and it is free to rotate towards
any direction. The necessary moment comes from a tail fin or the rotor (downwind wind turbines)
Roller Bearing - Brake (Semi-active system): The nacelle is mounted on a roller bearing and it is free to
rotate towards any direction, but when the necessary orientation is achieved an active yaw brake arrests
the nacelle. This prevents the uncontrolled vibration and reduced gyroscopic and fatigue loads.
Gliding Bearing/Brake (Passive system): The nacelle is mounted on a gliding bearing and it is free to
rotate towards any direction. The inherent friction of the gliding bearing achieves a quasi-active way of
operation.

Components
Yaw bearing

One of the main components of the yaw

system is the yaw bearing. It can be of the
roller or gliding type and it serves as a
rotatable connection between the tower and
the nacelle of the wind turbine. The yaw
bearing should be able to handle very high
loads, which apart from the weight of the
nacelle and rotor (the weight of which is in
the range of several tenths of tons) include
also the bending moments caused by the
rotor during the extraction of the kinetic
energy of the wind.

Yaw drives The main components of a typical yaw system found on most modern
medium or large wind turbines.
The yaw drives exist only on the active yaw
systems and are the means of active
rotation of the wind turbine nacelle. Each yaw drive consists of powerful electric motor (usually AC) with its
electric drive and a large gearbox, which increases the torque. The maximum static torque of the biggest yaw
drives is in the range of 200.000Nm with gearbox reduction ratios in the range of 2000:1.[2] Consequently, the
yawing of the large modern turbines is relatively slow with a 360 turn lasting several minutes.

Yaw brake

In order to stabilize the yaw bearing against rotation a means of braking is necessary. One of the simplest ways
to realize that task is to apply a constant small counter-torque at the yaw drives in order to eliminate the
backlash between gear-rim and yaw drive pinions and to prevent the nacelle from oscillating due to the rotor
rotation. This operation however greatly reduces the reliability of the electric yaw drives, therefore the most
common solution is the implementation of a hydraulically actuated disk brake.

The disk brake requires a flat circular brake disk and plurality of brake calipers with hydraulic pistons and
brake pads [1]. The hydraulic yaw brakes are able to fix the nacelle in position thus relieving the yaw drives
from that task. The cost however of the yaw brake in combination with the requirement of a hydraulic
installation (pump, valves, pistons) and its
installation in the vicinity of brake pads
sensitive to lubricant contamination is often
an issue.

A compromise that offers several

advantages is the use of electric yaw
brakes. These replace the hydraulic
mechanism of the conventional brakes and
with electro-mechanically actuated brake
calipers. The use of electric yaw brakes
eliminates the complexity of the hydraulic
leakages and the subsequent problems that
these cause to the yaw brake operation.[3]

Several wind turbine design and

manufacturing companies experiment with
alternative yaw breaking methods in order
to eliminate the drawbacks of the existing
systems and to reduce the cost of the
system. One of these alternatives involves
the use of air pressure in order to achieve
Schematic representation of a wind turbine pneumatic yaw brake system.
the necessary yaw braking moment. In this
case, some of the gliding surface (usually
the axial, due to higher available surface) is utilized in order to accommodate the yaw brake pads and the
pneumatic brake mechanism. The pneumatic actuator can be a conventional pneumatic cylinder or even a
flexible air chamber which inflates when supplied with pressurized air. Such a device is able to exert very high
braking forces due to the high active surface. This is achieved with a simple industrial air pressure compression
system (610 bar or 6001,000 kPa or 87145 psi) which is a reliable and low cost solution. Furthermore, in
the even of leakage, the environmental impact is practically zero compared to hydraulic oil leakages. Finally
brake actuators can be produced with very low cost from lightweight plastic materials thus significantly
reducing the overall cost of the system.

Yaw vane (passive systems)

The yaw vane (or tail fin) is a component of the yaw system used only on small wind turbines with passive yaw
mechanisms. It is nothing more than a flat surface mounted on the nacelle by means of a long beam. The
combination of the large surface area of the fin and the increased length of the beam create a considerable
torque which is able to rotate the nacelle despite the stabilizing gyroscopic effects of the rotor. The required
surface area however for a tail fin to be able to yaw a large wind turbine is enormous thus rendering the use of
such a device un-economical.

See also
Wind turbine design
Windmill Yaw bearing
Wind power Yaw drive
Wind turbine
Wind turbine design

References
1. Wind Power Plants, R. Gasch and J. Twele, Solarpraxis, ISBN 3-934595-23-5
2. Bonfiglioli Power & Control Solutions (http://www.bonfiglioli.com/700t2pres_uk.html)
3. (http://www.hanning-kahl.en/index.php?id=azimut_bremsen)Hanning & Kahl GmbH Azimutbremsen
Further reading
Wind Power Plants, R. Gasch and J. Twele, Solarpraxis, ISBN 3-934595-23-5
Wind Energy Handbook, T. Burton [et al.], John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, ISBN 0-471-48997-2
How to build a wind turbine - The axial flux windmill plans, H. Piggott Scoraigwind

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This page was last edited on 4 July 2017, at 17:23.

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