PARTS AND ITS FUNCTION

OF WIND TURBINE

PARTS AND ITS

FUNCTIONS
OF
PARTS AND
ITS FUNCTIONS
OF WIND
TURBINE
WIND
TURBINE

BLADES
Rotor

blades are a crucial and elementary

part of a wind turbine.
most rotors have three blades, a horizontal
axis, and a diameter of between 40 and 90
meters.
the three-blade rotor is the most efficient for
power generation by large wind turbines.
the use of three rotor blades allows for a
better distribution of mass, which makes
rotation smoother and also provides for a
"calmer" appearance.

The

rotor blades mainly consist of synthetics

reinforced with fiberglass and carbon fibers. The
layers are usually glued together with epoxy resin.
Wood, wood epoxy, and wood-fiber-epoxy
compounds are less widely used. One of the main
benefits of wooden rotor blades is that they can be
recycled.
Aluminum and steel alloys are heavier and suffer
from material fatigue. These materials are
therefore generally only used for very small wind
turbines.

MATERIAL USED

TWO BASIC TYPES OF BLADES

the

lifting style wind turbine blade.

These are the most efficiently designed,
especially for capturing energy of strong,
fast winds. Some European companies
actually manufacture a single blade turbine.
the drag style wind turbine blade, most
popularly used for water mills, as seen in
the old Dutch windmills. The blades are
flattened plates which catch the wind.
These are poorly designed for capturing the
energy of heightened winds.

HUB
The

hub is the center of the rotor to which

the rotor blades are attached. Cast iron or
cast steel is used.

The

hub directs the energy from the rotor

blades on to the generator. If the wind
turbines have a gearbox, the hub is
connected to the slowly rotating gearbox
shaft, converting the energy from the wind
into rotation energy. If the turbine has a
direct drive, the hub passes the energy
directly on to the ring generator.

ROTOR
The

rotor is the heart of a wind turbine.

It consists of multiple rotor blades attached to a
hub. The rotor converts the wind energy into a
rotation.
Is a moving component of an electromagnetic
system in the electric motor, electric generator,
or alternator. Its rotation is due to the interaction
between the windings and magnetic fields which
produces a torque around the rotor's axis

NACELLE
is a cover housing that houses all of the
generating components in a wind turbine,
including the generator, gearbox,
drive train, and brake assembly.
A cover protects the components inside
the nacelle.

THE TOWER
It

carries the nacelle and the rotor.

Towers are made from tubular steel or
steel lattice. Because wind speed
increases with height, taller towers enable
turbines to capture more energy and
generate more electricity.

Examples;
GE

1.5-megawatt model, consists of 116ft blades atop a 212-ft tower for a total
height of 328 feet.
1.8-megawatt Vestas V90 from Denmark
has 148-ft blades (sweeping more than
1.5 acres) on a 262-ft tower, totaling 410
feet.
the U.S. is the 2-megawatt Gamesa G87
from Spain, with 143-ft blades (just under
1.5 acres) on a 256-ft tower, totaling 399
feet.
https://www.wind-watch.org/faq-size.php

GENERATOR

The wind turbine generator converts

mechanical energy to electrical energy.
Wind turbine generators are a bit unusual,
compared to other generating units you
ordinarily find attached to the electrical grid.
One reason is that the generator has to work
with a power source (the wind turbine rotor)
which supplies very fluctuating mechanical
power (torque).

GEARBOX

One

of the most important main components in

the wind turbine is the gearbox. Placed between
the main shaft and the generator, its task is to
increase the slow rotational speed of the rotor
blades to the generator rotation speed of 1000
or 1500 revolution per minutes(rpm).
In this case the gearbox has always a constant
and a speed increasing ratio, so that if a wind
turbine has different operational speeds, it is
because it has two different sized generators,
each with its own different speed of rotation(or
one generator with two different stator
windings).
http://servicesfrance.free.fr/part6.html

Different System of Gears:

Spur Gears
Spur gears are the most common type of
gears. They have straight teeth, and are
mounted on shafts. Sometimes, many spur
gears are used at once to create very large gear
reductions.

Helical Gears

The teeth on helical gears

are cut at an angle to the
face of the gear. When two
teeth on a helical gear
system engage, the
contact starts at one end
of the tooth and gradually
spreads as the gears
rotate, until the two teeth
are in full engagement.

Bevel Gears

Bevel gears are useful

when the direction of a
shaft's rotation needs
to be changed. They
are usually mounted on
shafts that are 90
degrees apart, but can
be designed to work at
other angles as well.

Spiral Bevel Gears

Just like with spur gears,
the solution to this
problem is to curve the
gear teeth. These spiral
teeth engage just like
helical teeth: the contact
starts at one end of the
gear and progressively
spreads across the whole
tooth.

Worm Gears
Worm gears are used
when large gear
reductions are needed.
It is common for worm
gears to have
reductions of 20:1,
and even up to 300:1
or greater.

Foundation

Wind turbines, by their nature, are very tall slender

structures, this can cause a number of issues when the
structural design of the foundations are considered.
The foundations for a conventional engineering structure are
designed mainly to transfer the vertical load (dead weight) to
the ground, this generally allows for a comparatively
unsophisticated arrangement to be used. However, in the case
of wind turbines, due to the high wind and environmental
loads experienced there is a significant horizontal dynamic load
that needs to be appropriately restrained.

 is

a patented, proprietary foundation to support

wind turbines on monopole towers. The
foundation consists of a large diameter, cast-inplace annular pier (typically 14 to 16-feet in
diameter and 25 to 35-feet deep).
TENSIONLESS PEIR FOUNDATION

The P&H rock or pile anchor foundation is a proprietary

(patent pending) foundation used to support large wind
turbines. The P&H anchor foundations consist of a 5-foot
thick, 24-foot diameter, reinforced concrete mat (cap)
supported by commonly 12 to 20, 35 to 50-feet long
anchors aligned within a typical 20-foot diameter circle.
Large wind turbines greater than 2 MW may require more
anchors and a double row.
ANCHOR DEEP FOUNDATION

Gravity foundations are used preferably in waters with a maximum

depth around 30 meters, are made of precast concrete and are
ballasted with sand, gravel or stones.
Monopile foundations are used in water with a maximum depth
around 25 meters.
They are made of steel, and they are driven into the seabed for
about 30 meters with a hammer (similar to the one used to build
offshore platforms)
Tripod is used in deeper waters (up to 35 meters). Its made of
different pieces welded together and its fixed to the ground with
three steel piles.
Jacket if used in deep waters (more than 40 meters). It is made of
steel beams welded together, weighting more than 500 tons.

CONTROLLER OF WIND TURBINE

BRAKES
Slowing

and halting an 80-m-turbine rotor

involves converting its kinetic energy into heat.
Rotor brakes control over speed, and provide
parking and emergency braking. These brakes
can mount on the rotor or low-speed shaft, on
the generator (high-speed shaft), and both
shafts in some cases.

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

Schematic

representation of the main wind turbine

components. The yaw system is located between
the wind turbine nacelle and tower.