COMPONENTS OF WIND TURBINE

1.Nacelle with drive train The nacelle holds all the turbine machinery. Because it must be able 3to rotate to follow the wind direction, it is connected to the tower via bearings. The build-up of the nacelle shows how the manufacturer has decided to position the drive train components (rotor shaft with bearings, transmission, generator, coupling and brake) above this machine bearing. 2.Towers The tower on which a wind turbine is mounted is not just a support structure. It also raises the wind turbine so that its blades safely clear the ground and so it can reach the stronger winds at higher elevations. Maximum tower height is optional in most cases, except where zoning restrictions apply. The decision of what height tower to use will be based on the cost of taller towers versus the value of the increase in energy production resulting from their use. Studies have shown that the added cost of increasing tower height is often justified by the added power generated from the stronger winds. Larger wind turbines are usually mounted on towers ranging from 40 to 70 meters tall. Towers for small wind systems are generally "guyed" designs. This means that there are guy wires anchored to the ground on three or four sides of the tower to hold it erect. These towers cost less than freestanding towers, but require more land area to anchor the guy wires. Some of these guyed towers are erected by tilting them up. This operation can be quickly accomplished using only a winch, with the turbine already mounted to the tower top. This simplifies not only installation, but maintenance as well. Towers can be constructed of a simple tube, a wooden pole or a lattice of tubes, rods, and angle iron. Large wind turbines may be mounted on lattice towers, tube towers or guyed tilt-up towers. Installers can recommend the best type of tower for your wind turbine. It must be strong enough to support the wind turbine and to sustain vibration, wind loading and the overall weather elements for the lifetime of the wind turbine. Tower costs will vary widely as a function of design and height. Some wind turbines are sold complete with tower. More frequently, however, towers are sold separately.

3.Yaw system Types

a) Upwind wind turbine equipped with an active yaw system, b) Upwind wind turbine equipped with a passive yaw system, c) Downwind wind turbineequipped with a passive yaw system.

a.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 high fatigue loads on wind turbine components due tobacklash. Systems 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 orratcheting hydraulic cylinders. This system combines the characteristics of the aforementioned gliding bearing and hydraulic motor systems.

b.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 bearingconnection 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. 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-orientating 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.

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 of the fin and the increased length of the beam create a considerable torque which is able to rotate the nacelle despite the stabilizinggyroscopic effects of the rotor. The required surface however for a tail fin to be able to yaw a large wind turbine is enormous thus rendering the use of such a devise un-economical. 4.Anemometer It consisted of four hemispherical cups each mounted on one end of four horizontal arms, which in turn were mounted at equal angles to each other on a vertical shaft. The air flow past the cups in any horizontal direction turned the shaft in a manner that was proportional to the wind speed. Therefore, counting the turns of the shaft over a set time period produced the average wind speed for a wide range of speeds

5.Power controller A wind turbine is designed to produce a maximum of power at wide spectrum of wind speeds. All wind turbines are designed for a maximum wind speed, called the survival speed, above which they do not survive. The survival speed of commercial wind turbines is in the range of 40 m/s (144 km/h, 89 MPH) to 72 m/s (259 km/h, 161 MPH). The most common survival speed is 60 m/s (216 km/h, 134 MPH). The wind turbines have three modes of operation:

Below rated wind speed operation Around rated wind speed operation (usually at nameplate capacity) Above rated wind speed operation

If the rated wind speed is exceeded the power has to be limited. There are various ways to achieve this. A control system involves three basic elements: sensors to measure process variables, actuators to manipulate energy capture and component loading, and control algorithms to coordinate the actuators based on information gathered by the sensors. Modern large wind turbines are typically actively controlled to face the wind direction measured by a wind vane situated on the back of the nacelle. By minimizing the yaw angle (the misalignment between wind and turbine pointing direction), the power output is maximized and non-symmetrical loads minimized. However, since the wind direction varies quickly the turbine will not strictly follow the direction and will have a small yaw angle on average. The power output losses can simply be approximated to fall with (cos(yaw angle))3. Particularly at low-to-medium wind speeds, yawing can make a significant reduction in turbine output, with wind direction variations of 30 being quite common and long response times of the turbines to changes in wind direction. At high wind speeds, the wind direction is less variable. 6.Brakes a.Electrical braking Braking of a small wind turbine can also be done by dumping energy from the generator into a resistor bank, converting the kinetic energy of the turbine rotation into heat. This method is useful if the kinetic load on the generator is suddenly reduced or is too small to keep the turbine speed within its allowed limit. Cyclically braking causes the blades to slow down, which increases the stalling effect, reducing the efficiency of the blades. This way, the turbine's rotation can be kept at a safe speed in faster winds while maintaining (nominal) power output. This method is usually not applied on large grid-connected wind turbines.

2kW Dynamic braking resistor for small wind turbine. b.Mechanical braking A mechanical drum brake or disk brake is used to stop turbine in emergency situation such as extreme gust events or over speed. This brake is also used to hold the turbine at rest for maintenance as a secondary mean, primarily mean being the rotor lock system. Such brakes are usually applied only after blade furling and electromagnetic braking have reduced the turbine speed

generally 1 or 2 rotor RPM, as the mechanical brakes can create a fire inside the nacelle if used to stop the turbine from full speed. Also the load on turbine increases if brake is applied on rated RPM. These kind of mechanical brake are driven by hydraulic systems and connected to main control box. 7.Generator For large, commercial size horizontal-axis wind turbines, the generator is mounted in a nacelle at the top of a tower, behind the hub of the turbine rotor. Typically wind turbines generate electricity through asynchronous machines that are directly connected with the electricity grid. Usually the rotational speed of the wind turbine is slower than the equivalent rotation speed of the electrical networktypical rotation speeds for wind generators are 520 rpm while a directly connected machine will have an electrical speed between 750-3600 rpm. Therefore, a gearbox is inserted between the rotor hub and the generator. This also reduces the generator cost and weight. In conventional wind turbines, the blades spin a shaft that is connected through a gearbox to the generator. The gearbox converts the turning speed of the blades 15 to 20 rotations per minute for a large, one-megawatt turbine into the faster 1,800 rotations per minute that the generator needs to generate electricity. Analysts from GlobalData estimate that gearbox market grows from $3.2bn in 2006 to $6.9bn in 2011, and to $8.1bn by 2020. Market leaders wereWinergy in 2011. Older style wind generators rotate at a constant speed, to match power line frequency, which allowed the use of less costly induction generators.Newer wind turbines often turn at whatever speed generates electricity most efficiently. The varying output frequency and voltage can be matched to the fixed values of the grid using multiple technologies such as doubly fed induction generators or full-effect converters where the variable frequency current produced is converted to DC and then back to AC. Although such alternatives require costly equipment and cause power loss, the turbine can capture a significantly larger fraction of the wind energy. In some cases, especially when turbines are sited offshore, the DC energy will be transmitted from the turbine to a central (onshore) inverter for connection to the grid.

8.Blades Blade design The ratio between the speed of the blade tips and the speed of the wind is called tip speed ratio. High efficiency 3-blade-turbines have tip speed/wind speed ratios of 6 to 7. Modern wind turbines are designed to spin at varying speeds (a consequence of their generator design, see above). Use of aluminum andcomposite materials in their blades has contributed to low rotational inertia, which means that newer wind turbines can accelerate quickly if the winds pick up, keeping the tip speed ratio more nearly constant. Operating closer to their optimal tip speed ratio during energetic gusts of wind allows wind turbines to improve energy capture from sudden gusts that are typical in urban settings. In contrast, older style wind turbines were designed with heavier steel blades, which have higher inertia, and rotated at speeds governed by the AC frequency of the power lines. The high inertia buffered the changes in rotation speed and thus made power output more stable. The speed and torque at which a wind turbine rotates must be controlled for several reasons:

To optimize the aerodynamic efficiency of the rotor in light winds. To keep the generator within its speed and torque limits. To keep the rotor and hub within their centrifugal force limits. The centrifugal force from the spinning rotors increases as the square of the rotation speed, which makes this structure sensitive to overspeed.

To keep the rotor and tower within their strength limits. Because the power of the wind increases as the cube of the wind speed, turbines have to be built to survive much higher wind loads (such as gusts of wind) than those from which they can practically generate power. Since the blades generate more torsionaland vertical forces (putting far greater stress on the tower and nacelle due to the tendency of the rotor to precess and nutate) when they are producing torque, most wind turbines have ways of reducing torque in high winds.

To enable maintenance. Since it is dangerous to have people working on a wind turbine while it is active, it is sometimes necessary to bring a turbine to a full stop. To reduce noise. As a rule of thumb, the noise from a wind turbine increases with the fifth power of the relative wind speed (as seen from the moving tip of the blades). In noise-sensitive environments, the tip speed can be limited to approximately 60 m/s (200 ft/s).

It is generally understood that noise increases with higher blade tip speeds. To increase tip speed without increasing noise would allow reduction the torque into the gearbox and generator and reduce overall structural loads, thereby reducing cost. The reduction of noise is linked to the detailed aerodynamics of the blades, especially factors that reduce abrupt stalling. The inability to predict stall restricts the development of aggressive aerodynamic concepts. 9.The hub In simple designs, the blades are directly bolted to the hub and hence are stalled. In other more sophisticated designs, they are bolted to the pitch mechanism, which adjusts their angle of attack according to the wind speed to control their rotational speed. The pitch mechanism is itself bolted to the hub. The hub is fixed to the rotor shaft which drives the generator through a gearbox. Direct drive wind turbines (also called gearless) are constructed without a gearbox. Instead, the rotor shaft is attached directly to the generator, which spins at the same speed as the blades.

10.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. This loading regime causes large moment loads to be applied to the foundations of a wind turbine. As a result, considerable attention needs to be given when designing the footings to ensure that the turbines are sufficiently restrained to operate efficiently. In the current Det Norske Veritas (DNV) guidelines for the design of wind turbines the angular deflection of the foundations are limited to 0.5. DNV guidelines regarding earthquakes suggest that horizontal loads are larger than vertical loads for offshore wind turbines, while guidelines for tsunamis only suggest designing for maximum sea waves. In contrast, IEC suggests considering tsunami loads

11.Gears & Gearboxes A gearbox is typically used in a wind turbine to increase rotational speed from a low-speed rotor to a higher speed electrical generator. A common ratio is about 90:1, with a rate 16.7 rpm input from the rotor to 1,500 rpm output for the generator. Some multimegawatt wind turbines have dispensed with a gearbox. In these so-called direct-drive machines, the generator rotor turns at the same speed as the turbine rotor. This requires a large and expensive generator. Other wind turbines on the market sit in-between, with gearbox ratios of about 30:1, dispensing with the highest speed stage in a typical gearbox. There is a trade-off between the reliability of gearboxes and gear stages and the cost of slower, higher torque generators.

Wind turbine gearbox -Winergy The design of a wind turbine gearbox is challenging due to the loading and environmental conditions in which the gearbox must operate. Torque from the rotor generates power, but the turbine rotor also applies large moments and forces to the wind-turbine drivetrain. It is important to ensure that the drivetrain effectively isolates the gearbox, or to ensure that the gearbox is designed to support these loads, otherwise internal gearbox components can become severely misaligned. This can lead to stress concentrations and failures. Wind-turbine drivetrains undergo severe transient loading during start-ups, shut-downs, emergency stops, and during grid connections. Load cases that result in torque reversals may be particularly damaging to bearings, as rollers may be skidding during the sudden relocation of the loaded zone. Seals and lubrication systems must work reliably over a wide temperature variation to prevent the ingress of dirt and moisture, and perform effectively at all rotational speeds in the gearbox. Gear and bearing fatigue standards by AGMA and ISO are used for design, these only capture a subset of the potential failure modes of the components. For instance, the ISO 6336 gear standard provides an established method for calculating resistance to subsurface contact failure and for tooth root breakage. The standards are doing their job, but these are not the most common failure modes observed in windturbine gearboxes. More common causes of failure are manufacturing errors such as grind temper or material inclusions, surface related problems, such as scuffing or micropitting, and fretting problems from small vibratory motions, such as may occur when a machine is parked. Scuffing is adhesive wear and subsequent detachment and transfer of particles from one or both of the meshing teeth (ref ISO13989-1). It can happen quickly and is generally considered to be associated with an absence or breakdown of the lubricant film under high loads (ISO 13989-2). Micropitting is a surface fatigue resulting from generation or numerous surface cracks, and is associated with insufficient film thickness (ISO 15144-1). Film thickness is affected by sliding speed, load, temperature, surface roughness, and chemical composition of the lubricant. Many wind-turbine gearboxes have also suffered from fundamental design issues such as ineffective interference fits that result in unintended motion and wear, ineffectiveness of internal lubrication paths and problems with sealing. Improving the resistance of future gearbox designs to all these issues is a key for the future cost of energy generated by wind turbines.