What Factors Affect the Output of Wind Turbines?

Posted on 04 March 2010

What is the purest form of power generation? The unanimous answer is Wind Energy. As Wind Energy has numerous benefits like no pollution, no burning of fossils and a clean setup. Although, it should not be perceived that it’s a facile setup unit. Various factors combine to make an impact on the amount of energy you can generate out of wind.wind Turbines

Power in the Wind

It’s vital to understand the relation of wind speed data with power production. Therefore, the power is proportional to the wind speed cubed. It is important to know the wind speed precisely, because any error is magnified when calculating power.

Aerodynamics of Blades

Shape of blades should be accurately selected for getting the maximum efficiency. The amount of lift for a given airfoil depends heavily on the angle that it makes with the direction of the relative wind, known as the angle of attack. When the angle of attack gets too large, turbulence develops and drag increases significantly, while lift is lost. The angle of attack on wind turbine blades can be changed either by creating a specific geometry for the blades.

Loads, Stress, and Fatigue

Strong blades play a pivotal role to withstand all the loads and stresses from gravity, wind, and dynamic interactions. Blades are carefully manufactured and then extensively tested to make sure they can achieve the desired lifespan. As opposed to a car engine and other mechanical devices, an efficient wind turbine runs about 90% of the time for twenty or more years. Types of loads are static, steady, cyclic, transient, impulsive, stochastic, and resonance induced. Static loads are constant and occur even with a non-moving turbine. Resonance-induced loads, which are to be avoided as much as possible, occur when parts of the wind turbine are excited at their natural frequencies and then vibrate and can induce other parts to vibrate also, putting considerable stress on the turbine.

Power control and aerodynamic braking system

As the angle of attack is one of the most important variables in determining the performance of a wind turbine. Both in terms of power output and over-speed induced stress protection, it is important to understand the rotor pitch behavior. An increasing number of larger wind turbines are being developed with an active stall power control mechanism. In fact the aerodynamic braking system is the primary braking system for most modern wind turbines. This essentially consists of turning the rotor blades about 90 degrees along their longitudinal axis.

The upfront costs of installing a wind power system on your property can be high that’s why it should be efficient enough to produce maximum energy. By adopting few of these best resources and believing the technical aspects an efficient wind power system can be erected.

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Maya - who has written 3 posts on Renewable Energy.


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One Response to “What Factors Affect the Output of Wind Turbines?”

  1. Roger Roster says:

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