Wind Energy Basics

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Wind EnergyBasics
The Kidwind Project www.kidwind.org
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Early Windmill in Afghanistan (900AD)
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Jacobs Turbine 1920 - 1960
WinCharger 1930s 40s
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Smith-Putnam Turbine Vermont, 1940's
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Modern Windmills
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Orientation

• Turbines can be categorized into two overarching
  classes based on the orientation of the
  rotor Vertical Axis Horizontal Axis

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Wacky Designs out there
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Parts of a Wind Turbine
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Types of Electricity Generating Windmills

• Small (?10 kW)
• Homes
• Farms
• Remote Applications
• (e.g. small tasks like water pumping)

• Intermediate
• (10-250 kW)
• Village Power
• Hybrid Systems
• Distributed Power

• Large (250 kW - 2MW)
• Central Station Wind Farms
• Distributed Power

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Wind Turbine Perspective
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Large Wind Turbines

• 450 base to blade
• Each blade 112
• Span greater than 747
• 163 tons total
• Foundation 20 feet deep
• Rated at 1.5 5 megawatt
• Supply at least 350 homes

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Yawing Facing the Wind

• Active Yaw (medium large turbines)
• Anemometer on nacelle tells controller which way
  to point rotor into the wind
• Yaw drive turns gears to point rotor into wind
• Passive Yaw (small turbines)
• Wind forces alone direct rotor
• Tail vanes
• Downwind turbines

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Importance of Wind Speed

• No other factor is more important to the amount
  of power available in the wind than the speed of
  the wind
• Power is a cubic function of wind speed
• V X V X V
• 20 increase in wind speed means 73 more power
• Doubling wind speed means 8 times more power

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Lift Drag Forces

• The Lift Force is perpendicular to the direction
  of motion. We want to make this force BIG.
• The Drag Force is parallel to the direction of
  motion. We want to make this force small.

a low
a medium lt10 degrees
a High Stall!!
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Airfoil Shape
Just like the wings of an airplane, wind turbine
blades use the airfoil shape to create lift and
maximize efficiency.
The Bernoulli Effect
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Why do windmills need to be high in the sky??
Air flow close to the ground has friction,
causing turbulence.
Turbulence and friction decrease higher in the
atmosphere. Ideal height is around 100 meters
(328 feet)
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Turbulent wind is bad wind
Obstacles such as trees and buildings can cause
higher areas of turbulence
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Wind Farms
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Off-Shore Wind Farms
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Middelgrunden
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Impacts of Wind PowerNoise

• Modern turbines are relatively quiet
• Rule of thumb stay about 3x hub-height away
  from houses

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Transmission Problems

• Where is the wind?
• Where are the population centers?
• Where are the wind farms?
• How do we get wind energy from the wind farms to
  the population centers?

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Wind Turbine Blade Challenge

• Students perform experiments and design different
  wind turbine blades
• Use simple wind turbine models
• Test one variable while holding others constant
• Record performance with a multimeter or other
  load device
• Goals Produce the most voltage, pump the most
  water, lift the most weight
• Minimize Drag
• Maximize LIFT
• Harness the POWER of the wind!

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The KidWind Project www.kidwind.org
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Jobs in the Wind Industry
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Construction
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Public Relations/Organizing Support
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Operations/Maintenance
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Maintenance
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Engineering/Design
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Environmental Impact Assessment
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Wind Power is Fun!