FIGURE 5-3

A large nacelle under installation. (Source: Nordtank Energy Group/NEG Micon, Denmark. With
permission.)

mechanical stress due to centrifugal forces and fatigue under continuous vibra-
tions make the blade design the weakest mechanical link in the system. Exten-
sive design effort is needed to avoid premature fatigue failure of the blade.
The mechanical stress in the blade under gusty wind is kept under the
allowable limit. This is achieved by controlling the rotor speed below the set
limit. This not only protects the blades, but also protects the electrical gen-
erator from overloading and overheating. One method that has been used
from the early designs and continues to be used today is the stall control.
At stall, the wind flow ceases to be smooth around the blade contour, but
separates before reaching the trailing edge. This always happens at high
pitch angle. The blades experience high drag, thus lowering the rotor power
output. The high pitch angle also produces high lift. The resulting load on
the blade can cause a high level of vibration and fatigue, possibly leading
to the mechanical failure. Regardless of the fixed or variable speed, the design
engineer must deal with the stall forces. Researchers are moving from

© 1999 by CRC Press LLC