ADVANCED ENERGY ENGINEERING –

MODULE-3
CHANDRAJITH E
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
SNGCET
 INTRODUCTION TO WIND
• Wind – Atmospheric air in motion, caused by differences in the
atmospheric pressure. When a difference in atmospheric pressure
exists, air moves from the higher to the lower pressure area,
resulting in winds of various speeds.
• The two major driving factors of wind patterns are the differential
heating between the equator and the poles (difference in
absorption of solar energy ) and the rotation of the planet.
• Each second, the sun releases an enormous amount of radiant
energy into the solar system.
• Some of it reaches the earth: strikes the equator directly (giving
it the most radiation)
• diffuses along the Northern and Southern Hemisphere , the poles
receive the lowest amount of radiation
• Density of fluid is inversely proportional to temperature.
• Heated air rises from equator since less denser moves north and
south in the upper levels of the atmosphere and circulates above
cooler air.
• Wind is formed due to the phenomena called Coriolis Effect “ the
tendency for any moving body on or above the earth's surface to
drift sideways from its course because of the earth's rotation”.
• If the Earth did not rotate and remained stationary, the
atmosphere would circulate between the poles (high
pressure areas) and the equator (a low pressure area) in a
simple back-and-forth pattern. But because the Earth rotates,
circulating air is deflected. Instead of circulating in a
straight pattern, the air deflects toward the right in the
Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern
Hemisphere, resulting in curved paths
 SOURCES OF WIND
• Winds are natural phenomena in the atmosphere and have two
different origins viz., planetary winds and local winds.
• Planetary winds – Planetary winds are caused by solar heating
of the earth's surface near the equator than near the north or
south poles.
• This causes warm tropical air to rise and flow through the upper
atmosphere towards the poles and cold air from the poles to
flow back to the equator nearer to the earth's surface.
• The direction of motion of the planetary winds is affected by the
• rotation of the earth.
• Local winds – Local winds are caused by un-equal heating and
cooling of land and water, and also by hills and mountain sides.
• During the day warmer air over land rises upwards and colder
air from lakes, ocean, forest areas, flows towards warmer zones.
 ADVANTAGES OF WIND ENERGY
▪ Free: wind blows day and night, which gives wind turbines the
ability to produce electricity at all hours of the day.
▪ Clean: Wind energy is a renewable source of energy that
generates no pollution, unlike fossil fuels such coal/natural gas
▪ does not produce atmospheric emissions that cause acid rain
or greenhouse gasses.
▪ Cheaper: Wind energy is one of the lowest-prices renewable
energy technologies available today, costing between 4 and 6
cents per KWH
▪ Place Ability: Farmers can also still continue to use the land due
to the turbines only taking up a fraction of the land.
▪ Domestic: Can be of small size too so can place anywhere.
▪ Remote area Supply: Best for remote area where availability of
wind is high
 DIS-ADVANTAGES OF WIND ENERGY
• Efficiency of a wind turbine depends on the wind speed.
• Noise Problems – Some people find it annoying, and if it is close
to a house, it may lead to sleeplessness and on to anxiety and
stress for some individuals which could lead to health issues.
• Even though the cost of wind power has decreased dramatically
in the past 10 years, the technology requires a higher initial
investment than fossil-fueled generators.
• Power density is very low. - Needs a very large number of wind
mills to produce modest amounts of power.
• Cannot meet large scale and transportation energy needs.
• Environmental Problems
– Wind turbines kill birds and bats, Destruction of native
vegetation, Erosion problems,
– Fires in wind turbines, while very rare, are extremely difficult
to fight
 PRINCIPLES OF WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION
• There are two primary physical principles by which energy can
be extracted from the wind; these are through the creation of
either lift or drag force (or through a combination of the two)
• lift is created by the flow of air over an airfoil. The shape of an
airfoil causes air to flow faster on top than on bottom. The fast
flowing air decreases the surrounding air pressure. Because the
air pressure is greater below the airfoil than above, a resulting
lift force is created.
• Lift is perpendicular to the direction of air flow
• Every physical body that is propelled through the air will
experience resistance to the air flow. This resistance is called
drag.
• Drag is in the direction of air flow
• Generation of lift always causes a certain amount of drag to be
developed. With a good aerofoil, the lift produced can be more
than thirty times greater than the drag
• Lift devices are generally more efficient than drag devices
• All the wind turbines work on either drag principle or lift
principle
• Drag principle – Drag devices are simple wind machines that
use flat, curved or cup-shaped (unlike aerodynamic shapes of
the lift devices) blades to run the rotor. In the drag blade design,
the wind pushes the blades out of the way. Drag powered wind
turbines are characterized by slower rotational speeds and high
torque capabilities.
• Lift principle – The lift devices employs the same principle that
enables airplanes, kites and birds to fly. The blade is essentially
an airfoil, or wing. The top surface of a blade aerofoil is more
curved than the bottom surface. When air flows past the blade, a
wind speed and pressure differential is created between the
upper and lower blade surfaces
 WIND TURBINE

•
 COMPONENTS OF WIND TURBINE
• Nacelle – Nacelle is the cover housing that houses all of the
generating components in a wind turbine, including the
generator, gearbox, drive train, and brake assembly.
• Rotor- Blades and hub together is called Rotor is attached to
the slow speed shaft. Blades are manufactured from
Fiberglass-Reinforced Polyester(FRP), Steel or Aluminum.
FRP is lighter and exerts less stress on bearing and rotor hub.
• Hub and Shaft– The blades are attached to the hub. Hub is the
front portion of shaft which faces the wind direction. Normally
conical shape and other end of shaft is connected to
transmission system.
• Anemometer- measures the wind speed and is fed to
controller so as pitch angle and yaw is controlled.
• Transmission System: Transmits mechanical power generated by
rotor to generator. It contains gear box, clutch and braking system.
It must be designed for high dynamic torque load due to
fluctuating power output from rotor.
• Electric Generator: Most of the grid connected wind turbine
uses asynchronous ( induction) generator. But having disadvantage
that it will draw reactive power from grid system. Synchronous
generators do not require reactive power hence are used by
utilities.
• Yaw Control System: Used to continuously orient rotor to the
wind direction. It is done by using a rotary actuator attached to the
gear ring at the top of the wind tower. A slow closed loop control
system is used to control the yaw drives.
• Storage and Energy Converters: Most common storage
system is the lead acid battery. Usually the electricity produced
is DC. So energy convertor (alternator) will convert it to AC
before supply to grid or household appliances.
• Tower– The tower of the wind turbine carries the nacelle and
the rotor. Towers may be made from steel or concrete. Range
of tower is from 12-37 m for small application and 30-75 for
higher application.

• Upwind machines are those machines that have rotor facing

the wind. In these machines the wind meets the rotor first and
then leaves from the direction in which the nacelle is located.
• In a downwind machine, the rotor is located downwind of
(behind) the tower. This means the nacelle comes first in the
path of the wind and then the blades.
CLASSIFICATION OF WIND TURBINES
HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINE (HAWT)
VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINE (VAWT)
Comparison- HAWT & VAWT
 WIND DATA AND ENERGY ESTIMATION
• Wind turbines requires location with constantly
high wind speed.
• Wind Power Density (WPD) of a location decides
whether wind power extraction is possible.
• It is a calculation related to effective force of wind
at a location and its frequency expressed in terms
of elevation above ground level over a period of
time.
• Wind velocity and mass are taken in to
consideration and color code maps are prepared.
• Metrological department collects data
continuously about wind from many airports and
data from anemometers located at a height of
10m in order to follow world standard
• For measurement of wind speed, the basic
sensors used are anemometers and for
measurement of direction, wind vanes are
used.
• The most commonly used anemometer is
rotating cup anemometer. In this type, a vertical
shaft supports a cup assembly
• WIND POWER AND WIND POWER DENSITY.
• The calculation of the power of the wind energy is
based on the kinetic energy of moving air
molecules.
• Wind Power (PW)= Kinetic Energy of Wind
• = Where v1 is incoming velocity of wind (m/s)
• and ‘m’ is mass flow rate of air (kg/s) = ρAv 1
• ‘ρ’ is density of air and A rotor swept area, exposed to
the wind (m2)
• Substituting for m Wind Power (PW)=
• Wind turbine will not be able to convert this entire
wind energy in to power. In between transmission
efficiencies are also there hence

• Wind Turbine Power (P)= Cp x ηb x ηg x

• Cp is Coefficient of performance (0.59 {Betz limit} is the
maximum theoretically possible, 0.35 for a good design)
• ηg - generator efficiency (50% for car alternator, 80% or
possibly more for a permanent magnet generator or grid-
connected induction generator)
• ηb - bearings/gearbox efficiency (could be as high as 95%
if good).

• Wind Power Density = P/A = Cp x ηb x ηg x

•
 Terms Related to Wind Turbines
• Tip-speed ratio is the ratio of the rotational speed
of the blade to the wind speed. The larger this
ratio, the faster the rotation of the wind turbine
rotor at a given wind speed. Lift-type wind
turbines have maximum tip- speed ratios of
around 10, while drag-type ratios are
approximately 1.
• Coefficient of performance is defined as the ratio
of the power delivered by the rotor, P, to the
maximum power available in the wind (Pw) .
Maximum value is 0.59 for horizontal axis turbine.
• Cut in Wind Speed: It is the wind speed when
machine begins to produce power. Typically
between 3 to 4 m/s (10 to 14 km/hr).
• Design Wind Speed: It is the wind speed when the
wind turbine reaches its maximum efficiency.
• Rated Wind Speed: It is wind speed when machine
reaches its maximum output power. Also called
nameplate capacity ( typically about 15 m/s)
• Cut-out Wind Speed: Maximum safe working wind
speed. Brakes are applied to shutdown once this
speed is reached.
• Capacity Factor: Due to variation in wind speed
annual energy production is not same as energy
calculated by multiplying generator rating with
total number of hours in a year. This ratio is called
capacity factor and its value is 20 to 40%
 Solar Wind Hybrid Energy Systems
• Solar-wind hybrid energy system is the combined power
generating system consisting of wind turbines and solar
energy panel. It also includes a battery which is used to
store the energy generated from both the sources.
• Using this system, power generation by wind turbines
when wind source is available and generation from PV
module when light radiation is available can be achieved.
Both units can be generated power when both sources
are available.
• Wind power is converted to electricity in DC form by
controller circuits consisting converter and rectifiers and
is stored in battery. Similarly DC current produced from
PV array is also stored in same battery.
ADVANTAGES OF WECS
DISADVANTAGES OF WECS
WIND POWER ECONOMICS
INDIAN STATUS OF WIND POWER
WORLD STATUS OF WIND POWER
• Gross potential of wind energy system is
maximum in coastal and desert land of the
country due to plenty of wind energy sources
available.
• Gujarat and Maharashtra have installed
capacity (74% of total).Germany is the World
leader in wind energy conversion .India stands
5th position.