Experiment 2 Wind Turbine

How can the maximum power of a wind generator be

achieved?
1. Set up the experiment as shown in Figure 1.

2. Use a wind generator with three rotor blades.

3. Align the wind generator and the angle of inclination of the rotor blades in such
a way that the highest possible no-load voltage is achieved.

4. Start the software and select the WIND GENERATOR tab.

5. Switch on the fan (Level 3).

6. Switch the operation mode to AUTOMATIC MODE and start the

measurement.

7. Record current and voltage values in a table and calculate the power.

The power is calculated with the formula .

8. Draw the power characteristic curve at the graph on the next page.

Click on POWER CHARACTERISTIC CURVE in the software and

compare with the power characteristic curve which is drawn.
Figure 1: Assembly 9. Equip the wind turbine with six rotor blades.

10. Set the fan to Level 3.

11. Align the wind generator and the angle of inclination of the rotor blades in
such a way that the highest possible no-load voltage is achieved.

12. Select the operation mode AUTOMATIC MODE .

13. Record current and voltage values in a table and calculate the power.

14. Draw the power characteristic curve at the graph on the next page.

15. Determine the maximum operating point from the power voltage characteristic
curve.
Figure 2:

Figure 3:
Worksheet 2
Questions about the experiment
1. How can the maximum power of the wind generator be
achieved?
2. What does the power characteristic curve look like at Level 2?
3. What does the power characteristic curve look like at Level 3?
4. How can the maximum power of the wind generator be deter-
mined?
General questions
5. When did people come up with the idea for utilizing wind energy?
6. When was the first wind turbine for generating current built?
7. Which country has the largest installed total power of wind
turbines?
8. How much surface area is required to generate one MW of wind
energy?
9. How much area will a wind park cover in order to replace a
nuclear power plant (1,700 MW)?
10. What percentage of the surface area of Germany cover in order
to replace all nuclear power plants in Germany?
11. What is a full load hour?
Comprehension questions
12. How is wind created?
13. Does the sun's irradiation at the equator have an influence on the
wind in Europe?
14. Can one state that the energy source "wind" is inexhaustible?
15. Why are wind turbines built near the coast? Why does more wind
blow near the coast?
16. How high are the costs for a wind turbine per installed kW?
17. When do wind energy and solar plants pay themselves off?
18. Why does a wind turbine require a gear unit?