Wind Energy

Introduction
Sun, water, wind, mines, forests are valuable natural resources. We get things like wood, different types of metals, minerals etc. from forests and mines. Water is now effectively used for hydropower generation. Solar power is becoming very popular day by day as the fuel prices are going up. Similarly wind energy/power is also a type of renewable energy which has a huge potential when used effectively. It can be tapped and used for many applications like power generation etc. We will study all about Wind energy in this chapter.

Objective
We will learn about wind energy and will study its applications. We will study wind mill in detail including selecting suitable site to set up a wind mill. We will learn how to measure speed of wind and the instruments used for it.

What is wind energy?

Solar radiation heats the part of earth which is facing the sun. This is a continuous process. So every part of earths surface gets heated by the solar radiation at least once in 24 hours. Different types of surfaces -like sand, stone, water, various types of soil absorb, retain, reflect and release heat according to the nature of that surface. Earth gets warmer during the day and cools down at night. The air above the earths surface also gets warmer and cooler with the earth. Hot air always rises upwards and cool air goes downwards. This process continues during the day and night as temperature keeps changing. As a result of this air keeps moving. This movement of air is called wind.

Fig. 1 Wind mills There are many applications where energy of the wind can be used. Lot of research is going on and scientists are trying out many experiments based on it. But at present, wind energy is mainly used in following applications: 1. To generate electricity.

2. To use mechanical devices such as pump, flour mill etc directly on wind mill rotation. We will study basics of wind mill to understand these applications better. A wind mill is a rotating machine which converts kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical energy. This mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, such as a pump or grinding stones. The windmills which are used to generate electricity is normally called as Wind turbines. A windmill has a set of blades mounted on a central axis which revolves as the blades start rotating because of wind. This axis is connected to a system of gears to turn machinery which can do things like pumping water or grinding grains. Small individual wind turbines can generate electricity less than 250 Watt. It can be used to charge batteries or to run domestic appliances. Large wind turbines of size ranging from 10 KW to 1000KW (1 MW) generate large amount of electricity which can be fed to the electric grid. They are installed on windy locations called wind farms, which are also called wind fall areas. The Government has prepared wind maps of such locations. It is estimated that India has capacity to generate 45000MW (45 GW) of electricity using wind and so far we are able to tap only 10% of it.

Parts of a typical wind mill

A figure shows different parts of a typical wind mill.

Fig. 2 Parts of a typical wind mill

Wind energy turbine mainly consists of following parts: Set of blades, shaft, gearbox, generator and a tower. Now we will see how it works: Blades of a wind turbine start rotating because of wind which in turn rotates the shaft connected to the blades. The speed of rotation of the shaft is slow and not sufficient to generate electricity. To increase it, the shaft is connected to the gearbox. Due to the revolution of shaft, generator will revolve at desired speed to generate the power. Since wind speed is not constant, there is variation in the power generation too. Hence generated power is supplied to a battery.

Measuring wind speed

To install wind turbine on any area, we need to know the speed of wind of the site first. Following is the general indication to judge the wind speed. (Thumb rule) Wind Speed (meter/second) 0-5 6-20 21-39 40-61 Term Calm Light Moderate Indication/Description Smoke goes straight up Wind is felt on face Raises dust; flags flap

Strong Large branches move; umbrellas turn inside out

Following instruments are generally used to measure wind speed and direction.

Weather Vanes:
It is one of the oldest instruments used to show the direction of the wind. In the past, it generally used to come in the form of a cockerel and hence known as weathercocks too! Now days weathervanes come in many different forms. The weather vane must be mounted somewhere where it will receive the full force of wind without any obstacle. Weather vanes cannot actually predict weather but helps people to know basic weather information. Arrow mounted on swinging rod is also used to know direction of the wind.

Fig. 3 Weather vanes

Wind Sock:

Fig. 4 Wind sock This simple device is found mainly at airports, seaports and other areas where visual indication of the wind is needed. It shows the direction of wind as well as indicates the speed of wind. The direction of wind is the direction in which the sock is floating. The speed or strength of wind can be judged by the shape and movement of the wind sock. If it is floating gently, then the wind is light. If sock is floating in the straight line, then the wind is stronger.

Anemometer:
The word Anemometer is derived from a Greek word anemos meaning wind. Anemometer is a meteorological instrument used to measure the speed of the wind. Like weathervanes, anemometer also comes in variety of forms. But the simple one is with cups. It consists of a vertical pole with four horizontal arms connected at the top. Cups are attached to the end of these four arms. Little cups on this device catch the wind and spin around the vertical pole according to the strength of the wind. A recording device is used to count the number of revolutions of the cups in a given time.

Fig. 5 - Anemometer

Calculating wind speed:

Count the number of revolutions made by the cups per minute. Calculate the circumference of the circle the cups create (circumference = * diameter). Now multiply by the answers to get the wind speed per minute. Selection of the site for installing a wind turbine: If you plan to install a wind turbine for domestic purpose, following things must be taken into consideration: o Average wind speed of that site should be at least 5 meters/second. o There should not be any obstacle like a tree or a building nearby which might reduce the wind speed or create turbulence. A wind turbine can either be mounted on a tower or micro turbines can be fixed to the roof of a building. Wind speed increases with height. So it is advisable to put your wind turbine on a tower. A small increase in the speed of wind will lead to a proportionally large increase in the amount of electricity generated.

Summary
Here is the summary of what we learned in this chapter: Moving air is called wind. Wind is a renewable energy source which has a potential to fulfill the growing demand of energy. At present, wind energy is used for generating electricity, pumping water, for floor mills etc. Weathervane is the oldest device used to determine which direction the wind is blowing. Windsock is a simple device used to show the direction of the wind as well as to check the speed of wind. Anemometer is a meteorological device used to check the speed of wind.

Activity
1. Make your own anemometer and measure wind speed on your school campus or at home. (Directions to make anemometer: Fix four cup on the rods as shown in the fig. 5. Mount it on the rotating joint. Count the number of revolutions in a minute. You can even use an automobile speedometer counter to measure number of revolutions.) 2. Visit some interior trekking spot and calculate the wind speed and find out whether the site is suitable for installing wind turbines.