Wind Turbine Operation

and Basic
Troubleshooting

by Tony Green
Candidate for Technical
Trainer Position
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 1
 Agenda


– Part I -
 Overview of Wind Turbines
 How is Power generated?
 Energy Conversions?
– Part II
 What are the types of turbines?
 What composes a turbine?
 How are they related?
– Part III – Basic Troubleshooting
– Summary/Questions
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 2
 Housekeeping
matters:
–Cell phone in Vibrate
Mode/Off
–Location of the heads
(Bathrooms, Water
Fountain, snack
machines)

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 3
Why is understanding the


operation of a wind turbine

important?


– Price of oil escalating with

Middle East sources/global
warming CO2 emission
– Clean/Renewable energy
sources needed, wind power
and solar in the mix
– Must be reliable to keep pricing
in line with conventional
sources (and the lights on!),
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 4
Objectives of today’s lesson:

Understanding of what a wind

turbine is and how it operates
(parts, block diagram)

Guide to basic troubleshooting

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 5

  Part I – Overview
• A Wind Turbine is machine that
produces electrical power from
wind
•

Source: Fundamentals of Wind Energy Alaska Wind Energy Applications

Training Symposium Bethel, Alaska E. Ian Baring-Gould National Renewable
Energy Laboratory http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 6
Front and Side view of a turbine

Source: RET International Presentation

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 7
 How is energy generated?

Source: Creado and Sanyal Wind Energy Overview Presentation via slideshare.net.
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 8
 Part I – Overview
How does it accomplish this? –
Blades captures wind, gears
adjust turning ratios, generator
convert rotation to DC and
inverter converts DC to AC after
which power can be applied to
grid

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 9

How is wind being
used?

Source: Why Wind Power work for Michigan “A Brief Primer on How Wind
Turbines
Make Electricity” by Christopher Schilling, Ph.D. Saginaw Valley
State University http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 10
 Wind Turbine Block Diagram
•

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 11

Part I – Overview
Energy Conversion

• Input > Wind Kinetic Energy

• Pressure Differential - blades are an
airfoil ∆ P provides lift/rotational
motion
• Mechanical Energy(Rotary motion) gear
box as speed is increaser
• Generator Output – mechanical to
electrical
• Output > electricity fed to grid
•
Source : Matt Garran’s “Anatomy of a Wind Turbine” AWEA 2009
presentation http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 12
• With that said …
•
How do we track in increase in wind

speed to increase power output?



Wind up - blades turn faster – shaft



spins faster – gears rotate faster –

generator to produce higher output
voltage – increase power
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 13
• Part II – Types, Composition of parts
that make up a turbine, the relation
of parts to each other

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 14

 • There are two types: Horizontal
(HAWT) and Vertical (VAHT)
•

e : FUNDAMENTALS , INTRODUCTION TOWIND ENERGY by

tarcher Alternative Energyhttp://www.tonygreen.name
Institute West Texas A&M University March 152007
© Tony Green 2010
What are the parts of a wind turbine?


• Blades – gather energy from wind

• Generator – converts spin to DC
• Anemometer – measures wind
speed
• Tower – support of structure
• Nacelle – houses equipment
• Gear Box – contains gears
• Main shaft - connects blades to
generator
• Transformer- adjusts voltage to use
with grid http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 16
 Schematic of Parts

Source: Hawaii Electric Company Presentation

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 17

 • Composition of Blades – two or three
made of composite material (Fiber
and Resin)
•

on left courtesy of author from AWEA 2009 convention and exposition in Chicago, I
on the right courtesy of dreamstime.com

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 18

• Composition of Tower – steel
•


Source : Matt Garran’s “Anatomy of a Wind Turbine” AWEA 2009

presentation
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 19
• With that said …
• Could someone describe
the operation of a simple
turbine?
• Wind-blades-shaft – gears
– generator – inverter –
transformer - source
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 20
• Part III – Troubleshooting
•
What could possibly go

wrong?

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 21

• 1. Example : Turbine
slowing down with load,
harder for generator to
turn, more torque must
be generated.

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 22

• 2. Output Voltage
Unstable/Fluctuating.
During operation voltage
unstable enough to not
be adjusted to grid level,
Utility will not buy your
electricity
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 23
• 3. Loss of output, with visible
wind blowing, blades not
turning, No AC Power out

http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 24

• With that said …
•
• If you were a turbine operator who
noticed that the visibly rotating by
no power output what could you
check first?
•
• To check what is in path? Shaft,
gears, generator, load. Check shaft
spinning, if spin being input to
generator then check output o.k.,
check if load connected to power
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 25
 In Summary:
• Wind Turbine converts
Wind Energy to power
• Major components are
tower, blades, gears, and
generator
• To troubleshoot it is key to
under parts, their
operation and relation to
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 26


 Thank you for your

time!


 If you want to know more about

the author check out
http://www.markanthonygreen.blo
gspot.com
http://www.tonygreen.name © Tony Green 2010 27