1.1 General Introduction
1.1 General Introduction
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Renewable energy has been vigorously debated and pursued in the past
decade. The growing public awareness of the environmental concerns, limited
energy supply, and uncertain energy prices has spearheaded this debate.
Wind energy has experienced a remarkable expansion in the past years. The
global cumulative capacity of wind power generation has increased 20 times in a
ten-year period and is expected to grow even faster in the future. In 2008, the U.S.
Department of Energy announced an ambitious goal for wind energy to produce
20% of electricity by 2030. However, the challenge for wind energy generation is
to be cost competitive with the energy produced from the conventional sources.
The cost of wind generated power is largely derived from the turbine installation
cost and the operation and maintenance (O&M) cost. Therefore, reducing the cost
of installation and O&M makes wind power more cost-attractive. In this
dissertation, performance of wind turbines is studied with the aim of reducing the
O&M cost and thus lowering the cost of wind power generation.
Although the wind turbine efficiency topic has been studied in the literature,
several shortcomings can be noted. The wind power generation cost can be
considered from two perspectives, the efficiency of power generation and the
O&M cost of the wind turbine. Therefore, simply improving the efficiency of wind
power generation cannot reduce the power generation cost as the cost of turbine
consumed mechanical components may increase. Another shortcoming is that
improving the performance model of a wind turbine does not easily scale up to that
of a wind farm. Numerous factors, such as electricity demand, wind speed, and
electricity price might impact the performance of a wind farm. Scheduling wind
farms needs to be investigated. Moreover, the majority of the published studies
about control of a wind turbine system involve Physics-based models. Since such
models usually involve stringent assumptions, they do not adequately model
working systems.
Three research goals are set for this dissertation. The first goal is to develop
nonlinear and non-parametric models accurately capturing performance of wind
turbines. The wind turbine performance is expressed by the amount of the
generated power and the level of turbine vibration. Since wind turbine vibration
impact performance and life-cycle of wind turbine components, such as a gearbox,
it is considered as an indicator of mechanical component usage. The second goal is
to optimize wind turbine performance based on the developed models. Unlike the
previous two goals that concentrate on a single turbine, the third goal is to improve
performance of a wind farm.
been widely used in large power farms. In recent years, VWATs have become the
focus of research scholars. VWATs play an important role in supplementing
energy, structural adjustments in the energy industry, and capturing wind energy in
low wind speed areas due to their own advantages.
Turbines catch the wind's energy with their propeller-like blades, which act
much like an airplane wing. When the wind blows, a pocket of low-pressure air
forms on one side of the blade. The low-pressure air pocket then pulls the blade
toward it, causing the rotor to turn. This is called lift. The force of the lift is much
stronger than the wind's force against the front side of the blade, which is called
drag. The combination of lift and drag causes the rotor to spin like a propeller.
A series of gears increase the rotation of the rotor from about 18 revolutions
a minute to roughly 1,800 revolutions per minute -- a speed that allows the
turbine’s generator to produce AC electricity.
Another key component is the turbine’s controller, that keeps the rotor
speeds from exceeding 55 mph to avoid damage by high winds. An anemometer
continuously measures wind speed and transmits the data to the controller. A
brake, also housed in the nacelle, stops the rotor mechanically, electrically or
4
There are two basic types of wind turbines: those with a horizontal axis, and
those with a vertical axis. The majority of wind turbines have a horizontal axis: a
propeller-style design with blades that rotate around a horizontal axis. Horizontal
axis turbines are either upwind (the wind hits the blades before the tower) or
downwind (the wind hits the tower before the blades). Upwind turbines also
include a yaw drive and motor components that turns the nacelle to keep the rotor
facing the wind when its direction changes. While there are several manufacturers
of vertical axis wind turbines, they have not penetrated the utility scale market
(100 kW capacity and larger) to the same degree as horizontal access turbines.
Vertical axis turbines fall into two main designs:
HAWTs are the most common wind machine designs in use today. HAWTs
utilize aerodynamic blades (i.e. air foils) fitted to a rotor, which can be positioned
either upwind or downwind. HAWTs are typically either two- or three-bladed and
operate at high blade tip speeds. Machines with upwind rotors require a yaw, or
tail vane, to help them orient into the wind while downwind rotors have blades that
are coned allowing the turbine to orient on its own. One drawback identified with
downwind rotors, however, is that they have been known to ‘walk’ around when
trying to line up with winds during low speed conditions, diminishing low wind
speed energy production.
Modern HAWTs use the aerodynamic lift force to turn each rotor blade, in a
manner similar to the way an airplane flies. The lift force generally works as
follows. When exposed to winds, air flows around both the upper and lower
portions of a blade. As a result of the blade’s curvature, however, air passes over
the top of the blade more quickly (owing to a longer fetch length) than the lower
portion, producing a low-pressure area on the topside. The pressure difference
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created between the top and bottom sides of the blade produces a force in the
direction of the top of the blade (Mathew, 2006).
Large wind turbines, most often used by utilities to provide power to a grid,
range from 100 kilowatts to several megawatts. These utility-scale turbines
are often grouped together in wind farms to produce large amounts of
electricity. Wind farms can consist of a few or hundreds of turbines,
providing enough power for tens of thousands of homes.
Small wind turbines, up to 100 kilowatts, are typically close to where the
generated electricity will be used, for example, near homes,
telecommunications dishes or water pumping stations. Small turbines are
sometimes connected to diesel generators, batteries and photovoltaic
systems. These systems are called hybrid wind systems and are typically
used in remote, off-grid locations, where a connection to the utility grid is
not available.
Offshore wind turbines are used in many countries to harness the energy of
strong, consistent winds found off of coastlines. The technical resource
potential of the winds above U.S. coastal waters is enough to provide more
than 4,000 gigawatts of electricity, or approximately four times the
generating capacity of the current U.S. electric power system. Although not
all of these resources will be developed, this represents a major opportunity
to provide power to highly populated coastal cities.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Zheng Li et. al., (2019) this paper proposes a Nautilus isometric spiral
vertical axis wind turbine, which is a new structure, and its aerodynamic
performance and power generation performance need to be analyzed. Methods: A
3D model of the wind turbine was built and its aerodynamic performance was
analyzed. Then the wind turbine power generation and grid-connected simulation
platform was built by MATLAB/SIMULINK, and its power generation
performance and subsequent grid connection were studied. Results: The basic
parameters of the wind turbine were obtained. In order to improve efficiency,
parameters such as pressure, torque, wind energy utilization rate and relative
velocity of wind turbines with different blade numbers and different sizes were
compared. In addition, by building a simulation platform for the power generation
control system, the power generation characteristics and grid connection
characteristic curves of the generator were obtained.
10
J. Ramesh et. al., (2016) the author says that to maintain a high level of
availability and reliability in a fossil power farm, substantial consideration of
failure by repeated thermal loading should be carried out. In this study, the
transient temperatures and stresses distributions within a turbine inner casing were
achieved from actual operation data during cold start-up. The maximum
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Challuri Anusha et. al., (2017) has briefly explained that to maintain a
high level of availability and reliability in a fossil power farm, substantial
consideration of failure by repeated thermal loading should be carried out. In this
study, the transient temperatures and stresses distributions within a turbine inner
casing were achieved from actual operation data during cold start-up. The
maximum deformations are calculate in transient state condition within inner
casing. Equivalent (von-Misses) Stress distribution in Transient condition. Total
deformation and stress values are compared with analytical results calculated for
2D geometry. If the thermal gradient is great enough, the stress at the bottom of
the threads may be high enough to cause the carking. The result shows the casing
develops higher stress levels in start-up condition.
the efficiency and reliability of power stations. So, any improvement in the design
of wind turbine reduces wind energy losses results in decreased cost and one
which parameter the efficiency of wind turbine depends is casing design. The high
pressure wind at 565 °C and 156 bar pressure passes through the high pressure
turbine. The exhaust wind from this section is returned to the boiler for reheating.
At this stage the wind pressure reduces relatively small amount where as changes
in thermal energy is large. The reheated wind enters into intermediate pressure
turbine at 565 °C and 40.2 bar pressure and extracts energy. From the intermediate
pressure turbine, the wind continues its expansion in the third stage Low pressure
turbine at 306 °C and 6.32 bar. Form this we can observe that, to get more power
output the wind exhaust pressure is kept very low and this achieved by casing
design. The casing thus witnesses, energy of the wind turned into work in HP and
IP stages. So, the design of the casing is a very important aspect.
Gayatri Choudhary et. al., (2018) in their work which involves the design
consideration, design checks and sensitivity analysis to achieve the design criteria
to fulfill the structural requirement for mechanical integrity. During the last several
year the primary changes to the design of wind turbine have focused on improving
their efficiency, reliability and reducing operating cost. Siemens Power
Generation, for example, has improved the overall efficiency and availability of its
wind turbine by decreasing the wind flow energy losses in each of the wind turbine
components. The wind entering the turbine is at 306 degree centigrade and 6.32
bar. To get the most work out of the wind, the exhaust pressure is kept very low
the casing thus witnesses, energy of the wind turned into work in HP and IP
Stages. So the design of the casing is a very important aspect.
Subhash N. Khetre et. al., (2018) has done the composite Material like
aluminium and fiber matrix to sustain different criteria. In the present work,
structure of the composite pressure vessel and different orientations of symmetric
shells designed. For pressure were investigated and 3-D finite element analyses
using APDL Programming. FEA software is used for failure analysis on the
composite shell of continuous angle ply laminas. The Tsai-Wu failure criterion is
13
applied for the checking the first-ply failure of layers in a simple form. Some
analytical and experimental solutions are compared with the finite element
solutions, in which commercial software ANSYS 15.0 was utilized and close
results are obtained between them.
Sayed Ali Sajjady et. al., (2018) said that due to high ratio of strength to
weight, composite cylindrical shells are extensively used in a great variety of
different industrial applications and under different cases of loads. In this study,
the buckling of composite cylindrical shells was examined under uniform external
pressure. The buckling analysis of composite cylindrical shells was first done by
using theoretical relationships. Doing this, Donnell and improved Donnell
equations were employed. Then finite element analysis of composite cylindrical
shells was done considering inter-layers delamination. Since delamination is a
predominant reason for damage in composite materials, considering different
models, the effect of delamination and the factors affecting it (such as the ratio of
cylinder length to its cross-section perimeter, delamination size, delamination
depth location, and delamination shape) on critical buckling load will be
examined. Finally, in the section related to delamination growth, its growth
direction and also the effect of embedded delamination shape and size upon
delamination growth were examined. The analysis of variance of finite element
results show that the area and the depth of delamination with the effectiveness of
% 31.92 and % 28.85 have respectively the most effects on critical buckling load.
In this study, the 3D modeling of delamination and its growth by using cohesive
elements is carried out in ABAQUS software which is the main novelty of this
work.
E. Frulloni et. Al., (2018) has finalized that the Composite lattice
structures made of carbon fibre and epoxy resin and having different geometries,
were produced using Filament Winding Technology. The elements were tested in a
test bench, simulating the effect of an external hydrostatic pressure and the failure
pressure of the elements was measured. Analytical calculations demonstrated that
the failure of the tubes could not be due to material crisis. In order to understand
14
the failure mechanism better, finite element analysis was used to evaluate the
buckling pressure of the tested tubes. The analyses demonstrated that different
instability modes were possible for the studied elements, depending on their
geometry. The results obtained in terms of critical pressure for the simulation of
the performed tests were in line with the experimental values, demonstrating that
buckling was the governing mechanism for tube failure. The buckling analysis
showed that lateral buckling was dominant in the elements that were
experimentally tested. The analysis and the models presented in this work allowed
the development of a tool for the design of hollow lattice structures which
predicted with good approximation the failure of these parts.
Yunbo Zhong et. Al., (2018) explained about A new method to fabricate
the homogeneous hypermonotectic alloy was proposed that the EMC field
assisting solidification. The optimal process condition for achieving the entirely
homogeneous solid structure of Zn30wt.%Bi alloy was found through the
experiments, which was 85N/cm3 EMBF with the frequency of 50Hz. The
corresponding physical simulations were conducted to get deep understand of this
method, which revealed that the EMBF can mix the layered melt homogeneously
and reduce the velocity of minority phase droplets. The former is the precondition
for achieving homogeneous solid structure and the latter one suppresses the liquid
separation thereby facilitates obtaining the homogeneous melt structure. Moreover,
the physical simulation confirmed that the optimal EMBF magnitude and
frequency for achieving the entirely homogeneous structure do exist. Based on the
experiments and simulations, two physical models were proposed to illustrate how
EMBF break the droplet into small pieces and change the droplet’s moving path.
These two effects are both dedicated to reduce the droplets velocity.
to evaluate the contact pressure in a high pressure wind turbine casing. The work
involves design considerations, design checks, validation and sensitivity analysis
to achieve the design criteria to fulfill the structural requirements for mechanical
integrity. During the last several years the primary changes to the design of wind
turbines have focused on improving their efficiency, reliability and reducing
operating costs. Siemens Power Generation, for example, has improved the overall
efficiency and availability of its wind turbines by decreasing the wind flow energy
losses in each of the wind turbines components. The wind turbine unit largely
influences the efficiency and reliability of power stations. Any improvement in the
design of wind turbine enables more efficient use of fuel and results in reduced
cost. The high pressure wind at 565 °C and 156 bar pressure passes through the
high pressure turbine. The exhaust wind from this section is returned to the boiler
for reheating before being used. On leaving the boiler reheater, wind enters the
intermediate pressure turbine at 565 °C and 40.2 bar pressure. From the
intermediate pressure turbine, the wind continues its expansion in the three Low
pressure turbines. The wind entering the turbine is at 306 °C and 6.32 bar. To get
the most work out of the wind, the exhaust pressure is kept very low. The casing
thus witnesses, energy of the wind turned into work in HP and IP stages. So, the
design of the casing is a very important aspect.
W.S. Choi et. al., (2019) An important characteristic of a wind power farm
is its ability to maintain reliability and safety of the farm against frequent start-ups
and load changes. Transient regimes arising during start-ups, shut-downs and load
changes give rise to unsteady temperature distribution with time in wind turbine
rotor(HP/IP), which results in non-uniform strain and stress distribution. The rapid
increase of temperature and rotational speed during starts-ups, especially, makes
conditions more severe and causes main components’ damage and reduction of life
span for wind turbine. Thus accurate knowledge of thermal and centrifugal stresses
are required for the integrity and lifetime assessment for the turbine rotor. So far,
only elastic calculations are currently performed for simplicity. However, it is well
known that the materials of wind turbine rotor deform in elastically at high
16
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
Identify and applying the suitable material to the High Pressure Wind
Turbine Casing.
Apply the temperature on the different part of the wind turbine to determine
it thermal properties.
The given data has to be processed in the Ansys software and the preferred
output should be recorded.
CHAPTER 4
It is very difficult to exactly model the Wind Turbine casing, in which there
are still researches are going on to find out transient thermo mechanical behaviour
of casing during operating under higher temperature and pressure. There is always
a need of some assumptions to model any complex geometry. These assumptions
are made, keeping in mind the difficulties involved in the theoretical calculation
and the importance of the parameters that are taken and those which are ignored.
In modelling we always ignore the things that are of less importance and have little
impact on the analysis.
ANSYS software with its modular structure as seen in the table below gives
an opportunity for taking only needed features. ANSYS can work integrated with
other used engineering software on desktop by adding CAD and FEA connection
modules.
ANSYS can import CAD data and also enables to build a geometry with its
"pre-processing" abilities. Similarly, in the same pre-processor, finite element
model (a.k.a. mesh) which is required for computation is generated. After defining
loadings and carrying out analyses, results can be viewed as numerical and
graphical.
ANSYS can carry out advanced engineering analyses quickly, safely and
practically by its variety of contact algorithms, time based loading features and
nonlinear material models. ANSYS Workbench is a platform which integrates
simulation technologies and parametric CAD systems with unique automation and
performance. So ANSYS, which enables to simulate tests or working conditions,
enables to test in virtual environment before manufacturing prototypes of products.
The power of ANSYS Workbench comes from ANSYS solver algorithms
with years of experience. Furthermore, the object of ANSYS Workbench is
verification and improving of the product in virtual environment.
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Parameters Value
Height of the Blade 0.3m
Radius of the blade 0.65m
Rated Power 300W
Height of shaft 5m
Radius of Shaft 0.2m
Starting wind Speed 1.5-2m/s
4.4.2 Meshing
Nodes 34297
Elements 18672
Mesh Metrics None
Length of Units mm
Fig: 4.4 The Static Domain and Rotating Domain of Wind Turbine
In the calculation process, the wind speed of the inflow airflow is held
constant at 5 m/s, and the tip speed ratio is changed between 0–1 by changing the
corresponding parameters. Figure 4.4 is a tip speed ratio-wind energy utilization
coefficient curve. As shown in Figure 7, the TSR is between 0.1 and 0.7, and with
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the increase of the TSR, the wind energy utilization rate shows a trend of
increasing first and then decreasing. The wind energy utilization coefficient is
maximum when the TSR = 0.4. If the rotational speed of the wind turbine is
stabilized at this time, the maximum utilization efficiency of wind energy can be
achieved.
In order to improve the torque coefficient of thewind turbine and find the
best structural performance parameters, this paper uses numerical simulation to
improve its structure. This section changes the number of blades and the ratio of
the major axis to the minor axis radius of the blade inlet portion, and determines
whether the wind turbine performance is optimized through simulation calculation.
Figure 4.6 is a three-dimensional model in which the ratio of the major axis of the
ellipse to the minor axis radius of the inlet portion of the blade (b/a) is constant,
and the number of blades is 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Figure 4.7 is a three-
dimensional model in which the number of blades is the same, and the ratio of the
major axis to the minor axis radius of the blade inlet portion is 0.38, 0.57 and 0.76,
respectively.
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The wind turbine hopes that the rotation speed is high, and a high wind energy
utilization coefficient can be obtained in a wide range of wind speeds, that is, it
can work in a wide range of blade tip speed ratios and operate at a suitable high
rotation speed. Figure 13 is a comparison curve of relative flow velocity with the
wind turbine as the origin and the incoming flow direction as the X axis. It can be
seen from the figure that the two-blade wind turbine absorbs the least amount of
wind energy, so that the utilization of wind energy is the smallest; the five-blade
wind turbine absorbs the most wind energy, resulting in the highest pressure and
has a greater impact on the downstream wake region; the relative velocity of the
four-blade wind turbine fluctuates, and the available wind speed range is relatively
Small, consistent with the above analysis results of pressure profile, torque, and
wind energy utilization. The analysis of torque, wind energy utilization and
relative velocity is consistent with the analysis of pressure contours, so a three-
27
blade wind turbine can be selected for optimal performance. The cross section of
the air inlet of the blade is an ellipse. After determining the optimal number of
blades, the ratio of the size of the air inlet, whether it has an impact on the
utilization of wind energy is the next question to be considered.
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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
The conclusion is that when the number of blades is three and the ratio of
the major axis of the ellipse to the minor axis radius of the blade is 0.76, the best
performance of this wind turbine can be obtained. In addition, according to the
mathematical model of the generator, a simulation platform for power generation
and grid-connected control systems was set up. The power generation
characteristics of the generator, the grid-connected transmission process, and the
stability of the user’s electricity were analyzed. Finally, by constructing a wind
turbine prototype, the actual power of the wind turbine was measured and
compared with the measured power in the simulation, which verified the feasibility
and effectiveness of the wind turbine and its subsequent power generation system.
29
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