WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS

Dr. Monalisa Patnaik

Department of Electrical Engineering,

National Institute of Technology, Rourkela,
Odisha, India, 769008.
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WIND ENERGY
All renewable energy (except tidal and geothermal
power), ultimately comes from the sun

The earth receives 1.74 x 1017 watts of power (per hour)

from the sun

The wind is a by-product of solar energy.

Approximately 2% of the sun's energy reaching the
earth is converted into wind energy.

Wind is simply air in motion and available in the form

of kinetic energy of air

It is caused by the uneven heating of the earth's

surface by the sun and rotation of earth
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 WIND ENERGY CONTD…
The surface of the earth heats and cools unevenly, creating
atmospheric pressure zones that make air flow from high- to
low-pressure areas.
Since the earth's surface is made up of land, desert, water,
and forest areas, the surface absorbs the sun's radiation
differently
The wind has played an important role in the history of
human civilization
Wind energy, the world's fastest growing energy source, is a
clean and renewable source of energy that has been in use for
centuries in Europe and more recently in the United States
and other nations.
And wind is one of the cheapest and cleanest energy source.
The first known use of wind dates back 5,000 years to Egypt,
where boats used sails to travel from shore to shore.
Also used for sailing ships, pumping water and grinding grain
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 WIND ENERGY CONTD…

Advantages
High net energy yield
Renewable and free
Very clean source of energy
• No pollution (air or water) during operation

Long operating life

Low operating/maintenance costs
Can be quickly built; not too expensive
Now almost competitive with hydro and fossil fuels
Land can be used for other purposes
• Can combine wind and agricultural farms

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 WIND ENERGY CONTD…

Disadvantages
Energy storage issues
• An intermittent source of energy; need backup (e.g. stored energy) for
low-wind days
• Or must be connected to the electrical grid

Only practical in areas that are windy enough

Danger to birds
• New (slow turning) designs largely eliminate this problem

Low energy density of wind

• Must use large areas of land

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WIND ENERGY AND POWER
The wind power is generated due to the movement of wind.
The energy associated with such movement is the kinetic energy
and is given by the following expression:

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WIND POWER

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WIND POWER CONTD…
We know that for given length of blades, A is constant and
so is the air mass density .
Hence wind power is directly proportional
to (wind speed) 3.
At sea level, = 1.225 or 1.25 Kg/m3. Therefore,

AV 3 1.25 AV 3
Power 0.625 AV 3
2 2
Power
0.625V 3 Power density in W / m 2
A

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THERMODYNAMICS OF WIND ENERGY
Wind is basically a relatively unidirectional motion of air
molecules, in that not all the molecules move in the
same direction.
There is random and disorderly thermal motion of the
molecules in all directions. Only the algebraic summation
yields a resultant value in one direction.
Naturally, the order or organization of this form of energy
is low in comparison with the motion of a shaft, where all
the molecules share a common motion.
Though kinetic in nature, wind is low-quality energy.

Our objective in wind energy conversion is to transform

this energy into the rotation of a shaft or the flow of
electrons; only then it becomes useful to mankind.

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EFFICIENCY LIMIT FOR WIND ENERGY CONVERSION
The second law of thermodynamics states that whenever
there is a transformation from low-quality energy to high-
quality energy, it is impossible to achieve 100% efficiency
even in theory.
There is always a theoretical maximum limit on the
efficiency.
In the case of conversion of heat energy into mechanical
energy, the limit is given by 1 -T2/T1,
where T1 and T2 are the temperatures of the source and
the sink, respectively, expressed in absolute scale.
Similarly, in the case of conversion of wind energy into the
mechanical energy of a rotating shaft, there must be some
theoretical upper limit on the efficiency of the conversion.

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Let us consider an ideal converter in the form of a disc of
area A which extracts a fraction of the power contained in
the wind flowing through it (Fig. 1.1).
The velocity of the incoming air unaffected by rotor
interference is V ,
That of the air passing through the disc is V, and that at
infinite distance away from the disc is V2.
The pressures of the incoming and outgoing air at infinite
distance from the disc are the same at P , but there is a
+ -
pressure difference (p -p ) between the two sides of the disc.

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It is assumed that the flow is axial, and that no rotational
kinetic energy is imparted to the air stream.
The flow through the disc separates distinctly from the
remainder of the air stream.
Applying Bernoulli's theorem for the air streams on the two
sides of the disc, we get, respectively,

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13
Thus the power output is a non-linear function of a. At the two extreme values
a= 0 and 1, the power output is zero.
Therefore the power output should reach a maximum for some value of a
between 0 and1.
To find this value of a, we differentiate P1 with respect to a and equate it to zero
to get:

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 This quadratic equation has two solutions at a = 1, 1/3.
Here a = 1 would mean that v = 0, which is impossible.
So only a = 1/3 is physically acceptable. This gives the
maximum extractable power as

which is reached when V= 2V /3.

This means that the theoretical maximum power
extractable from wind is 16/27 times the power contained
in wind.
This limit, first proved by Albert Betz in 1919, is called the
Betz limit.

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 WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

Based on Operating Principle:

Thrust Principle
Aerodynamic Principle

Based on Axis of Installation:

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)

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MAXIMUM ENERGY OBTAINABLE FOR A THRUST-
OPERATED CONVERTER

There is a category of wind energy converter

which operate on the thrust of wind on a solid
surface.
In such cases, the maximum power
extractable is not given by the Betz limit.
When wind strikes a surface blocking its way,
it exerts a force on the surface.
If the surface is stationary, the magnitude of
this force, given by the change in the
momentum of the wind, is:CF ( )
where CF is the force coefficient and A is the
area of the surface.
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 THRUST-OPERATED CONVERTER

However, in this case the power absorbed by the

surface is zero.
If the surface is moving with a velocity u, the
force is given by CF[ (V -U)2],
and the power absorbed by the surface is:
CF[ (V -U)2]U
It is apparent that the magnitude of the power
extracted depends on the speed at which the
surface is allowed to move
and one can expect a maximum point to exist
with respect to this speed.
To find this maximum, we differentiate the above
power function with respect to u and obtain
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 THRUST-OPERATED CONVERTER

This equation has solutions at = 1, 1/3, of which only

= 1/3 is feasible.
Substituting this value in the expression for power
extraction, we get a maximum:

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 THRUST-OPERATED CONVERTER

In an ideal condition the force coefficient becomes

unity, i.e., the wind transfers all its lost kinetic energy to
the surface.
Even in such a case, the maximum power extracted is
only 8/27 times the power contained in the wind.
This implies that a high-efficiency electricity-producing
wind turbine should not operate on the principle of
thrust force.
In fact, all such turbines utilize aerodynamic forces,
which allows one to get turbine efficiencies very close
to the Betz limit of 16/27.
However, thrust operated wind turbines are still in use
where efficiency is not the prime requirement.

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 WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

Based on Axis of Installation:

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)

Dutch type (Thrust principle)
Multi blade water pumping (Thrust principle)
High speed propeller type(Aerodynamic principle)

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)

Savonious rotor (Thrust principle)
Darrieus rotor (Aerodynamic principle)

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 DUTCH TYPE WINDMILLS
• These windmills operated on the thrust
exerted by wind.
• Generally four blades were inclined at an
angle to the plane of rotation.
• The wind, being deflected by the blades,
exerted a force in the direction of rotation.
• The blades were made of sails or wooden
slats.
• Orienting the blades in the direction of the
wind was accomplished manually, usually
with the help of a tail pole.
• Later the 'fan-tail' system was introduced,
in which there was a small windmill
behind and at right angles to the main
one, directly driving the orientation
system.
• When the wind direction changed, the fan-
tail rotated and turned the main windmill
back to the wind. 22
 MULTI BLADE WATER PUMPING WIND MILLS
• Water-pumping windmills have a large
number of blades
• The blades are made of flat steel plates,
working on the thrust of wind.
• Generally wooden or metallic slats-
driving a reciprocating pump.
• As the mill has to be placed directly
over the well, the criterion for site
selection concerns water availability
and not windiness.
• Therefore, the mill must be able to
operate at slow winds.
• The large number of blades give a high
torque, required for driving a
centrifugal pump, even at low winds.
• The orientation is generally achieved
by a tail-vane.
• These machines should have an inbuilt
protection against high winds and
storms. 23
 HIGH SPEED PROPELLER TYPE

• The horizontal-axis wind turbines that are used today for

electrical power generation do not operate on thrust force.
• They depend mainly on the aerodynamic forces that
develop when wind flows around a blade of aero-foil design.
• Such horizontal-axis wind turbines are efficient and very
suitable for electrical power generation.

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 VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINE (VAWT)
Savonious rotor VAWT
• It is an extremely simple vertical-
axis device that works on thrust
force of wind.
• The basic equipment is a drum
cut into two halves vertically.
• The two parts are attached to the
two opposite sides of a vertical
shaft.
• As the wind blowing into the
structure meets with two
dissimilar surfaces (one convex
and the other concave) the forces
exerted on the two surfaces are
different, which gives the rotor a
torque. 25
 SAVONIOUS ROTOR VAWT

• By providing a certain amount of overlap between

the two drums, the torque can be increased.
• This is because the wind blowing into the
concave surface turns around and gives a push to
the inner surface of the other drum, partly
cancelling the wind thrust on the convex side.
• It has been found that an overlap of about one-
third the drum diameter gives the optimum result.
• The Savonius rotor is inexpensive and simple.
• The material required for it is generally available
in any rural area, enabling onsite construction of
such windmills.
• However, its utility is limited to pumping water
because of its relatively low efficiency.

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 DARRIEUS ROTOR VAWT

• Operates on aerodynamic principle

and used for electrical power
generation purpose.
• Two or more flexible blades are
attached to a vertical shaft as
shown in Fig.
• The blades bow outward, taking
approximately the shape of a
parabola, and are of symmetrical
aero-foil section.
• At first sight it appears that the
forces on the blades at the two
sides of the shaft should be the
same, producing no torque.
• Such a rotor has no starting torque
and has to be started using some
external means.

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 DARRIEUS ROTOR VAWT
• The principle of operation is
shown in Fig. One blade of the
rotor is shown in four successive
positions along the path of
rotation.
• This torque is not the same in all
the positions. It varies from zero
when the blade is moving directly
upwind or downwind to a
maximum about a quarter of a
revolution later.
• The torque is also a function of
the speed of rotation and the wind
speed.
• At zero rotational speed, the
torque is also zero. It increases
with the rotational speed.
• Naturally, Darrieus rotors are
designed for a high speed of
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rotation.
 DARRIEUS ROTOR VAWT
• The torque increases with wind speed
up to a certain value and then falls off at
very high wind speeds.
• This means that this design has an
inbuilt protection from stormy weather-
the rotor tends to stall at high winds.
• The curvature of the blade, a 'troposkein‘
• Simply the shape assumed by a flexible
weightless chord spinning with its two
ends tied at two points. It can be closely
approximated by a parabola:

• The swept area is given by A= 2DH /3,

where D = 2b and H = 2a are the
diameter and the height of the rotor,
respectively.
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 DARRIEUS ROTOR VAWT
• Blade failure can be avoided simply by ensuring a high tensile strength
along the direction of the blade. Fibre-reinforced materials with fibres
aligned along the blade are quite suitable for its construction.
• As the Darrieus rotor operates on lift force, its efficiency approaches that
of modern horizontal-axis propeller-type windmills. The theoretical limit of
power extraction, under certain assumptions, can be shown to be 0.554
times the power contained in wind;
• The Darrieus rotor, with its high efficiency and high speed, is perfectly
suited for electrical power generation.
• The cost of construction is low because the generator and the gear
assembly can be located at ground level, drastically reducing the cost of
the tower. However, then it is unable to take advantage of the high wind
speeds available at higher altitudes.
• The starting torque is generally provided by an electrical machine, which
initially runs as a motor but later changes to the generator mode as the
Darrieus rotor starts generating power.
• Occasionally, two Savonius rotors are fitted at the two ends of the vertical
shaft to provide the starting torque.
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WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

HAWT vs VAWT 31
 WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY
Horizontal Axis Advantages Vertical Axis Advantages
Higher wind speeds, power Can place generator on ground
contained is more Wind speed is low
High efficiency No need of yaw mechanism
Disadvantages Disadvantages
Angle of turbine is relevant, need Lower wind speeds at ground
yaw control level
Erection cost is high, so Cost of installation is high
production cost Less efficiency
Difficult to access generator for Requires a “push”
repair

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 HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINE (HAWT)

Major Components of Wind Turbine

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