Wind turbine design is the process of defining the form and configuration of a wind turbine to extract energy from the wind. An installation consists of the systems needed to capture the wind's energy, point the turbine into the wind, convert mechanical rotation into electrical power, and other systems to start, stop, and control the turbine.
In 1919, German physicist Albert Betz showed that for a hypothetical ideal wind-energy extraction machine, the fundamental laws of conservation of mass and energy allowed no more than 16/27 (59.3%) of the wind's kinetic energy to be captured. This Betz's law limit can be approached by modern turbine designs which reach 70 to 80% of this theoretical limit.
In addition to the blades, design of a complete wind power system must also address the hub, controls, generator, supporting structure and foundation. Turbines must also be integrated into power grids.
Aerodynamics
Blade shape and dimension are determined by the aerodynamic performance required to efficiently extract energy, and by the strength required to resist forces on the blade.
The aerodynamics of a horizontal-axis wind turbine are not straightforward. The air flow at the blades is not the same as that away from the turbine. The way that energy is extracted from the air also causes air to be deflected by the turbine. Wind turbine aerodynamics at the rotor surface exhibit phenomena that are rarely seen in other aerodynamic fields.
Power control
Rotation speed must be controlled for efficient power generation and to keep the turbine components within speed and torque limits. The centrifugal force on the blades increases as the square of the rotation speed, which makes this structure sensitive to overspeed. Because power increases as the cube of the wind speed, turbines must survive much higher wind loads (such as gusts of wind) than those loads from which they generate power.
A wind turbine must produce power over a range of wind speeds. The cut-in speed is around 3–4 m/s for most turbines, and cut-out at 25 m/s. If the rated wind speed is exceeded the power has to be limited.
A control system involves three basic elements: sensors to measure process variables, actuators to manipulate energy capture and component loading, and control algorithms that apply information gathered by the sensors to coordinate the actuators.
Any wind blowing above the survival speed damages the turbine. The survival speed of commercial wind turbines ranges from 40 m/s (144 km/h, 89 MPH) to 72 m/s (259 km/h, 161 MPH), typically around 60 m/s (216 km/h, 134 MPH). Some turbines can survive .
Stall A stall on an airfoil occurs when air passes over it in such a way that the generation of lift rapidly decreases. Usually this is due to a high angle of attack (AOA), but can also result from dynamic effects. The blades of a fixed pitch turbine can be designed to stall in high wind speeds, slowing rotation. This is a simple fail-safe mechanism to help prevent damage. However, other than systems with dynamically controlled pitch, it cannot produce a constant power output over a large range of wind speeds, which makes it less suitable for large scale, power grid applications.
A fixed-speed HAWT (Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine) inherently increases its angle of attack at higher wind speed as the blades speed up. A natural strategy, then, is to allow the blade to stall when the wind speed increases. This technique was successfully used on many early HAWTs. However, the degree of blade pitch tended to increase noise levels.
Vortex generators may be used to control blade lift characteristics. VGs are placed on the airfoil to enhance the lift if they are placed on the lower (flatter) surface or limit the maximum lift if placed on the upper (higher camber) surface.
Furling Furling works by decreasing the angle of attack, which reduces drag and blade cross-section. One major problem is getting the blades to stall or furl quickly enough in a wind gust. A fully furled turbine blade, when stopped, faces the edge of the blade into the wind.
Loads can be reduced by making a structural system softer or more flexible. This can be accomplished with downwind rotors or with curved blades that twist naturally to reduce angle of attack at higher wind speeds. These systems are nonlinear and couple the structure to the flow field - requiring design tools to evolve to model these nonlinearities.
Standard turbines all furl in high winds. Since furling requires acting against the torque on the blade, it requires some form of pitch angle control, which is achieved with a slewing drive. This drive precisely angles the blade while withstanding high torque loads. In addition, many turbines use hydraulic systems. These systems are usually spring-loaded, so that if hydraulic power fails, the blades automatically furl. Other turbines use an electric servomotor for every blade. They have a battery-reserve in case of grid failure. Small wind turbines (under 50 kW) with variable-pitching generally use systems operated by centrifugal force, either by flyweights or geometric design, and avoid electric or hydraulic controls.
Fundamental gaps exist in pitch control, limiting the reduction of energy costs, according to a report funded by the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. Load reduction is currently focused on full-span blade pitch control, since individual pitch motors are the actuators on commercial turbines. Significant load mitigation has been demonstrated in simulations for blades, tower, and drive train. However, further research is needed to increase energy capture and mitigate fatigue loads.
A control technique applied to the pitch angle is done by comparing the power output with the power value at the rated engine speed (power reference, Ps reference). Pitch control is done with PI controller. In order to adjust pitch rapidly enough, the actuator uses the time constant Tservo, an integrator and limiters. The pitch angle remains from 0° to 30° with a change rate of 10°/second.
As in the figure at the right, the reference pitch angle is compared with the actual pitch angle b and then the difference is corrected by the actuator. The reference pitch angle, which comes from the PI controller, goes through a limiter. Restrictions are important to maintain the pitch angle in real terms. Limiting the change rate is especially important during network faults. The importance is due to the fact that the controller decides how quickly it can reduce the aerodynamic energy to avoid acceleration during errors.
Other controls
Generator torque Modern large wind turbines operate at variable speeds. When wind speed falls below the turbine's rated speed, generator torque is used to control the rotor speed to capture as much power as possible. The most power is captured when the tip speed ratio is held constant at its optimum value (typically between 6 and 7). This means that rotor speed increases proportional to wind speed. The difference between the aerodynamic torque captured by the blades and the applied generator torque controls the rotor speed. If the generator torque is lower, the rotor accelerates, and if the generator torque is higher, the rotor slows. Below rated wind speed, the generator torque control is active while the blade pitch is typically held at the constant angle that captures the most power, fairly flat to the wind. Above rated wind speed, the generator torque is typically held constant while the blade pitch is adjusted accordingly.
One technique to control a permanent magnet synchronous motor is field-oriented control. Field-oriented control is a closed loop strategy composed of two current controllers (an inner loop and cascading outer loop) necessary for controlling the torque, and one speed controller.
Constant torque angle control In this control strategy the d axis current is kept at zero, while the vector current aligns with the q axis in order to maintain the torque angle at 90o. This is a common control strategy because only the Iqs current must be controlled. The torque equation of the generator is a linear equation dependent only on the Iqs current.
So, the electromagnetic torque for Ids = 0 (we can achieve that with the d-axis controller) is now:
Thus, the complete system of the machine side converter and the cascaded PI controller loops is given by the figure. The control inputs are the duty rations mds and mqs, of the PWM-regulated converter. It displays the control scheme for the wind turbine in the machine side and simultaneously how the Ids to zero (the torque equation is linear).
Yawing Large turbines are typically actively controlled to face the wind direction measured by a wind vane situated on the back of the nacelle. By minimizing the yaw angle (the misalignment between wind and turbine pointing direction), power output is maximized and non-symmetrical loads minimized. However, since wind direction varies, the turbine does not strictly follow the wind and experiences a small yaw angle on average. The power output losses can be approximated to fall with (cos(yaw angle))3. Particularly at low-to-medium wind speeds, yawing can significantly reduce output, with wind common variations reaching 30°. At high wind speeds, wind direction is less variable.
Electrical braking
Braking a small turbine can be done by dumping energy from the generator into a resistor bank, converting kinetic energy into heat. This method is useful if the kinetic load on the generator is suddenly reduced or is too small to keep the turbine speed within its allowed limit.
Cyclically braking slows the blades, which increases the stalling effect and reducing efficiency. Rotation can be kept at a safe speed in faster winds while maintaining (nominal) power output. This method is usually not applied on large, grid-connected wind turbines.
Mechanical braking A mechanical drum brake or disc brake stops rotation in emergency situations such as extreme gust events. The brake is a secondary means to hold the turbine at rest for maintenance, with a rotor lock system as primary means. Such brakes are usually applied only after blade furling and electromagnetic braking have reduced the turbine speed because mechanical brakes can ignite a fire inside the nacelle if used at full speed. Turbine load increases if the brake is applied at rated RPM.
Turbine size
Turbines come in size classes. The smallest, with power less than 10 kW are used in homes, farms and remote applications whereas intermediate wind turbines (10-250 kW ) are useful for village power, hybrid systems and distributed power. The world's largest wind turbine as of 2021 was Vestas' V236-15.0 MW turbine. The new design's blades offer the largest swept area in the world with three blades giving a rotor diameter of . Ming Yang in China have announced a larger 16 MW design.
For a given wind speed, turbine mass is approximately proportional to the cube of its blade-length. Wind power intercepted is proportional to the square of blade-length. The maximum blade-length of a turbine is limited by strength, stiffness, and transport considerations.
Labor and maintenance costs increase slower than turbine size, so to minimize costs, wind farm turbines are basically limited by the strength of materials, and siting requirements.
Low temperature