Technical Issues in Wind Turbine

[king2187]

Hello people..There are few issues that i do not understand when i was reading to the GE catalogue which is shown below.

There are few technologies they develop that i find it hard to understand coz i m a newbie and don't really have a good engineering foundation for me to understand this..Hopefully you guys who are more experienced can help...Firstly in the webpage., it stated-

http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/wind_turbines/en/15mw/tech_data.htm

1)'The energy of a gust is stored by accelerating the rotor. This leads to reduced loads, improved transmission efficiencies and performance.'

How can this be done or actually how does it work ? i mean the energy storage.

2)Reactive Power Control
Does this mean that this will improve the Power Factor ? Correct me if i am wrong...

3) And finally from this webpage

http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/wind_turbines/en/downloads/wind_plant_perf2.pdf

it says that reactive power can still be generate even though there is no wind...is this possible ? but how ?

Hopefully you all are able to give some clues or hints..Hope to hear from you soon.. Thanks in advance and have a good day ahead

 

[dpc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubly-fed_electric_machine#Double_fed_induction_generator

GE uses a doubly-fed induction generator in their wind turbines. The back-to-back converter used in this control system allows control of power factor (reactive power). That is the basis for all of this marketing hyperbole.

I'd suggest taking a long look at the doubly-fed generator technology they are using. That will give you a better understanding of what is going on.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Marmite]

The energy in wind is proportional to the cube of the wind speed. If you get a gust of wind at twice the mean windspeed you get 8 times the energy. In the older fixed speed turbines this increase in energy caused a huge torque on the gearbox and generator leading to failure. With a DFIG machine the rotor can speed up and absorb the extra energy, reducing the strain on the gearbox and allowing for a more lightweight transmission train. Kinetic energy is proportional to the mass of the rotor and the square of the angular velocity, so you don't need to speed the rotor up so much to absorb lots of energy.
See

http://www.windpower.org/en/core.htm

for lots more info.
Regards
Marmite

 

[king2187]

Thanks for the information guys...I will try to read it .. Appreciate that...Cheers...Have a good day