Functioning and construction features of modern types of wind farms

The article discusses the principle of operation and design performance characteristics of modern wind turbines for industry and the private sector.

Since ancient times, mankind has tried to tame the wind, putting it at its service. At first, there were sailing ships that use wind energy for their movement, then windmills started to be used in daily life, but now the time has come to use wind energy in wind generators to generate electricity that serves people.

Abroad, a fairly large part of the electricity is produced by wind power plants (HPP), which, frankly, cannot be said about Russia and the countries of the post-Soviet space. Here it is obvious - we are among the laggards.

The use of wind farms in the developed countries of the world makes it possible to solve not only the problems of autonomous power supply of villas, country houses, dacha communities, but also environmental problems, since there is no environmental pollution during the production of electricity from modern wind turbines parks at all.

Let's look at the principle of operation and in more detail the main types of modern wind power plants.

Principle of operation of wind generators

Any principle of action wind power plant (HPP) consists in converting the kinetic energy of the air flow moving through the plane of the blades or turbines into electrical energy — through the use of electrical generators. The most common type of modern wind power plant is bladed wind power plants, which combine bladed wind generators with a horizontal axis of rotation and rotary generators with a carousel, in which - the axis of rotation is located vertically. Below we will take a closer look at these types of wind generators.

Design of the main types of wind turbines

Each wind generator structurally consists of a base, otherwise called a mast, a rotating device with rotating blades or a wind turbine, generator-generated electricity and a battery. Also, a control and conversion unit is required in every wind farm.

As for the number of blades, hydroelectric turbines can be two, three and multi-bladed. Three-blade turbines are the most common.To prevent premature failure of wind turbines, wind power plants are equipped with a system for aeromechanical stabilization of the speed of rotation of their blades.

An electric generator that generates electricity in a wind power plant is directly connected to its turbine, when the axis of rotation of the wind turbine and the generator is the same, or through a mechanical transmission that transfers the rotational movements of the turbine blades to the generator. Modern wind farms mainly use synchronous multipole brushless generators with permanent magnets, which are structurally made in a completely enclosed housing and from standard elements.

Depending on the direction and "pressure" of the air flow on the blades of the turbine, it can be reoriented by the rotation mechanism of the installation in the direction that is optimal for its efficient operation.

Functionally, the power control and conversion unit is designed to store the electrical energy generated by the wind farm in its storage batteries with its subsequent conversion from 12V DC voltage to 220V AC voltage — by means of an "inverter".

The control unit also makes it possible to monitor and control the battery charging process, the power of the electric generator, etc.

The various options for finishing modern wind farms, both for industrial use and for those used in the private sector, allow you to choose each, the most optimal option for each user.

At the moment, the most widespread in the world are wind generators of the blade type, the axis of rotation of the blades of which are parallel or horizontal to the direction of the air flow. Basically, we will talk about these wind turbines later.

A wind farm blade with a horizontal axis of rotation

The efficiency of using wind energy for this type of wind turbine reaches 48%, which is much higher than that of carousel generators. This type of wind generators can be with two and three blades.

Here, the most efficient operation of the device is achieved when the wind is directed perpendicular to the plane of rotation of the generator blades. Therefore, even structurally, this type of «wind turbine» has a device that allows the automatic rotation of the generator perpendicular to the direction of the wind. The energy production of this type of wind farm depends directly on the speed of the wind (its pressure), as well as on the diameter and area of ​​the blades of the wind turbine itself.

Carousel or rotating wind farms

This type of wind turbine has a vertical axis of rotation, with a wheel mounted on it and fixed on it, receiving surfaces for the wind. A significant advantage of this type of wind farms is that they can work without changing their position - in any direction of the air flow. This type of wind turbines are slow-moving and silent, and low-speed multi-pole electric generators are used as generators to generate power.

Modern wind farm with horizontal and vertical axis of rotation

Other types of modern wind farms

In addition, very recently, the latest wind turbine developments have appeared with fundamentally new designs, which structurally consist of a three-bearing base located on a powerful foundation. A ring-shaped generator is mounted on the base, with a built-in bearing and a central rotor. The ring of such a generator can be over 100 meters in diameter. Such wind farms are used for industrial energy production.

There are also wind farms in operation, consisting of several dozen small wind turbines - modules, structurally united in a single debugging system for generating electricity.

More recently, American specialists have developed and put into industrial production a small turbine wind power plant «Windgate» intended for the private sector. The turbine wheel reaches 1.8 meters in diameter and rotates on a horizontal axis. The ends of the blades of such a turbine installation have permanent magnets, as a result of which we actually have a large rotor - rotating in an integral casing of the stator of the installation. Such Windgate wind generators can even be installed on the roof of a private house or cottage and are very efficient, and their price is about 4.5-5 thousand US dollars.

Conclusion

It should be noted that the construction of wind power plants is constantly being improved and, accordingly, their technological parameters, aerodynamics are improving, and most importantly, the price of these ecologically clean energy blocks of the future is becoming less and less "biting" for a simple consumer.