Innovation In Wind Turbine Design

An updated and expanded new edition of this comprehensive guide to innovation in wind turbine design Innovation in Wind Turbine Design, Second Edition comprehensively covers the fundamentals of design, explains the reasons behind design choices, and describes the methodology for evaluating innovative systems and components. This second edition has been substantially expanded and generally updated. New content includes elementary actuator disc theory of the low induction rotor concept, much expanded discussion of offshore issues and of airborne wind energy systems, updated drive train information with basic theory of the epicyclic gears and differential drives, a clarified presentation of the basic theory of energy in the wind and fallacies about ducted rotor design related to theory, lab testing and field testing of the Katru and Wind Lens ducted rotor systems, a short review of LiDAR, latest developments of the multi-rotor concept including the Vestas 4 rotor system and a new chapter on the innovative DeepWind VAWT. The bookis divided into four main sections covering design background, technology evaluation, design themes and innovative technology examples. Key features: Expanded substantially with new content. Comprehensively covers the fundamentals of design, explains the reasons behind design choices, and describes the methodology for evaluating innovative systems and components. Includes innovative examples from working experiences for commercial clients. Updated to cover recent developments in the field. The book is a must-have reference for professional wind engineers, power engineers and turbine designers, as well as consultants, researchers and graduate students.

The purpose of this book is to provide engineers and researchers in both the wind power industry and energy research community with comprehensive, up-to-date, and advanced design techniques and practical approaches. The topics addressed in this book involve the major concerns in the wind power generation and wind turbine design.

Helps readers understand and appreciate what the history of wind power can teach us about technology innovation and provides the implications for both wind power today and its future This book takes readers on a journey through the history of wind power in order to show how the technology evolved over the course of the twentieth century and where it may be headed in the twenty-first century. It introduces and examines broad themes such as government funding of wind power, the role of fossil fuels in wind power development, and the importance of entrepreneurs in wind power development. It also discusses the lessons learned from wind power technology innovation and makes them relevant to the understanding of wind power today and in the future. Spanning the entire history of wind power (1888-2018), The Wind Power Story: A Century of Innovation that Reshaped the Global Energy Landscape provides balanced coverage of each decade as well as the important wind power technology innovations that occurred during that time. Compelling from the first page to the last, it offers chapters covering the pioneers of wind power; the age of small wind; wind power in the wake of war; wind power’s use across Europe; government-funded research programs; how Denmark reinvented wind power in the 1970s; the California Wind Rush of the 1980s; wind power’s rise in Spain; America’s wind power starting in the 1990s; India’s wind power path; the wind power surge in China; the globalization of wind power; and much more. In addition, this text: Spans the entire global history of wind power, while weaving together both the historical context and the technical details of wind power innovation Provides historical context for wind power developments and explains the evolution of wind turbine technology in an easy-to-understand manner Discusses the policy, technology, and market evolution of wind power in commonly understood language Offers a review of the surrounding power technology, policy, and market environment throughout the history of wind power A book that both specialists and non-specialists can read in order to understand and appreciate the past, present, and future of wind power technology, The Wind Power Story: A Century of Innovation that Reshaped the Global Energy Landscape will be of great interest to any engineer and any interested readers looking to understand wind power technologies, markets, and policies in one book.

Innovative Wind Turbines is a tribute to the inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and companies that through their efforts have envisioned, designed, and constructed models and prototypes for wind energy devices. There are numerous concepts and ideas on ways to convert wind energy into usable energy, and this book examines the innovative, novel, or unusual concepts with numerous photos and historical examples. Primarily, only prototypes that have been constructed are mentioned, along with a few design concepts. The wind turbines are divided by types: horizontal axis wind turbines, ducted wind turbines, vertical axis wind turbines, airborne wind turbines, and more. Features: Includes numerous photos of innovative wind turbines Presents information and examples of multiple rotor, multiple blade designs Includes information and examples of airborne wind energy systems Examines novel blade designs, including whale blades and biomimicry

Over the past 30 years, wind energy has evolved from a small industry active in a few countries to a large international industry involving major players in the manufacturing, development, and utility sectors. Coinciding with the industry growth, significant innovation in the technology has resulted in larger sized turbines with lower associated costs of energy and more complex designs in all subsystems, from the rotor to the drivetrain to the electronics and control systems. However, as deployment of the technology grows and its role within the electricity sector has become more prominent, so have the expectations of the technology in terms of performance, reliability, and cost. This book surveys the landscape of systems engineering methods and catalogues the various existing modelling tools that relate to the design of wind energy systems from components to entire plants.

Renewable energies constitute excellent solutions to both the increase of energy consumption and environment problems. Among these energies, wind energy is very interesting. Wind energy is the subject of advanced research. In the development of wind turbine, the design of its different structures is very important. It will ensure: the robustness of the system, the energy efficiency, the optimal cost and the high reliability. The use of advanced control technology and new technology products allows bringing the wind energy conversion system in its optimal operating mode. Different strategies of control can be applied on generators, systems relating to blades, etc. in order to extract maximal power from the wind. The goal of this book is to present recent works on design, control and applications in wind energy conversion systems.

In the light of the extensive debate surrounding the economics of scale of wind turbines, this timely work examines the engineering implications of developing lightweight compliant designs. Through the development of a unique modelling approach, the authors quantify the weight and cost of a diverse range of design solutions, enabling systematic quantitative comparisons to be made for the first time. This innovative reference will provide a valuable guide to engineers and consultants involved in wind energy development as well as academic researchers and postgraduate students of wind turbine technology. FEATURES INCLUDE: * Coherent analysis of the inter-relationship between the economics of wind turbines and engineering design configurations. * Discussion of the main factors driving the weight and cost of large wind turbines eg. rotor design, number of blades, blade materials, flexibility and control strategy. * Accessible overview of the development of large wind turbines and the direction that designs are taking now and into the future. * Examination of the cost implications of specific design issues such as vertical versus horizontal axis, fixed or variable speed-rotor strategy, compact versus modular drive train and direct drive configurations. * Evaluation of the economics of onshore and offshore generation sites and the prospects for the deployment of large wind turbines in offshore wind farms.