This paper presents modeling and analysis of horizontal and vertical wind shear effects using a wind turbine emulator (WTE) with a comprehensive model. These periodic effects generate power fluctuations and mechanical stress on the wind turbine (WT) components during its operation. The frequency of these fluctuations associates with the rotation speed and the number of blades, whereas the amplitude increases in larger turbines. Although the vertical wind shear effect was modeled in literature using WTEs, the simplified aerodynamic and mechanical models were considered for WTs. In this paper, in addition to the vertical wind shear, the horizontal wind shear is modeled in simulation and experiment using a WTE, which may have more severe effects. The utilized WTE employs a comprehensive model for the WT, which considers aerodynamic, mechanical, and electrical aspects. The interaction of different aspects and mechanical dynamics is included in the WTE, which utilizes AeroDyn and FAST software tools to model the aerodynamic and the mechanical aspects of the WT. A coupled induction motor-induction generator set was employed to develop the WTE, which is used to model the wind shear effects for a fixed-speed WT.

Investigation of Horizontal and Vertical Wind Shear Effects Using a Wind Turbine Emulator

Dynamic Influences of Wind Power on the Power System

Abstract Ice accretion causes problems in vital industries and has been addressed over the past decades with either passive or active de-icing systems. This work presents a smart, hybrid (passive and active) de-icing system through the combination of a low interfacial toughness coating, printed circuit board heaters, and an ice-detecting microwave sensor. The coating’s interfacial toughness with ice is found to be temperature dependent and can be modulated using the embedded heaters. Accordingly, de-icing is realized without melting the interface. The synergistic combination of the low interfacial toughness coating and periodic heaters results in a greater de-icing power density than a full-coverage heater system. The hybrid de-icing system also shows durability towards repeated icing/de-icing, mechanical abrasion, outdoor exposure, and chemical contamination. A non-contact planar microwave resonator sensor is additionally designed and implemented to precisely detect the presence or absence of water or ice on the surface while operating beneath the coating, further enhancing the system’s energy efficiency. Scalability of the smart coating is demonstrated using large (up to 1 m) iced interfaces. Overall, the smart hybrid system designed here offers a paradigm shift in de-icing that can efficiently render a surface ice-free without the need for energetically expensive interface melting. 

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Author Correction: Smart low interfacial toughness coatings for on-demand de-icing without melting

In order to solve the problem of icing on the surface of wind turbine blade, a heating system that includes a carbon fiber net (CFN) and power cables is proposed recently. When lightning strikes at the blade with a de-icing heating system, the blade and its heating system are more easily damaged due to the overvoltage between the lightning protection system (LPS) of the blade and the heating system. In this paper, the models of a wind turbine blade with the de-icing heating system are established by Alternative Transients Program/Electromagnetic Transients Program (ATP–EMTP) and the accuracy of models is verified through an experiment. With these models, the influence of lightning current, surge protective devices (SPDs) and earthing resistance of wind turbine are analyzed by calculating the voltage between the down-conductor of the LPS and the heating system. The results show that the voltage is positively correlated with lightning current amplitude and negatively correlated with the front time of lightning current. SPDs are quite useful to reduce the voltage, and an optimal installation scheme of SPDs is obtained by simulation. It is noted that voltage decreases slightly with the increasing earthing resistance with the optimal installation scheme of SPDs.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/3/691/pdf

Numerical Study of Lightning Protection of Wind Turbine Blade with De-Icing Electrical Heating System

Equilibrium strategy-based economic-reliable approach for day-ahead scheduling towards solar-wind-gas hybrid power generation system: A case study from China

Energy has turned to be one of the most basic needs of the humans. Wind energy has been a major source of energy for the society for the past thousand years. Wind energy is a clean and pollution free energy source which can be relied up on for the long-term future. A wind turbine creates cost-effective, pollution free, reliable sources of energy. A single wind turbine is sufficient for the generation of energy which is required by a household. Wind turbines generates power without the usage of fossil fuels, neither have they produced greenhouse gases nor they generate radioactive or toxic waste. There is always a significant need for better sources of energy that is long term reliable. The dependence on conventional sources of energy must be reduced, better and renewable sources of energy must be investigated and should be brought into use. There are various factors affecting the energy generation using wind turbines such as wind parameters which are natural and the turbine parameters. The wind turbine design and its dimensions are one of the major factors affecting the output voltage generated by the wind turbines. The wind turbine blades design includes the pitch angle, the blade length, the width of the blade, weight and the aerodynamic modeling of the blades. Therefore it is necessary to study the effect of all these parameters on the output voltage generated by the conventional type of horizontal axis wind turbines. The paper describes the study of various parameters affecting the working of wind turbines and their effect on the output voltage.

Study of output parameters of horizontal axis wind turbines using experimental test setup

In this paper high the ice accumulated on the wind turbine blade is removed by passing hot air through the blade. The hollow tubes are embedded in the wind turbine blades. The hollow tubes may be circular on cross section or of any suitable shape. The air is heated by an electrical heating or by gas geyser. First the air is compressed with help of a compressor. Then that air is passed through the electric heater or gas heater. The hot air is then passed through the wind turbine blade. When the hot air is passed through the wind turbine blade, the ice melts and falls down. Hot air is passed through the wind turbine blade after frequent intervals of time when the environmental conditions are favorable for icing. The process of deicing is fast.

Ice extraction from wind turbine using flow of hot air through blade

In today's world due to fast and rapid depletion of the conventional and nonrenewable energy resources it calls upon the requirement for sources of alternative energy, clean, green, and renewability are the top priorities. Using wind power to produce electricity is a perfect fit. Because wind energy has become the least expensive source of new electric power that is also compatible with environment preservation programs many countries promote wind power technology by means of national programs and market incentives. Also it provides an effective solution for reduction of fossil fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. The wind turbines are used for the generation of wind energy, simple in construction, economical and which gives appreciable output. Wind shear is one of the major factors affecting the working of wind turbines. Vertical shear, or the change of winds with height, either enhances or diminishes the vertical draft strengths. Input parameters and output parameters vary with different turbines. Flicker voltage is one of the major parameter concerned with the wind turbine parameters. Voltage flicker are caused due to heavy loads periodically turned on and off in a weak distribution system. This paper presents the effect produced in the output voltage and flicker voltage due to vertical wind shear in conventional type of wind turbines. The objective of this paper is to introduce the assessment parameters of the wind energy production of sites and pairing between the sites and wind turbines.

Laboratory set up for the study of the effect of vertical shear on horizontal axis wind turbine

This is paper presents significance of vertical wind shear. Voltage flicker that may be initiated in the output of the horizontal axis upwind wind turbine located at any given site for a given tower height and blade length. Vertical wind shear is one of the important parameters which instigate voltage flicker in wind turbine output voltage. In this paper diverse origins of flicker, places where wind shear occurs, computation of wind shear, general impacts of wind shear, impact of wind shear on wind turbine output is discussed.

Jaywant Sankpal

Papers

Study of output parameters of horizontal axis wind turbines using experimental test setup

Ice extraction from wind turbine using flow of hot air through blade

Laboratory set up for the study of the effect of vertical shear on horizontal axis wind turbine

Study of output parameters of horizontal axis wind turbines using experimental test setup

Impact of vertical wind shear on wind turbine performance