Latest Updates: turbine control system RSS

• Pickens Planning Largest Wind Farm
  Srikant Rajan 06:14:44 am on August 26, 2008 | 1 | # |
  Tags: active damping system, t boone pickens, turbine control system, wind energy, wind power, wind turbine, windmill

  Wind energy suddenly seems to have found a lot of takers.Following the recent plans of New York mayor Bloomberg to have windmills literally everywhere within the city,billionaire T Boone Pickens , is planning the biggest wind farm ever constructed.The proposed wind farm is being planned over 200,000 acres of land and  an estimated cost of $10.4 billion , including transmissions costs.The wind farm power production is anticipated to be 1,000 megawatts (MW)  by the end of 2011 and 4,000 MW by 2014. One megawatt can power about 300 average homes, but turbines do not produce 100 percent of their capacity because the wind varies in speed and blows intermittently

  Dismissing the noise generated by turbine operation as a potential disadvantage,Pickens said “ If you’re getting royalties from them, it might be a pleasant sound “ .Considering the recent development of active noise damping systems for limiting turbine operation noise the sound, it seems that it might even make the sound musical ! 

   

• Silent Wind Turbines ?
  Srikant Rajan 09:49:30 am on August 16, 2008 | 2 | # |
  Tags: active damping system, Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, passive damping system, turbine control system, turbine noise, wind power, wind turbine

  Wind turbine operation normally leads to a great deal of noise production , thus preventing their widespread use particularly near residential areas.Additionally a gigantic wind turbine on the roof isn’t exactly visually appealing.A way around this problem is to operate the turbine under partial load to limit the noise production.However this also reduces the power output associated with the turbine.Damping systems used till now were of passive kind and in some cases even entail replacing the gearbox which is an expensive proposition.Passive systems are capable of absorbing noise at a certain frequency and in turn produce a humming sound which in turn penetrates the surrounding areas and sometimes cause more discomfort than actual noise.

  In a project funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt researchers are developing an active damping system for wind turbines.These systems are dynamic in operation that is they react autonomously to any change in frequency , irrespective of the speed of turbine operation.This system uses piezo actuators which convert electricity into mechanical motion and cancel out the vibrations produced by the turbines. A working model of the system is already in place and field trials are expected soon.The challenge however would be to integrate these sensors with the mainstream turbine control system in a cost effective manner.