Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
costs. This again comes back to the central theme of value analysis, without which
others will continue to follow paths of whimsical or even elegant WT concepts, only
to eventually return to the same place as the rest of the industry - three-bladed
upwind WTs for reliable and economical WPP installations. This is not to say
there will not be a future breakthrough that shatters this paradigm, but a strong
value analysis must accompany any such breakthrough.
4.1.2 Reliability
Reliability is the ability of the WT to perform at expected cost levels while producing
the expected annual energy production (AEP) based on the actual wind conditions.
Poor reliability directly affects both the project's revenue stream through increased
O&M costs and reduced availability to generate power due to turbine downtime [19].
4.1.3 Availability
If a turbine were always ready to produce electricity when the wind speed is within
the range of the power curve, it would then have 100% availability. This has been an
area of dramatic improvement in the past few years with 98% availability typical for
the most popular machines today versus 85% just 6
8 years ago. Proven component
technologies must be integrated into an overall system that is value-effective and
robust for high availability.
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4.1.4 Maintainability
According to wind-energy-the-facts.org [20], “Typical routine maintenance time
for a modern WT is 40 hours per year.” What are the value-effective ways to reduce
O&M time and costs? Maintainability and serviceability are closely related design
goals that provide the backstop for ensuring the highest possible availability. All
machines require some amount of maintenance over their design life. However the
best machine fi nds the value-effective minimum maintenance strategy and stream-
lines the maintenance that must be done. Should a part or component fail for any
reason, cost-effective design provisions that minimize service and logistics costs
should be integrated into the design.
4.2 Systems
The overall product requirements and design features for achieving business
objectives include different system level views
continually revisit these levels
throughout the product development process to ensure optimal results.
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4.2.1 New WT design
A wind turbine generator (WTG) converts the kinetic energy of the wind into
mechanical shaft power to drive a generator that in turn produces electrical energy.
A WT is composed of fi ve main elements:
Rotor made up of rotor blades that use aerodynamic lift to convert wind energy
into mechanical energy.
A rotor bearing fi xed on a structure that causes a defi ned rotation of the rotor and
leads to conversion of the aerodynamic wind energy into a rotational shaft torque.
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