Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The school also relied on minimal funds for the overall project
and made the components themselves whenever possible. For the
tower, nacelle and foundation, they poured their own concrete
after acquiring an elevator and concrete mixer at heavily discounted
prices—this involved both developing the correct concrete mixture
as well as performing the complete assembly task. They also made
their own blades by first learning from a local carpenter/boat
builder how fibreglass structures were manufactured and then
applying the techniques they learned to create their own set of
blades.
Figure 5.16
Collective work on foundations for the Tvind wind turbine
(Photo: Tvind).
They designed their own active yaw system which included
a unique design of two reciprocating 5-toothed arms that would
work the turbine around its vertical axis. The pitch system was
equally unique since as a full-bladed pitch system for variable
speed operation, the technology was ahead of its time, and also
the pitch system provided the entire braking mechanism for the
turbine and thus included three redundant systems (two collective
and one independently enabled actuator set). Finally, the decision
to use variable speed technology was due in part to the large size
of the turbine and the concern over connecting such a large system
to the grid without fully rated power conversion electronics. Soon
into operation, the Tvind group found that operating the turbine
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