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then ofered to make the blades for NIVE himself given his prior
experience using the Tvind based design. From his own experience
with Tvind, however, Maegaard knew that those blades were
designed to run at a fast tip-speed ratio (when sized down from the
Tvind) and thus would likely be too noisy. Erik Grove-Nielsen then
agreed to produce a modified design for NIVE which featured
blade dimensions similar to that of the Gedser turbine but which
incorporated Hütter's modern blade root design compatible with
fibreglass materials.
The rest of the design was thus inspired by Gedser from
the basic configuration, to the sizing of the various components
for expected loads. From the 1961 UN report, various rules of
thumbs were incorporated such as a degree of loading on the
rotor that the structure would have to withstand, 30 kg/m
swept
area, or the size of the main shaft, 1% of the diameter of the rotor
(Maegaard, 2010). Selection of the rest of the components and
construction of the first NIVE wind turbine in 1978 involved a
highly collaborative process between the group at NIVE and
various local companies, blacksmiths and engineers. Maegaard
himself became very interested in the component selection process
and his team would call up companies across Denmark to order
catalogues for selecting the turbines components:
“We took the bearings from the catalogues here”—there are a few
large cabinets in the Folkecenter which hold the catalogues with
notes used in the early design work—“… and then you needed a yaw
ring… this was more difficult to find… you had to think about where
you used such a ring, and they were used on cranes and on some
vehicles… and then you started calling [the yaw ring manufacturers].
These companies, they had never heard of wind power. You called
them and they said wind power—what is that? And then you got
the catalogues… and it was also a problem, who you talked to about
wind power…. The company would say wind power? We have heard
about that, does it mean that you are some that are against nuclear
power? Ah, then they would say, well, we have some policy… we
will not deal with that because we don't believe in this wind power.
Now this doesn't matter for selling some bearings; you sell to many
other sectors also. We just want your product, whether it's for wind
power it
2
makes no diference… but often you could not get them
to send the catalogue once they found it was for wind power… and
years later the same company, I would talk to them, and they would
say we made a big BIG mistake…” (Maegaard, 2010)
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