Ice Accretion Prediction on Wind Turbines and Consequent Power Losses

Ozcan Yirtici,Serkan Ozgen,Ismail H Tuncer

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/753/2/022022

Ozcan Yirtici, Serkan Ozgen + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/753/2/022022

Copy DOI

Abstract

Ice accretion on wind turbine blades modifies the sectional profiles and causes alteration in the aerodynamic characteristic of the blades. The objective of this study is to determine performance losses on wind turbines due to the formation of ice in cold climate regions and mountainous areas where wind energy resources are found. In this study, the Blade Element Momentum method is employed together with an ice accretion prediction tool in order to estimate the ice build-up on wind turbine blades and the energy production for iced and clean blades. The predicted ice shapes of the various airfoil profiles are validated with the experimental data and it is shown that the tool developed is promising to be used in the prediction of power production losses of wind turbines.

Highlights

In cold climate regions and highlands, wind turbines may be exposed to heavy atmospheric icing conditions during winter operations
In the first two cases, NACA 64618 and S809 airfoils, which are widely used in wind turbines, are chosen for the validation of the ice accretion prediction tool
The Aeolos 30 kW wind turbine performance analysis is carried out with the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) methodology developed, and an icing related momentary power loss is analyzed at 11 m/s wind speed for the same wind turbine

Summary

Introduction

In cold climate regions and highlands, wind turbines may be exposed to heavy atmospheric icing conditions during winter operations. Ice accretion on blades result in power loss, changing blade aerodynamic characteristics and creates instrument or controller errors on wind turbines. For wind turbines in cold climate regions, icing can result in up to 17 % loss in Annual Energy Production (AEP) and reduce the power coefficient in the range of 20-50 % [2, 3]. An AEP loss as high as 23 % (reduction from 986 MWh to 785 MWh) based on the measured data at the Alpine Test Site Gutsch is reported, Barber et al [4] explain this large loss by including the high turbulence and the wind gust related losses as an additional factor into the icing losses.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion