Various power transmission strategies in wind turbine: an overview

Abstract

A wind power system integrates different engineering domains, i.e. aerodynamic, mechanical, hydraulic and electrical. The power transmission from the turbine rotor to the generator is an important and integral part of the wind turbine system. Generally, the power transmission unit is of two types, e.g., mechanical transmission system and hydrostatic power transmission system (HST). Normally, the mechanical transmission system (gear train) is used to transmit the power in wind turbine. But this transmission is not suitable in large scale power production. Currently, hydraulic power system has drawn an attention as a power transmission system in the wind turbine field. It provides some advantages over the mechanical transmission system, such as it is capable to transmit high power in compact size, it has an ability to vary the speed infinitely, convenient installation, flexibility and high reliability. Also, the HST system helps to obtain a stable power from wind turbine using an accumulator whenever the input wind velocity is of fluctuating nature. In this article, various schemes on the hybrid power transmission system in wind turbine system are addressed in a chronological order. However, the aerodynamics and the electrical transmission of the wind turbine are excluded from the discussion.