Yaw Mechanism Research Articles

Exploring the impact of flexible membranes on the performance of H- and S-type hydrokinetic turbines: An experimental investigation

Vertical axis hydrokinetic turbines (VAHTs) have the potential to harness deep-sea current energy without the need for a yaw mechanism. However, H-VAHTs have weak self-starting capabilities, and S-VAHTs also face startup dead point issues. To address the self-starting challenges of VAHTs, this study proposes attaching flexible membranes to the blades of VAHTs. The impact of flexible membranes on the performance of both types of VAHTs is evaluated through Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) water flume experiments. The results demonstrate that attaching flexible membranes to the blade surfaces resolves the self-starting dead point issue for both turbines, with a greater improvement in self-starting performance for H-VAHTs than for S-VAHTs. The study found that for both turbines, attaching flexible membranes with a large opening on the blade’s outer side offers the best self-starting performance and power output. However, the flexible membranes reduced the CP of H-VAHTs, while slightly enhancing the performance of S-VAHTs. PIV tests showed that the flexible membranes form a cup-shaped structure when facing the flow. The pressure difference between the inside and outside of the membranes generates additional static torque, improving the self-starting performance of both turbines. Furthermore, even with one or two membrane blades missing, the self-starting capability of H-VAHTs was still enhanced; flexible membranes with a certain installation angle can also be attached to the endplates of S-VAHTs to address startup dead issues. In summary, attaching flexible membranes to VAHTs improves their self-starting performance and ensures power output, thereby facilitating the application of such turbines in deep-sea areas with low flow velocities.

Evidence for the differential efficacy of yaw and pitch gaze stabilization mechanisms in people with multiple sclerosis.

People with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) who report dizziness often have gaze instability due to vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) deficiencies and compensatory saccade (CS) abnormalities. Herein, we aimed to describe and compare the gaze stabilization mechanisms for yaw and pitch head movements in PwMS. Thirty-seven PwMS (27 female, mean ± SD age = 53.4 ± 12.4 years old, median [IQR] Expanded Disability Status Scale Score = 3.5, [1.0]. We analyzed video head impulse test results for VOR gain, CS frequency, CS latency, gaze position error (GPE) at impulse end, and GPE at 400 ms after impulse start. Discrepancies were found for median [IQR] VOR gain in yaw (0.92 [0.14]) versus pitch-up (0.71 [0.44], p < 0.001) and pitch-down (0.81 [0.44], p = 0.014]), CS latency in yaw (258.13 [76.8]) ms versus pitch-up (208.78 [65.97]) ms, p = 0.001] and pitch-down (132.17 [97.56] ms, p = 0.006), GPE at impulse end in yaw (1.15 [1.85] degs versus pitch-up (2.71 [3.9] degs, p < 0.001), and GPE at 400 ms in yaw (-0.25 [0.98] degs) versus pitch-up (1.53 [1.07] degs, p < 0.001) and pitch-down (1.12 [1.82] degs, p = 0.001). Compared with yaw (0.91 [0.75]), CS frequency was similar for pitch-up (1.03 [0.93], p = 0.999) but lower for pitch-down (0.65 [0.64], p = 0.023). GPE at 400 ms was similar for yaw and pitch-down (1.88 [2.76] degs, p = 0.400). We postulate that MS may have preferentially damaged the vertical VOR and saccade pathways in this cohort.

About control of bi-wind turbine single-point-moored floating offshore wind turbines

In the last years, several novel floating offshore wind energy concepts have appeared in the market, whose goal is the reduction of floating offshore wind energy costs. Among them, bi-wind turbine floating offshore wind turbines, which use a single floating platform to place two wind turbines, are one of the most promising ones. However, they face some challenges in their full deployment. For example, depending on the wind direction, one of the rotors could be found downstream of the other one and hence be affected by its wake. To avoid this, the turbines of this type of systems do not use a conventional active yaw mechanism, but a single-point-mooring configuration, to allow the platform rotation around the vertical axis. This way, the alignment of the rotors with the wind can be achieved, avoiding wake issues. However, as stated in the literature, at least for single-rotor wind turbines, this alignment is not straightforward and some yaw drift could appear in the platform. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to confirm that this platform yaw drift could also arise in bi-wind turbine single-point-moored floating wind energy systems, and analyse its impact in terms of performance, while shedding some light on the performance improvements when applying new advanced control strategies.

Critical Feature and Seawater Testing of Cross-Flow Rotor Components Fabricated with Additive Manufacturing

Cross-flow tidal turbines are an attractive option for powering remote or off-grid applications because of their simplicity as compared to axial-flow turbines. For instance, when oriented vertically, they harvest power from any current direction with a single degree of freedom and no yaw mechanism. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers an opportunity to print parts out of a wide variety of materials that can result in components that are lighter, stronger and/or less expensive to produce than with traditional manufacturing techniques. When coupled with cross-flow turbine rotors, which require critical features (blade-strut, strut-shaft connections) to be both structurally stiff and hydrodynamically shaped, which can be challenging for typical fabrication processes, AM offers the ability to do both well. This paper describes work on the feasibility of using advanced AM techniques to fabricate small cross-flow turbine rotors for applications at sea and near remote coastal communities.&#x0D; AM materials were categorized into 3 classes – plastics, metals, and ceramics – and reviewed for suitability based on a set of engineering requirements and criteria related to turbine characteristics, material properties, and AM process capabilities. Two plastics and two metals were selected to undergo further testing: Essentium CF25, CarbonX Ult 9085, Titanium Ti-6Al-4V, and Inconel 718. Testing is conducted in three phases: the first is a long-term, 5-month submersion test in the seawater tanks at PNNL-Sequim to study corrosion, water uptake, and biofouling potential; in the second, materials are tensile tested on a load frame to find their failure parameters to compare to material standards; the third test is a fatigue test consisting of cyclically loading test parts with a known force on the order of that exerted on rotor blades in a 1.5 m/s current flow. These tests are designed to discern the suitability of AM materials since their properties from 3D printing processes are known to vary from published parameters. The test samples undergoing submersion testing will be tension tested and compared to control samples not subjected to extended seawater immersion. For fatigue life testing, a small rotor is expected to complete 100 million cycles over the course of a year-long lifespan, but for the case herein is restricted to 1 million for a preliminary performance evaluation. The first 10k cycles are run on an MTS 312.21 load frame at a rate of 0.2 Hz, with the remaining on a custom-built cyclic-deflection test rig at 0.8 Hz.

Development of a passive blade-pitch mechanism to reduce the loads on a tidal turbine in high-flow conditions

Maintenance of tidal turbines is expensive, and relies upon suitable weather conditions and vessel availability, which can lead to costly delays. Turbine reliability can be improved by eliminating complexity in the design. The use of fixed-pitch blades, for example, can greatly reduce maintenance costs by avoiding complex active blade-pitch mechanisms which are the main source of failure in wind turbines.&#x0D; Pitching rotor blades to feather in high-flow conditions is, however, the most effective means of reducing loads on the rotor. Turbines with fixed-pitch blades therefore necessarily have smaller rotor diameters compared to those with active-pitch systems, in order to keep the thrust force, flap-wise bending moment, and power output within allowable limits. In low-flow conditions, power output is proportional to the square of the rotor diameter, so turbines with small diameter rotors capture less energy over their lifetime.&#x0D; This study seeks to develop a novel passive-pitch mechanism for tidal turbine blades. This mechanism must be reliable, and should act to reduce the loads on the rotor in high-flow conditions so that a larger diameter rotor can be installed, increasing power capture.&#x0D; An initial design for a passive-pitch mechanism, which is actuated by the hydrodynamic forces developed by the rotor such that the blades pitch-to-feather in high-flow conditions, has been developed. The design is compatible with proven passive reversible rotor blade technology, eliminating the requirement for a maintenance sensitive yaw mechanism.&#x0D; Since initial concept design, work has been undertaken to build a tool, based on NREL’s OpenFAST blade element momentum code, which models the forces acting on the rotor blades, coupled with the mechanical response of the passive blade-pitch mechanism. This tool has been used to predict the performance of the turbine for a range of operating conditions, allowing the influence of parameters such as blade geometry, rotor diameter and passive-pitch response to be analysed in terms of rotor loading and turbine performance.&#x0D; Initial analysis suggests that installing blades with a passive-pitch mechanism could reduce the loads on the rotor in high-flow conditions down to just 25% of the loads that would act on an equivalent rotor with fixed-pitch blades. This would allow larger diameter rotors to be installed which could improve annual energy yield by over 40% at a typical site.&#x0D; Despite these significant potential performance improvements, the challenges of developing a passive blade-pitch mechanism for tidal turbines are not well understood, as tidal developers have all so far implemented fixed or active pitch mechanisms. These challenges will be addressed throughout the remainder of this study, which will involve detailed design followed by physical tank testing.

An adaptive yaw method of horizontal-axis tidal stream turbines for bidirectional energy capture

Tracking the flow direction is one of the effective ways to harvest more energy for a horizontal-axis tidal stream turbine (HATST). This paper presents a novel HATST design that incorporates a yaw method with a tail wing, inspired by horizontal-axis wind turbines. The design enables the HATST to adaptively yaw toward the bidirectional flow with a reciprocating rotation. To ensure stability, a small yaw angle was reserved and permanent magnets were employed to hold the yaw mechanism steady. The kinetic equations of the yaw mechanism were established, and the influence of the yaw shaft's position and the tail wing's mass on the yaw performance was analyzed. A test model was constructed to validate the design and analysis, and the optimum parameters were discussed. Experimental results demonstrated that the HATST yawed well toward the inflow and maintained the designed yaw angle of approximately 5° at different velocities. Compared with the device without magnetic-assisted yaw, the HATST achieves more than 4.47% increase in output power in the velocity range of 0.15 m/s to 0.31 m/s, and exhibits minimal swing amplitude. This research provides a novel and practical solution for the effective utilization of bidirectional tidal steam energy.

An intelligent wind turbine with yaw mechanism using machine learning to reduce high-cost sensors quantity

In this paper, with the assistance of some tools and a machine learning model, a smart wind turbine was formed that eliminates some expensive sensors and reduces sensor complexity. Squirrel cage induction generator (SCIG) and six rotor blades make up the proposed design, and depending on the wind's direction, the turbine itself can rotate the rotor hub to produce energy more effectively. Additionally, two stepper motors are coupled to the yaw mechanism with the aid of the rotor hub, and the entire controlling procedure will depend on the direction of the wind. The rotor hub must continuously revolve in the same direction as the wind to maximize wind energy utilization. Additionally, to correctly predict wind degrees, a machine learning model was deployed. Random forest regression was used to train and predict the wind direction. The model is deployed in Raspberry Pi, where the incoming sensor values are being stored. Using the generated data, machine learning model was trained and it can be concluded that the model can potentially replace some of the expensive sensors to reduce cost. The model can be used for similar weather conditions only based on machine learning model and fewer sensors.

Study on the yaw-based wake steering control considering dynamic flow characteristics for wind farm power improvement

Wake steering is one of the wind farm control strategies that can effectively reduce wake losses and increase power generation. Upstream wind turbines are set with yaw misalignment angles to deflect their wake away from downstream wind turbines, which will alleviate the wake effect. Currently, the yaw misalignment angles of the wind turbines are optimized through CFD or analytical wake models with a fixed inflow wind direction. However, wind turbines operate in rapidly changing wind directions where they cannot immediately track the optimized yaw misalignment angles owing to the slow yaw mechanism as expected. Therefore, a dynamic yaw control method is proposed in this study with the aim of balancing the energy gain and the number of yaw movements. Firstly, in order to improve efficiency, the yaw misalignment set points of wind turbines are optimized with different wind conditions based on the steady wake model. Then, we illustrate the procedure for determining the yaw misalignment angles for dynamic wind conditions. Finally, the performance of the yaw controller under the measured inflow condition is analyzed for the case of two-turbine array. It was found that the optimized yaw misalignment angles based on the steady model are applied to the dynamic control under changing wind direction, where the energy gain does not reach the estimated value using the static optimized control.

Platform yaw drift in upwind floating wind turbines with single-point-mooring system and its mitigation by individual pitch control

Abstract. This work demonstrates the feasibility of an individual pitch control strategy based on nacelle yaw misalignment measurements to mitigate the platform yaw drift in upwind floating offshore wind turbines, which is caused by the vertical moment produced by the rotor. This moment acts on the platform yaw degree of freedom, being of great importance in systems that have low yaw stiffness. Among them, single-point-mooring platforms are one of the most important ones. During recent years, several floating wind turbine concepts with single-point-mooring systems have been proposed, which can theoretically dispense with the yaw mechanism due to their ability to rotate and align with environmental conditions (weather-vaning). However, in this paper it is proven that the vertical moment overcomes the orienting ability, causing the yaw drift. With the intention of reducing the induced yaw response of a single-point-mooring floating wind turbine, an individual pitch control strategy based on nacelle yaw misalignment is applied, which introduces a counteracting moment. The control strategy is validated by numerical simulations using the 5 MW National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) wind turbine mounted on a single-point-mooring version of the DeepCwind OC4 floating platform to demonstrate that it can mitigate the yaw drift and therefore maintain the alignment of the wind turbine rotor with the wind.

Design and testing of a model-scale yaw mechanism for an experimental wind turbine model

In this study a new yaw mechanism for a small existing wind turbine model is designed and tested. The special requirement for this yaw device is its compact design due to the small length scaling factor of the model turbine. Such a dense design is crucial in order for the wake of the model turbine not to be influenced by the yaw mechanism. Furthermore, it has to have a fast system response and high accuracy to take into account the time scaling. Different concepts are investigated and a design located at the tower base is realized. To limit its drag, the structure is being concealed in an aerodynamically shaped cover. Wind tunnel measurements confirmed that the wake of the turbine is not influenced by the structure. A system analysis, using a Simulink model of the turbine helps finding the right motor and shows that the device has a fast system response with high accuracy. Consequently, the designed yaw mechanism is suited for the small wind turbine model, which can be used for experimental wake and wind farm control studies in the future.

Investigation of Blade Tip Shape for Improving VAWT Performance

Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is a competitive power generation device due to structural simplicity, wind direction independence, no yaw mechanism required, easier maintenance, and lower noise emission. However, blade tip vortex will be generated at both ends of the blade during the rotation, resulting in torque loss and efficiency reduction. In this paper, computational fluid dynamics is used to study blade tip vortex and its reduction technique of a single-blade VAWT rotor in real scale. By monitoring the force and flow field at different heights of the blade, the influence ranges of tip vortex are obtained. The reduction effect of the bulkhead obtained from the blade profile curve is studied, and the size of the bulkhead is optimized. On the basis of adding the optimal bulkhead, the influence of the supporting strut is also explored. The joint action is obtained by changing the location of the supporting strut. The results show that the top supporting strut-bulkhead structure is the optimal position. The power-extraction efficiency of the rotor with this integrated structure is significantly improved at optimal tip speed ratios (TSRs) and higher TSRs.

Research progress of anti-penetration yaw technology for concrete protective structures

Concrete protective structure is an important part of national defense engineering. It is of great significance to study its development status and penetration mechanism. This article summarizes the recent research status of concrete protection yaw technology, and summarizes the existing yaw technology by distinguishing materials and structural asymmetry. The anti-penetration and yaw mechanism of the protective structure is summarized: The first is to analyze the effects of warhead shape and material, the incident state of the projectile, the configuration of the reinforcement and the aggregate parameters on the resistance to the penetration and yaw. The second is angle of attack effect and contact theory; the third is to analyze the role of numerical simulation in the research of yaw technology; and put forward suggestions for future research work.

CFD for Helical Type Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Vertical axis wind turbines are most effective for home energy generation especially in urban environments. Wind energy creates a stand-alone energy source that is relied on any place. The main criteria for this work is the design of micro wind turbines for all kinds of applications. Design of Twisted Blade Micro-Wind Turbine system is accomplished using computer aided design with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The flow characteristics in the wind turbine blade were analyzed by varying its twist ratio. The wind turbines with vertical axis utilize the wind from any direction with no yaw mechanism. The risk of blade ejection besides catching wind from all the directions is avoided by using the helical tye vertical axis wind turbine.

Performance Evaluation of a Tidal Current Turbine with Bidirectional Symmetrical Foils

As one might expect, tidal currents in terms of ebb and flood tides are approximately bidirectional. A Horizontal Axial Tidal Turbine (HATT) with unidirectional foils has to be able to face the current directions in order to maximize current energy harvesting. There are two regular solutions to keep a HATT always facing the direction of the flow, which are transferred from wind turbine applications. One is to yaw the turbine around the supporting structure with a yaw mechanism. The other is to reverse the blade pitch angle through 180° with a pitch-adjusting mechanism. The above solutions are not cost-effective in marine applications due to the harsh marine environment and high cost of installation and maintenance. In order to avoid the above disadvantages, a turbine with bidirectional foils is presented in this paper. A bare turbine with bidirectional foils is characterized in that it has nearly the same energy conversion capability in both tidal current directions without using the yaw or pitch mechanism. Considering the working conditions of the bidirectional turbine in which the turbine is installed on a mono-pile, the effect of the mono-pile on the turbine’s performance is evaluated in this paper, especially when the turbine is downstream of the mono-pile. The paper was focused on the evaluation of the hydrodynamic performance of the bidirectional turbine. The hydrodynamic performance of the bare bidirectional turbine without any supporting structure was evaluated based on a steady-state computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and model tests. Performance comparison has been made between the turbine with bidirectional foils and the turbine with NACA foils. The effect of the mono-pile on the performance of the bidirectional turbine was studied by using the steady-state and the transient CFD model. The steady-state CFD model was used to evaluate the effect of the mono-pile clearance, which is the distance between the mono-pile and the turbine on the performance of the turbine. The transient CFD model was used to determine the time-dependent characteristics of the turbine, such as time-dependent power and drag coefficients. The results show that the bare bidirectional turbine has nearly the same energy conversion capability in both tidal current directions. The performance of the bidirectional turbine is inferior to the turbine with NACA foils. At the designed tip speed ratio, the power coefficient of the turbine with NACA foils is 0.4498, which increases by 1.6% compared to the 0.4338 of the bidirectional turbine. The turbine’s performance decreases due to the introduction of the mono-pile, and the closer the turbine is to the mono-pile, the greater effect on the turbine’s performance the mono-pile has. At the designed clearance of 1.5 DS, the presence of a mono-pile decreases the peak Cp value by 1.82% and 3.17% to a value of 0.4156 and 0.4004 for the turbine located in the mono-pile upstream and downstream, respectively. The mono-pile can result in the fluctuation of the turbine’s performance. This fluctuation will detrimentally harm the life of the turbine as it will lead to increased wear and fatigue issues.

Effect of yaw angle on the global performances of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine - QBlade simulation

The yaw angle has a great importance in the wind turbine working. Even though most of the large turbines have yaw mechanisms, they do not have an instant response. The aerodynamic forces and torque on the blades fluctuate, depending on the yaw angle. The design and the numerical simulation of the wind turbine were performed with the Blade Element Momentum method in open source QBlade software. The power coefficient, torque, thrust and power output generated by wind turbine in non-yawed flow were analysed. The simulations have been performed for non-yawed flow, in rotational speed range between 2100 and 3300 rpm and wind velocity of 15 m/s. Simulations for yaw angle range have been performed between ± 60°, with 5° step at rated rotational speed of 2700 rpm. The results are presented through charts for global parameters in both non-yawed flow, and yawed flow. The effect of yaw angle on global performances of the wind turbines is more important after the value of 25° when the power output decrease with about 15% from power output in non-yawed flow. The average value of the exponent from conventional relation of power coefficient in yawed flow is 1.77 in good concordance with experimental tests.

Conceptual Framework of Antecedents to Trends on Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generators for Wind Energy Conversion Systems

Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) plays an inevitable role across the world. WECS consist of many components and equipment’s such as turbines, hub assembly, yaw mechanism, electrical machines; power electronics based power conditioning units, protection devices, rotor, blades, main shaft, gear-box, mainframe, transmission systems and etc. These machinery and devices technologies have been developed on gradually and steadily. The electrical machine used to convert mechanical rotational energy into electrical energy is the core of any WECS. Many electrical machines (generator) has been used in WECS, among the generators the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generators (PMSGs) have gained special focus, been connected with wind farms to become the most desirable due to its enhanced efficiency in power conversion from wind energy turbine. This article provides a review of literatures and highlights the updates, progresses, and revolutionary trends observed in WECS-based PMSGs. The study also compares the geared and direct-driven conversion systems. Further, the classifications of electrical machines that are utilized in WECS are also discussed. The literature review covers the analysis of design aspects by taking various topologies of PMSGs into consideration. In the final sections, the PMSGs are reviewed and compared for further investigations. This review article predominantly emphasizes the conceptual framework that shed insights on the research challenges present in conducting the proposed works such as analysis, suitability, design, and control of PMSGs for WECS.

Performance investigation of self-adjusting blades turbine through experimental study

In the quest for renewable energy sources and sustainable development, hydrokinetic energy available in marine currents, river currents, water flows and man-made canals should be harnessed. This is particularly true for rural and remote areas, which have access to water but often have poor electricity. The vertical axis current turbine, which is a key hydrokinetic technology, has been greatly improved over the last few years. It has numerous advantages, including independency of flow direction, design simplicity, quiet operation, no required yaw mechanism and low cost. The Savonius hydrokinetic turbine is one of the most important drag-type configurations of a vertical axis current turbine. However, it suffers from negative torque, negative drag force on the returning blades, low efficiency and difficulty interfacing with a generator. This paper proposes a novel drag-based vertical axis current turbine using arms and self-adjusting blades. This novel design was developed based on the framework of a Savonius hydrokinetic turbine. In an effort to decrease the hydrodynamic resistance of the returning blades and increase the total output torque of the turbine, this study aims to investigate the performance characteristics of a novel vertical axis current turbine (hereinafter referred to as “self-adjusting blade turbine”). Experimental tests were conducted in the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) at low speed currents to assess the performance characteristics of three configurations of a fixed blade turbine and a self-adjusting blade turbine. The force acting on one blade of the self-adjusting turbine was analysed in detail. The results showed that the arm length and blade angle affected the performance of turbine, and that there was 30.7% increase in performance for the self-adjusting blade turbine compared to the fixed blade turbine.

Improved design of Savonius rotor for green energy production from moving Singapore metropolitan rapid transit train inside tunnel

Nonrenewable fossil fuels are finite resources that will ultimately deplete in near future. Nature sheds colossal amount of renewable wind energy but humans harvest a morsel. Taking this into account a numerical study is proposed on wind energy harvesting from a speeding subway train. Subways trains generate a remarkable gust of wind that can be transferred to useful electrical energy on daily basis. To this aim, a numerical analysis is modeled by placing Savonius wind turbine in a subway tunnel to crop the wind energy produced from the speeding train. The passage of train in the tunnel generates very high velocity slipstreams along the length of the tunnel. The slipstream phenomena develop a boundary layer regime that will be absorbed by the Savonius wind turbine to self-start and generate power. In the present study, a two-dimensional numerical simulation with modified turbine blade design is carried out using open source tool OpenFOAM® with PimpleDyMFoam solver coupled with six degrees of freedom mesh motion solver sixDoFRigidBodyMotion and k–ɛ turbulence modeling, to measure the amount of torque predicted by the rotor from the gust of wind produced by the speeding train in the tunnel. Being a self-start turbine with no yaw mechanism required the turbine collects air from any direction and converts it into useful power.

Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of Savonious Vertical Axis Wind Turbine for Uncertain Speed Regions

The consumption of electricity in urban as well as rural is increasing every day and became an essential commodity for household and industrial purposes. Unfortunately the availability of electrical energy in India is not sufficient to the required demand and it is essential to discover and generate energy from non-conventional sources with cheap cost. On the same time it is necessary to reduce the consumption of conventional sources and to save fuel. Among all the renewable resources, wind is one of the best resources available all the time at free of cost. Especially vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) are self-starting, omni directional. They require no yaw mechanism to continuously orient towards the wind direction and provide a more reliable energy conversion technology, as compared to horizontal axis wind turbine. Particularly savonius vertical axis wind turbines (SVAWT) are suitable and practically possible at low or uncertain wind speed regimes. They can be fitted on rooftops and also suitable for the urban areas where electricity is not available properly. This project deals with the fabrication and performance evaluation of savonius vertical axis wind turbine using two blade rotor. The amount of power developed by the wind turbine is calculated under theoretical and practical conditions and aerodynamics coefficients are also estimated. And various design parameters of savonious rotor are identified and determined.

Analysis of Various Materials for Service Platform in Wind Turbine Generator

Wind Turbine Industry is always seeking to improve and better its product options to its customers. One way of doing so is by bettering and optimizing its existing product offerings. The structural support component of a Wind Turbine Generator, which is approximately 15% of the total wind turbine cost and includes the tower and rotor yaw mechanism. It is possible to both discreetly increase the strength of the platforms and reduce its overall cost in terms of material costs by selecting suitable alternate material. The new platform is tested for stability under practical loading conditions by the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using ANSYS software. The aim of the project is to minimize the cost and weight of the Service platform by 15-18% without compromising on its structural integrity interfaces.