Engine & Turbine Technology
H
Drives help control 60kW wind turbine
S Harbon & Sons, a UK-based electrical engineering company, has gone into partnership with
local businessman Richard Crowe to set up Harbon Wind Turbines. Harbon Wind Turbines’ aim was to design an advanced concept turbine that would outperform the products of established suppliers. Now the company has created and tested the 60kW HWT60 variable speed wind turbine and has already taken its first orders for the model. Research carried out by Harbon Wind
Turbines has shown that the efficiency of the turbine is significantly improved by
the ability to change the rotor speed. Each turbine is fitted with four AC drives from Control Techniques. Two small 0.5kW Unidrive SP AC drives
are fitted at the top of the tower, one controlling yaw (to turn the turbine into the wind) and the other controlling the hydraulics for the braking system and also acting as an interface to transmit inputs on wind speed, temperature, rotor shaft rpm and vibration to the main drive. Two 75kW Unidrive SP drives at the base of the tower, working in regenerative mode, feed AC power back to the grid.
All the AC drives are
fitted with plug-in SM Application modules which give ultra fast CTNet communications and I/O modules to give extra inputs/outputs. The base modules also have Ethernet modules for feedback to the local control screen and for remote access via smart phone. The HWT60 is
nominally rated at 60 kW
but it can exceed this for short periods. It is ‘Class 1 rated’, meaning it is approved for use in locations anywhere in the UK and is designed to withstand gales in excess of 150 mph. This makes it ideal for sites such as the outer islands of Scotland where high gusting winds are common. Depending on the site, a payback on the initial investment can be expected in as little as four years. The chassis for the turbine has been
designed and built specifically for the blades, motor/generator and gearbox. The rotor shaft has two bearings, one either side of the gearbox, to give exceptional strength and durability. The blades are a glass fibre composite construction with a carbon fibre brace throughout the length of each blade and are from a company who has been making such blades for over 25 years. Any fault initiates a controlled shutdown. The HWT60 wind turbine is eligible for
the Feed-in Tariff via the ROO-FIT process with each energy supplier. It is durable, efficient, safe and quiet in operation and is built in Doncaster, with all parts being sourced in the UK or the EU. ●
For more information visit
www.harbonwindturbines.co.uk
Construction completed on blade test facility A
new facility that will enable the UK to lead the world in the testing of offshore wind turbine blades has
been completed by national contractor Shepherd Construction. The contractor handed over the 5,700m²
steel frame structure to the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in Blyth, Northumberland. The project is the second of three structures to be completed at Blyth as part of a £80 million + investment by Narec in world-class facilities for the accelerated testing of offshore renewable energy technologies. The new Blade Test Facility will be the
largest in the world and has been designed to test the longer blades being developed for larger offshore turbines. It will add significantly to Narec’s existing capability for testing blades up to 50 metres in length. Constructing the building, which is 123 metres in length (slightly shorter
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than Gateshead’s Millennium Bridge at 126 metres), has itself been a complex engineering feat. The project, however, has also involved building the test hub that will support the blades during testing. Shepherd Construction has worked
closely with Narec and the project team to find an engineered solution that would withstand the forces applied during testing and the vibrations that will be created. The result is a test hub comprising a
15-metre high concrete superstructure with two huge rings. The top ring of 8m diameter is designed to accommodate the testing of blades up to 100m. The smaller bottom ring will accommodate blades of smaller root diameter. The hub arm includes substantial foundations. To achieve the exact position of the
rings within the concrete structure 216 post-tensioned bars have been cast in to extremely tight tolerances of ±3mm. Special
winches fixed to 132 circular steel rings in the floor have also been manufactured and will be used to flex the blades during testing. Andrew Constantine, commercial
director for Shepherd Construction commented: “As there are currently no other facilities of this scale in operation, the project team has had to come up with a unique solution necessitating precisely calculated tolerances that will enable the structure to withstand the rigours of testing. This makes it all the more worthwhile to see the blade test facility handed over and on its way to helping the UK further advance the offshore renewable energy.” The new facility will provide an
independent and confidential environment to accelerate the development of new blade designs before they are taken offshore. ●
For more information, visit
www.narec.co.uk
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