FEATURE SPONSOR


GLYCOL COOLING


treasures he plans (that is whenever he has the time) to renovate, to name but a few.


TO WHICH HIS COLLECTION BOASTS Two BSA’s which once belonged to his grandfather; an autocycle (early push bike with an engine) originally belonging to his great grandfather (which incidentally) was one of the first ever to be motorised. He goes on to say that as time is a valuable commodity he has for the last three years had an icon – Ford Capri (blue) sitting on the ramp pending restoration in his back yard (at the time of this dictation) and not a furry dice in sight!


These incidentally have rocketed in price and are now much sought after – a measure of his savvy sixth sense – and which was bought as a useable investment. He continues that his latest acquisition, a Camaro, is pending modification for drag racing… this is beginning to read like a James Bond script.


AND SO IT WAS MEANT TO BE Barry’s idée fixe was a foregone conclusion having studied for an Electrical and Electronic Engineering qualification, then a Mechanical Engineering qualification, whereupon he joined the Merchant Navy where he trained and qualified as an Engineering Officer. He enjoyed six years in the Merchant Navy travelling all over the world. When he left and became self-employed in Argyll, the


West Coast of Scotland, as a Head Engineer for four boatyards, re- building engines of all sizes and sorts from the newest to the 100+ years old!


From his time in marine engineering he continued in a similar vein, whereupon he had his first dip in the water with wind turbines, working with ‘B9 Energy’ initially as site manager on windfarms in Argyll, he then worked his way around the country performing many different tasks on many different turbine types before deciding to start a new venture in the wind industry where he set up the company Peter Lonsdorfer UK ltd.


And so it was a given that this … is like watching the pages of a book turning, a new chapter; a new challenge; another innovative idea… which brings me quite fortuitously and seamlessly onto Barry’s next page.


THE NEXT CHAPTER - THE BIG ‘GLYCOL’


Science and technology almost morph into one, none more so than the vicissitudious nature of this sector and those succeeding in this industry are ahead of their game in more than one way as are the sponsors of this issue’s feature Glycol Cooling.


Barry’s whole life has been intertwined with engineering, oil runs in his veins and so his next challenge is pretty close to his heart. Ethylene Glycol C²H60² is not new, in fact its first


earliest known recording was in 1855. Now it has uses within the medical, science and the technological age, however for the purposes of this feature we will be concentrating on Glycol within the capacity as coolant for the wind sector.


It has long been an issue that with the very nature of the design of the wind turbine, specifically within the nacelle structure and the associated kinetic energy generated within the shaft controls the generator is prone to heat – too much heat is not an option. It is very rare that wind turbines catch fire, surprisingly statistics show that the majority of these are caused by lightning strikes but on the rare occasion overheated equipment can cause a chain reaction and highly flammable materials within this enclosed space at close proximity to electrical wires can be cataclysmic. With the combination of inhospitable locations, matched with height and oxygen the likelihood of extinguishing said fire is remote… enter Glycol.


HOW IT WORKS


Heat is often an unwanted by-product of a mechanical/electrical process or operation which, if excessive, can have damaging effects. Wind turbine manufactures are constantly striving to increase the output of their turbines whilst minimising the physical size/ weight of the components. Wind turbines are becoming much more sophisticated with an increasing


www.windenergynetwork.co.uk


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