Dual Rotor Wind Turbines

11:34 AM 1 Comment

Twin-rotor turbine is generating 11 MW. Power is transmitting to several generators placed down of tower.( 2 units 500 kW  and 10 rated for 1 MW each). Hence weight of nacelle is lighter than the other type of turbines. Thanks to low top mass, tower can be designed in a cheaper way. 

After some aerodynamic investigations it is clarified 30° separation between two rotors and using high rotor speed for the aft rotor is most efficient way for this design.  

This twin-rotor turbine can produce 11 MW power with 48 m blade provided by NREL. It is possible to reach 16 MW power by increasing the diameter of the rotor. 
Power curve of this monster can also be seen in the following illustration. Cut in wind speed 4 m/s and rated wind speed is 16 m/s is a little high. But the power produced is also pretty high (11 MW).

It is headed to prototyping.  All manufacturers are in line and the tower guys are ready to go. It looks like we will see this monster 11 MW prototype in 2014 on the sky.  On the other hand this design can work with lower wind speeds due to 500 kW variable speed generator. And as the other type of wind turbines it can withstand high wind speeds. 

Small dual rotor

This design is not only for the big turbines. It can be also used for small wind turbines as it seen in the previous picture. This wind turbine can be used in cities, rural areas easily. The most important advantage of this turbine is cheaper than the other type of designs.