Vestas V164-8.0 MW Offshore

10:06 AM 1 Comment

Vestas calls it as V164-8.0 MW. The development of the V164-8.0 MW offshore turbine is still progressing.Main components such as drivetrain, bearings and blade are now in testing step. For the first prototype of the V164-8.0 MW offshore is expected to be installed in the second quarter of the 2014.

Vestas V164-8.0 MW Offshore wind turbine blade test

V164-8.0 MW will be worlds' biggest and most powerful wind turbine for offshore. It is said first prototype of the blade is currently undergoing testing. At the same time in the worlds' biggest test bench of Vestas testing facilities in Aarhus, Denmark, drivetrain, gearbox and generator is undergoing testing.

Vestas V164-8.0 MW Offshore wind turbine hub

Other main components such as hub, blade bearings, main shaft, main bearing have been also manufactured. It is expected the first prototype of V164_8.0 MW will be running in the second quarter of 2014. 

The gearbox is ready for testing in Aarhus, Denmark.

Vestas V164-8.0 MW Offshore wind turbine gearbox test stand

For the first prototype this shaft is also ready to test.
As a short information about Vestas' giant blade, just one blade weighs 33 tons !!

Vestas V164-8.0 MW Offshore wind turbine blade 80m

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Ice Effects on Wind Turbines

8:47 PM No Comments

Wind turbines should be able to work really in hard conditions. Sometimes they must withstand  so cold weathers, sometimes so high temperatures which depends on where the turbine locates.  

Wind turbine blade with ice

Especially the blades are effected in an important manner from the cold weather. And sometimes the ices can be problem for wind turbines. That's why during development state, up to climate conditions of desired area which turbine will be located, some extra calculations must be done. One of this extra calculations is ice loads which is defined in guidelines. 

Ice loads

If the turbine continue to produce power in cold weather, ice can be seen on the blade. Due to ice, mass of the blade is changing which makes extra high loads on the some parts of the turbines. What's more if the ice is effecting the pitch motors, the turbine must be shut down by control mechanism. If not due to high rotational speeds, some parts of turbine can be damaged. 

Wind turbine blade with ice

To let the turbine produce power in worse weather conditions wind turbine ice protection system (WTIPS) is invented. It is deicing the blade's leading edge by pulsing power to safely shed ice. WTIPS is a electro-thermal device system using technology originally developed through a NASA Small Business Innovative Research. It is light weight, easy to install, digitally controllable with Plc systems and reliable.

Ice effects on wind turbine blades

To get an idea about ice effects on wind turbines you can watch the following video. The turbine continue working with icy blades. 

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Wind Turbine Blade Tests

12:54 PM No Comments

Blade tests

If we look up to the wind turbine costs. It can be clearly seen that the blades have a huge importance for a wind turbine. Blades are used for capturing energy from the wind. Longer blades mean higher captured power. But when the blade length is increased, beside higher power, higher loads will also occur. After certain wind speed blades won't be able to withstand with higher loads and they will be broken which is not desirable situation. That's why the blade length is optimized.

Blade bending test

When the rotor is rotating, the blades have a certain rotational speed which is calculated before construction. After certain rotational speed, the turbine must be shut down to prevent collapsing. If not, the blades will turn faster and faster in high wind conditions. And due to high force at the tip of blade, it will tend to bend to the tower. As a result it will hit to tower.

Blade bending test

Bending property of the blade is so important and blade frequencies must be also calculated to prevent a resonance effect before construction. Due to all this stuff, some type of tests are made by blade manufacturers. Because they want to be pretty sure that their blades can withstand with all conditions in an efficient way. That's why as a first step, they are investigating the loads and they are making some experiments with blades which are showed in previous pictures.

Blade bending

As it seen in the previous photo, the tips of the blades bend to the tower due to wind. As in development stage, during investigating the loads, tip to tower distance in all extreme conditions must also be considered as it defined in guidelines.  

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