Pendular Wind Turbine

MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

All mechanical designs seek structures that are balanced, whether with regard to their supports or, if they rotate, with regard to their rotation axis.

As a result, these wind turbines have three mechanical systems that compensate the power peaks caused by wind gusts. The first consists of the swivelling single-blade rotor, the second is the pendulum formed by the power train, and the third the selfsteering nacelle.

Thus, in our wind turbine, any disturbance caused by a wind gust is first absorbed by the swivelling rotor and then by the pendulum unit, whereupon the joint performance of both, along with its self-steering capacity, reduces the effect of the disturbance on the structure and the quality of power delivered by the fast shaft to a minimum.

TORQUE BALANCE

The joints between components can be rigid or have certain degrees of freedom. Disturbance causes the first to tense, whereas the second adapt to the disturbance by changing position, preventing tension.

The result of placing the masses of certain turbine components (generator, brake disc and multiplier) in a pendular position, hanging from a bearing aligned with the rotor shaft, allowing them to rotate until torque balance is achieved by the movement, is one of the mechanical principles of our design. This quality releases the stress from the nacelle, tower and footing.

INERTIAL STABILITY: THE FLYWHELL

All the components that make up the power train have internal components that are rotating at different speeds and accumulate kinetic rotation energy that is much greater than that of the pendular unit itself.

As we understand inertia to be the property of a body that opposes any change of position or rotation or displacement speed, we can say that when the sum of the inertias of the rotating parts pertaining to the various components that make up the power train (shafts and gear assembly and/or pulleys, if that were the case, brake disc and generator rotor) is greater than the inertia of the pendulum itself, the latter is the first to react against any disturbance to the torque, since it is the element with the least inertia. All the above ensures that the rotating masses are minimally affected and so is the speed ratio delivered to the generator shaft.

PORTABILITY

Wind turbines up to 335 kW are easily portable in one 40' open top container.

As a result of their mechanical pecularities and the power electronics they contain, the electricity generated by ADES wind turbines is highly stable and complies with all the established requirements. Specifically, they compensate the reactive power and withstand voltage dips that occur in electrical grids in accordance with the most demanding legislation. (More information)

By supplying high-quality energy with less structural loads, these turbines can be connected in new parks, in areas with weak or isolated networks and in parallel with other energy sources, as well as be used in the repowering of wind farms, taking advantage of the existing infrastructures.

It is a well-known fact that wind energy has been used from early times, especially as an aid to navigation. At present, modern wind turbines transform this energy into electricity and transfer it to the grid.

However, their lacks of continuity and, in particular, its lack of evenness in intensity and direction have negative effects for both the turbines and the stability of the electrical system to which they are connected.

Current wind turbine technology, the design of which is based on the Danish model (three windward blades), solves these problems by sizing the structures to resist these loads and governing the machines with active regulation and control servosystems that are capable of overcoming natural phenomena to limits recommended by safety and supported by available expense.

And so?

Therefore, one of the main goals of our design is to eliminate these stiffnesses by using systems that can compensate, accumulate and reinstate these variations, preventing them from affecting the evenness of generator rotation and subsequently attenuating power peaks and structural overload.

Building machines that suffer less fatigue, including mechanisms that provide them with a higher degree of freedom by using the wind force that makes the machine suffer to protect it by accommodating to new balanced operational positions (passive systems), is the philosophy behind our designs.

With all these qualities derived from their simplicity, reduced maintenance and the quality of power supplied, these turbines are adequate for installation in grids and/or locations where turbines could not be used previously. They are also suitable for working alone or in parallel with other renewable energy sources such as:

• Isolated generation, microgrids
• Supply of constant mechanical energy for specific applications (pumping-desalination)
• Areas with turbulent wind flows
• Wind farms repowering
• New wind farms

Most production processes use motors (electrical or thermal) that require energy to work. The way in which motors have to supply power is via a shaft that, in general, operates at a fixed speed and that provides a torque that depends on the load presented by the production process.

The connection between the driving machine (turbine) and the driven machines (generators) is a hydrostatic transmission. This consists of a closed circuit consisting of pumps and motors, together with their respective connecting pipes through which a pressurised fluid flows.

The mechanical power (Torque x Speed) provided by these turbines is transformed into hydraulic power (Flow rate x Pressure) by the hydraulic pump located in the rotor head, and this is carried via rigid or flexible pipes to the point of use (hydraulic motor), which can be outside the structure of the turbine, operating any type of machine.

The hydraulic motor, driven by the energy obtained by the wind turbine, can be used:

• to drive any machine: A synchronous or asynchronous generator, a sunken well pump, a high-pressure pump for desalination, a centrifugal pump for irrigation or drainage, a compressor for oxygenating water, blowers, etc.

• as an auxiliary drive for motors, reducing their power consumption: electrical or thermal motors.

To supplement these motors, the shaft of the hydraulic motor is coupled to the shaft of the supplemented motor, with which it synchronises automatically, without altering its speed characteristics. In this way, it helps the other motor to supply the torque demanded by the process, with the corresponding energy saving (the ammeter will indicate a lower current consumption, or the regulator of the injection pump will reduce fuel flow). These are therefore mixed electrical-eolic or thermal-eolic systems.