10 kw Wind Turbine

[Buchanan1]

The wind turbine is operational again...or I should clarify that we've installed a new (the third one) 6 kw Aurora inverter.

In addition, the contractor has implemented a braking function so that when the controller senses either a certain RPM, or voltage, or windspeed, or turbine head temperature, it will apply the 10 kw dumpload in parallel with turbine output, thus loading the turbine and dissipating excess energy.

By the way, the last data in the broken 6 kw inverter was 460, well within the safety zone, so it's up to Power One to figure out why it's broken. There had, in the other one, been a missing MPPT field, but not the last inverter.

My apologies the contractor wasn't able to get on this site to answer each person's comment, but I did send all comments to him to read.

From midnight to early this morning, we've produced 16 kw.
Seems to be working well.

Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[mull982]

100720-0604 EST

Besoeker:

The point of my post was that whether the generator in the windmill is AC (alternator) or DC (mechanical commutator) it will be DC at the input side of the inverter. It really doesn't matter whether the diodes (rectifiers) are at the windmill itself or at the inverter.

The process is AC (even in the DC commutated generator) converted to DC and then back to AC at 60 Hz.

Even without the AC DC distinction the output voltage is propotional to speed.

.

Are most generators in windmill applications an AC generator which is then converted to DC?

 

[mcclary's electrical]

The wind turbine is operational again...or I should clarify that we've installed a new (the third one) 6 kw Aurora inverter.

In addition, the contractor has implemented a braking function so that when the controller senses either a certain RPM, or voltage, or windspeed, or turbine head temperature, it will apply the 10 kw dumpload in parallel with turbine output, thus loading the turbine and dissipating excess energy.

By the way, the last data in the broken 6 kw inverter was 460, well within the safety zone, so it's up to Power One to figure out why it's broken. There had, in the other one, been a missing MPPT field, but not the last inverter.

My apologies the contractor wasn't able to get on this site to answer each person's comment, but I did send all comments to him to read.

From midnight to early this morning, we've produced 16 kw.
Seems to be working well.

Thank you for the suggestions!

Thanks for the pics and the update. Please let us know if anything interesting happens again.

 

[gar]

100726-0944 EST

mull982:

I have to believe that most windmills would use an AC alternator because there are no brushes to wear out if the magnetic field is supplied by permanent magnets. The reliability and durability of a PM alternator will be comparable to a three phase induction motor, 25 or more years with no attention.

Whether AC or DC you still have v=K * dPhi/dt . And a DC generator is basically an AC generator with a synchronous mechanical rectifier (the commutator).

.

 

[kiszka6911]

I have about 40 Aurora inverters installed with wind turbines throughout michigan. We have had a very low failure rate, in the one case we are pretty sure it was a lighting strike. Most of these are 3.6kw units be we now have a 10kw turbine so we will be installing dual 6kw aurora's.

After reading all the posts I need some clarification on your vendors installation.

Is there a isolation transformer on the second Aurora between the inverter and the Grid, you cannot hook two inverters attached to the same DC source without isolating the second?

It sounds like the dump load he has installed is not large enough. It needs to be able to dump the full rated output of your turbine continously. This would be in the event of a power failure during a wind storm.

The Power-one wind interfaces have a built in crowbar function to limit the DC voltage, two wind interfaces could split the three pahse coming from your turbine. These also have a braking function. I would reccomend using them as they will take the damage as opposed to the expensive inverter.