Wind Turbine Blades 102 Focus: This lesson will provide a basic overview of wind turbine blades.

Grade Level: 9th Grade to 12th Grade

rere!uisites: Basic "l#ebra $e!uired Ti%e: &0 %inutes 1. Ask students: What things affect the power output from wind turbines? Get several answers: wind speed, generators, size of turbine, blade design.

ow effectivel! a wind turbine can capture the wind, directl! determines how much electrical power is created b! the turbine. Wind contacts the "s' students: What thin#s affect how %uch ener#( wind blades and turbine blades can rotates them, how well this occurs depends a lot on the blade capture) Get several answers: len#th* nu%ber* pitch+an#le* design. ,-Tell students the( will be !ui..ed over t he %aterial to co%e/ shape* wei#ht* %aterial* curvature* twist* wind attached speed* air "#alk about the number of blades todensit(* the hub: etc.

0ne Blade 1 not ver( efficient because a sin#le blade %ust rotate %ore rapidl( to capture sa%e a%ount of wind as %ultiple blades2 can beco%e i%balanced as it rotates.

Two Blade 1 103 %ore efficient than sin#le blade desi#n.

Author: $im %arlin &age 1

Three Blade 1 &3 %ore efficient than two blade desi#n2 better ov erall balance durin# rotation2 hi#her rotation speed is not needed. 4ore than three blades increases the cost of the turbine with no si#nificant #ain in efficienc(* therefore 5 blades is the opti%u% nu%ber. What are wind turbine blades %ade of) '. Ask students: (f !ou were going to make a wind turbine blade, what would !ou make it out of and wh!? Wood ) fle*ible, strong, lightweight, ine*pensive, abundant +etal ) strong but heav!, e*pensive ,iberglass ) lightweight, strong, ine*pensive -+ost modern turbine blades are made of light wood and fiber glass. "s' students: What is the na%e of the thin# the blades are attached to) 6"ns: the 7ub8 -#he /lades rotate the ub which rotates the 0main shaft1 also known as the 0low 2 speed2shaft1.

/lade Aerod!namics 9efine "erod(na%ics: "erod(na%ics is the stud( of how air flows and how it interacts ob:ects. 3. 4*plain with to students: A wind turbine blade is ver! similar to an airplane wing 5also known as an airfoil6. /oth have air flowing around them and, as a result, are sub7ected to aerod!namic forces which create movement.
Author: $im %arlin

Wind turbine blades e*perience mainl! ' aerod!namic forces: 8ift &age ' and 9rag

"9raw an airfoil cross2section and label the aerod!namic forces: 8ift and 9rag 5noting that the! are perpendicular to each other6.

an airfoil2 that it is %ore round on the top and less on the botto%. This desi#n essentiall( creates faster airflow over the top of the blade and therefore* less >pressure?. Because there is less pressure on the top of the blade than the 8(,# botto%* a force results that %oves in the direction of lower pressure@.LAFTB 9:AG Lift is alwa(s perpendicular A;G84 <, A##A%= to the blade s upper surface and causes the blades to %ove 6rotatin# the hub8. 9rag is a force that tries to stop the motion of the blade. (t is essentiall! the friction against thethe blade surface. 9ragblows* is perpendicular to 8ift and is in Lift that is Theof air faster wind the %ore the same direction as the air flow along the blade surface. 9rag can also act produced the hence perpendicular to an on ob7ect 5e.g. ablade* canoe paddle6. the faster thesurface rotation. -=eep in mind the more area the blade has, the more drag it will have..
">se a ruler to describe the following concepts. 4*plain that the Angle of "ttac' also deter%ines the a%ount of Lift and 9ra#. "n#le of attac' is the an#le between the direction of the onco%in# wind and the tilt or pitch of the
Author: $im %arlin &age 3

-(t is the 8ift force that pla!s the biggest part in making the wind turbine blades ;<plain to students: notice the cross=section shape of rotate.

blade with respect to the oncoming wind 5represented b! a in the diagram above6. As the Angle of Att ack becomes larger, more lift is created but as the angle becomes even larger 5? 3@A6, the blade will begin to B#A88 5decreasing lift6. A complete Btall will result in no movement. (f the blades of a wind turbine were in a Btall position, the flat part would be facing into the wind and the blades would not be rotating. 5e.g. if an airplane were in a completel! stalled position, its nose would be pointed straight up.6 <n the other hand, ,urling is when the angle of attack becomes smaller. ,urling also works to reduce rotation of the blades 57ust like Btalling does6, but slows them down because the blades are acting like huge canoe paddles. (f the blades of a wind turbine were in a furled position, the edge of the blade would be facing into the wind and would not be rotating. -#here is an ideal pitch of the blade that creates the best rotation.

+odern blades are actuall! designed with a twist along their length. #his is to ma*imize the angle of attack along the length, getting the #ip Bpeed best lift and rotation. 0ptional ;<ercise: have C or & students stand in a line "s' students to picture a 4err(=Go=$ound. Af the( are standin# toward the center as it turns* the( don t e<perience 6shoulder to shoulder8 and%uch speed. But as the( %ove to the outer ed#e 6awa( fro% the center8* the( e<perience %uch faster %ove%ent even hold hands. 7ave is ever(one start wal'in# but the person thou#h the %err(=#o=round rotatin# at the sa%e speed. on one end is stationar(. The idea is to %aintain a strai#ht line without brea'in# hand contact 6li'e a rotatin# cloc' hand8. 9oes the person farthest out have to wal' the fastest to 'eep up) 7ow about the person ne<t to the center) -The person farthest to the ed#e is e<periencin# the >tip Author: $im %arlin &age C =speed? velocit( of a blade the sa%e len#th./ The speed at the ed#e of a rotatin# ob:ect is faster than it is at the ob:ect s center.
C. Ask Btudents: When talking about wind turbines, what do !ou think 0tip2 speed1 refers to? 5Ans: how fast the tip of the blade is moving6

54Duat ion 16 #he tipspeed ratio 5#B:6 is a measure of how efficient the blades are relative to wind conditions. (f the blades rotate too slowl!, a lot of potential wind power is lostE if the! rotate too fast, it s like the wind is running into a wall. (deal #B: is between F2G for t!pical 32blade industrial wind turbines. (n this range, the most possible power is being e*tracted from the wind. 7ave students wor' this e<ercise: >sing eDuation 516, what is the tip speed of a wind turbine blade 5in mHs6 if the wind speed is G mHs and the #B: is 1@.F? 5Ans: 1@.F " G I GC.G mHs6 Duestion: "ssu%in# the wind speed is still E%+s* what would the tip speed have to be to achieve a TF$ of G) 6"ns: G , E H &I %+s8 Duestion: Jan (ou thin' of an(thin# that can be done to achieve this slower tipspeed) 6"ns: shorter blade len#th8 ;<plain: The %ain shaft speed in revolutions per %inute 6rp%8 depends on the tip speed and the dia%eter of the swept area of the blades.

-Bwept area is the area of an imaginar! circle created if !ou were to trace the tip of a blade as it makes a complete revolution.
Bwept Area

54Duation '6 where # is the blade tip2speed and 9 is the diameter of the swept area.
Author: $im %arlin &age J

1 +egaWatt 5+W6 I 1,@@@,@@@ Watts b. What are most wind turbine blades made of? Wh!? because light2weight and strong !et 5=blade fle*ible6 Fhow5Ans: the woodHfiberglass basic wind power e!uation: for turbine c. What are the blades attached to that rotates? 5Ans: the hub6 &ower I Watts 54Duat ion 36 d. What are the ' main aerod!namic forces at work on a wind turbine blade? 5Ans: lift and drag6 e. ow does the wind cause the blades kgHm36E to move? A is the blade swept area 5m'6E and Where is the air densit! 51.'3 5Ans: pressure difference creating lift6 is the f. What is it called when the blades 0tilt1 relative to the wind? Af the blades on (our turbine are C %eters in len#th and the wind wind ;<ercise: speed 5mHs63. 5Ans: pitching6 speed isangle 9%+s* what is large the theoretical output of (our turbine) g. (s the of attack or small if power the blade is ,urled? 5Ans: small6 h. (s the angle ofarea attackI large if the blade is Btalled? Ans: swept 5p or " small r'6 I 5p " C'6 I J@.'N m' 5Ans: large6 i. What does #B: stand for? What does it tell !ou? &ower I 5Ans: 5.J "tip2speed2ratio 1.'3 " J@.'N K36 I '',J3G Watts tells" how efficientl! blades are capturing wind6 #here a the ph!sical much power beto e*tracted from would the wind. (t is to 7.is(f sweptlimit area to of how the turbine bladescan were double, what happen ;4O4: 1@@P. Bo we should account for these limits b! sa!ing: Qan! wind turbine can the output power? 5Ans: it would also double6 at best onl! capture of the ma*imum theoretical value . #herefore k. (f the wind about speed C@P doubled, what would happen to the output power? our answer of '',J3G 5Ans: Watts must be multiplied b! @.C@ would increase b! factor ofto G6get a more realistic power output. '',J3G " @.C@ I K,@1J Watts or about can K kW of power. 0ptional: ;<peri%ents with blades be si%ple or ver( co%plicated* dependin# on how deep (ou want to #o. Fo%e thin#s (ou can test about blades include: Blade "%ompare this to the 1,J@@,@@@ b! a t!pical turbine on a wind farmR Len#th* Blade Ku%ber* Blade Watts itch*produced Blade Fhape* Blade 4aterials* and Blade Wei#ht.
Author: $im %arlin &age N F

>sing eDuation 5'6,happens calculate appro*imate length 5in meters6 of &ower I , what tothe the power output when !ou change a single the wind turbine blade if the main (f shaft rotates at 1Grpm andlength, the tip2speed is length of the blades? !ou change the blade then the GC.GmHs? swept area "What happens when blades rotate tooto fast? ave the students watch this video: also changes. &ower is directl! proportional tochanges? A 5& S A6. Bo "What happens power if the wind speed http:HHwww.!outube.comHwatch?vIL82c:uMA*g@. Ans: 9densit! I 5GC.G " F@6H51G " 3.1C6 I K@.@'m if air &ower is directl! proportional to the cube of the wind speed 5& S >36. Bo, if #herefore: single blade length I K@.@'H' I CJ and air speed sta! constant, then wedoubles, doubled the swept area, the air densit! and swept area sta! constant, and the wind speed the meters output would increase b! a factor of G 5e.g. 5>36 if > is doubled power &ower power <utput then, 5'36 I G if > is tripled then, 5336 I 'N6. J. 4*plain to students: #he whole purpose of a mechanical wind turbine is to output electrical would also double. produce power. &ower is the amount of work done in a given amount N. Luiz Luestions: a.ofow man!and blades are the optimum number for big wind turbines? Wh!? time is e*pressed 1 kiloWatt 5kW6 I 1@@@ Watts in units of Watts. 5Ans: 3 because most efficient for the cost6

7ave students wor' this e<ercise: F. 4*plain to students: 8ooking at the wind power eDuation:

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