The following are advantages and disadvantages of gas-turbine engines: [77]

Advantages[edit]
Very high power-to-weight ratio, compared to reciprocating engines

Smaller than most reciprocating engines of the same power rating

Smooth rotation of the main shaft produces far less vibration than a reciprocating engine

Fewer moving parts than reciprocating engines results in lower maintenance cost and higher
reliability/availability over its service life.

Greater reliability, particularly in applications where sustained high power output is required

Waste heat is dissipated almost entirely in the exhaust. This results in a high temperature
exhaust stream that is very usable for boiling water in a combined cycle, or for cogeneration

Lower peak combustion pressures than reciprocating engines in general

High shaft speeds in smaller "free turbine units" although larger gas turbines employed in
power generation operate at synchronous speeds.

Low lubricating oil cost and consumption

Can run on a wide variety of fuels

Very low toxic emissions of CO and HC due to excess air, complete combustion and no
"quench" of the flame on cold surfaces

Wind Turbine Generator Technologies

Wenping Cao1, Ying Xie2 and Zheng Tan1
[1]
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
[2]
Harbin University of Science and Technology, P. R. China

1. Introduction
Wind energy is playing a critical role in the establishment of an environmentally sustainable low carbon
economy. This chapter presents an overview of wind turbine generator technologies and compares their
advantages and drawbacks used for wind energy utilization. Traditionally, DC machines, synchronous
machines and squirrel-cage induction machines have been used for small scale power generation. For medium
and large wind turbines (WTs), the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) is currently the dominant
technology while permanent-magnet (PM), switched reluctance (SR) and high temperature superconducting
(HTS) generators are all extensively researched and developed over the years. In this chapter, the topologies
and features of these machines are discussed with special attention given to their practical considerations
involved in the design, control and operation. It is hoped that this chapter provides quick reference guidelines
for developing wind turbine generation systems.

2. Utilization of wind energy

The utilization of wind energy can be dated back to 5000 B.C. when sail boats were propelled across the river
Nile. It was recorded that from 200 B.C. onwards wind was used as an energy source to pump water, grind
grain, and drive vehicles and ships in ancient China and Middle East. The first documented windmill was in a
book Pneumatics written by Hero of Alexandria around the first century B.C. or the first century A.D. [52].
Effectively, these wind mills are used to convert kinetic energy into mechanical energy.
The use of wind energy to generate electricity first appeared in the late 19th century [35] but did not gain
ground owing to the then dominance of steam turbines in electricity generation. The interest in wind energy
was renewed in the mid-1970s following the oil crises and increased concerns over resource conservation.
Initially, wind energy started to gain popularity in electricity generation to charge batteries [17] in remote
power systems, residential scale power systems, isolated or island power systems, and utility networks. These
wind turbines themselves are generally small (rated less than 100kW) but could be made up to a large wind
farm (rated 5MW or so). It was until the early 1990s when wind projects really took off the ground, primarily
driven by the governmental and industrial initiatives. It was also in 1990s there seemed a shift of focus from
onshore to offshore development in major wind development countries, especially in Europe.
Offshore wind turbines were first proposed in Germany in 1930s and first installed in Sweden in 1991 and in
Denmark in 1992. By July 2010, there were 2.4 GW of offshore wind turbines installed in Europe. Compared
to onshore wind energy, offshore wind energy has some appealing attributes such as higher wind speeds,
availability of larger sites for development, lower wind sheer and lower intrinsic turbulence intensity. But the
drawbacks are associated with harsh working conditions, high installation and maintenance costs. For offshore
operation, major components should be marinized with additional anti-corrosion measures and de-
humidification capacity [24]. In order to avoid unscheduled maintenance, they should also be equipped with
fault-ride-through capacity to improve their reliability.
FIGURE 1.
Ever-growing size of horisontal-axis wind turbines [36].

Over the last three decades, wind turbines have significantly evolved as the global wind market grows
continuously and rapidly. By the end of 2009, the world capacity reached a total of 160 GW [7]. In the global
electricity market, wind energy penetration is projected to rise from 1% in 2008 to 8% in 2035 [45]. This is
achieved simply by developing larger wind turbines and employing more in the wind farm. In terms of the
size, large wind turbines of the MW order began to appear in the EU, the US and now in China and India.
Typically, the large installed wind turbines in utility grids are between 1.5-5MW whilst 7.5 and 10 MW are
under extensive development, as shown in Fig. 1. Nowadays, modern wind turbines are reliable, quiet, cost-
effective and commercially competitive while the wind turbine technologies are proven and mature. At present,
technical challenges are generally associated with ever-growing wind turbine size, power transmission, energy
storage, energy efficiency, system stability and fault tolerance.

FIGURE 2.
The worlds energy potential for land-based wind turbines (estimated energy output in kWh/kW from a wind
turbine that is dimensioned for 11 m/s) [36].
Currently, wind power is widely recognized as a main feasible source of renewables which can be utilized
economically in large quantity. A world map for wind energy potential is illustrated in Fig. 2. Taking the
United Kingdom for example, the usable offshore wind energy alone is enough to provide three times more
than the required electricity consumption in the country, given sufficient support. However, wind power
fluctuates by its nature and such applications demand high reliability and high availability while the market is
still looking to reduce weight, complexity and operational costs.

3. Wind Turbines
Clearly, wind energy is high on the governmental and institutional agenda. However, there are some stumbling
blocks in the way of its widespread.

Wind turbines come with different topologies, architectures and design features. The schematic of a wind
turbine generation system is shown in Fig. 3. Some options wind turbine topologies are as follows [35],

Rotor axis orientation: horizontal or vertical;

Rotor position: upwind or downwind of tower;

Rotor speed: fixed or variable;

Hub: rigid, teetering, gimbaled or hinged blades;

Rigidity: still or flexible;

Number of blades: one, two, three or even more;

Power control: stall, pitch, yaw or aerodynamic surfaces;

Yaw control: active or free.

This chapter focuses only on horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs), which are the prevailing type of wind
turbine topology, as is confirmed in Fig. 4.
FIGURE 3.
Schematic of a wind turbine generation system [50].

Wind turbines include critical mechanical components such as turbine blades and rotors, drive train and
generators. They cost more than 30% of total capital expenditure for offshore wind project [24]. In general,
wind turbines are intended for relatively inaccessible sites placing some constraints on the designs in a number
of ways. For offshore environments, the site may be realistically accessed for maintenance once per year. As a
result, fault tolerance of the wind turbine is of importance for wind farm development.
FIGURE 4.
Commonly agreed wind turbine type and its divergence [24].

One of key components in the wind turbine is its drive train, which links aerodynamic rotor and electrical
output terminals. Optimization of wind turbine generators can not be realized without considering mechanical,
structural, hydraulic and magnetic performance of the drive train. An overview of the drive train technologies
is illustrated in Fig. 5 for comparison. Generally, they can be broken down into four types according to their
structures [24]:

Conventional: gearbox and high speed generator with few pole pairs.

Direct drive: any drive train without a gearbox and low speed generator with many pole pairs.

Hybrid: any drive train with a gearbox and the generator speed between the above two types.

Multiple generators: any drive train with more than one generator.
Drive train topologies may raise the issues such as the integration of the rotor and gearbox/bearings, the
isolation of gear and generator shafts from mechanical bending loads, the integrity and load paths. Although it
may be easier to service separate wind turbine components such as gearboxes, bearings and generators, the
industry is increasingly in favor of system design of the integrated drive train components.

4. Wind Turbine Generators

One of limiting factors in wind turbines lies in their generator technology. There is no consensus among
academics and industry on the best wind turbine generator technology. Traditionally, there are three main types
of wind turbine generators (WTGs) which can be considered for the various wind turbine systems, these being
direct current (DC), alternating current (AC) synchronous and AC asynchronous generators. In principle, each
can be run at fixed or variable speed. Due to the fluctuating nature of wind power, it is advantageous to operate
the WTG at variable speed which reduces the physical stress on the turbine blades and drive train, and which
improves system aerodynamic efficiency and torque transient behaviors.

(a) DC Generator Technologies

In conventional DC machines, the field is on the stator and the armature is on the rotor. The stator comprises a
number of poles which are excited either by permanent magnets or by DC field windings. If the machine is
electrically excited, it tends to follow the shunt wound DC generator concept.
FIGURE 5.
System level drive train technologies [24].

An example of the DC wind generator system is illustrated in Fig. 6. It consists of a wind turbine, a DC
generator, an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) inverter, a controller, a transformer and a power grid. For
shunt wound DC generators, the field current (and thus magnetic field) increases with operational speed whilst
the actual speed of the wind turbine is determined by the balance between the WT drive torque and the load
torque. The rotor includes conductors wound on an armature which are connected to a split-slip ring
commentator. Electrical power is extracted through brushes connecting the commentator which is used to
rectify the generated AC power into DC output. Clearly, they require regular maintenance and are relatively
costly due to the use of commutators and brushes.
In general, these DC WTGs are unusual in wind turbine applications except in low power demand situations
[47; 23; 33; 54] where the load is physically close to the wind turbine, in heating applications or in battery
charging.

FIGURE 6.
Schematic of a DC generator system [33].

(b) AC Synchronous Generator Technologies

Since the early time of developing wind turbines, considerable efforts have been made to utilize three-phase
synchronous machines. AC synchronous WTGs can take constant or DC excitations from either permanent
magnets or electromagnets and are thus termed PM synchronous generators (PMSGs) and electrically excited
synchronous generators (EESGs), respectively. When the rotor is driven by the wind turbine, a three-phase
power is generated in the stator windings which are connected to the grid through transformers and power
converters. For fixed speed synchronous generators, the rotor speed must be kept at exactly the synchronous
speed. Otherwise synchronism will be lost.
Synchronous generators are a proven machine technology since their performance for power generation has
been studied and widely accepted for a long time. A cutaway diagram of a conventional synchronous generator
is shown in Fig. 7. In theory, the reactive power characteristics of synchronous WTGs can be easily controlled
via the field circuit for electrical excitation. Nevertheless, when using fixed speed synchronous generators,
random wind speed fluctuations and periodic disturbances caused by tower-shading effects and natural
resonances of components would be passed onto the power grid. Furthermore, synchronous WTGs tend to
have low damping effect so that they do not allow drive train transients to be absorbed electrically. As a
consequence, they require an additional damping element (e.g. flexible coupling in the drive train), or the
gearbox assembly mounted on springs and dampers. When they are integrated into the power grid,
synchronizing their frequency to that of the grid calls for a delicate operation. In addition, they are generally
more complex, costly and more prone to failure than induction generators. In the case of using electromagnets
in synchronous machines, voltage control takes place in the synchronous machine while in permanent magnet
excited machines, voltage control is achieved in the converter circuit.
FIGURE 7.
Cutaway of a synchronous generator [22].

In recent decades, PM generators have been gradually used in wind turbine applications due to their high
power density and low mass [39]. Often these machines are referred to as the permanent magnet synchronous
generators (PMSGs) and are considered as the machine of choice in small wind turbine generators. The
structure of the generator is relatively straightforward. As shown in Fig. 8. the rugged PMs are installed on the
rotor to produce a constant magnetic field and the generated electricity is taken from the armature (stator) via
the use of the commutator, sliprings or brushes. Sometimes the PMs can be integrated into a cylindrical cast
aluminum rotor to reduce costs [35]. The principle of operation of PM generators is similar to that of
synchronous generators except that PM generators can be operated asynchronously. The advantages of PMSGs
include the elimination of commutator, slip rings and brushes so that the machines are rugged, reliable and
simple. The use of PMs removes the field winding (and its associated power losses) but makes the field control
impossible and the cost of PMs can be prohibitively high for large machines.
Because the actual wind speeds are variable, the PMSGs can not generate electrical power with fixed
frequency. As a result, they should be connected to the power grid through AC-DC-AC conversion by power
converters. That is, the generated AC power (with variable frequency and magnitude) is first rectified into
fixed DC and then converted back into AC power (with fixed frequency and magnitude). It is also very
attractive to use these permanent magnet machines for direct drive application. Obviously, in this case, they
can eliminate troublesome gearboxes which cause the majority of wind turbine failures. The machines should
have large pole numbers and are physically large than a similarly rated geared machine.

FIGURE 8.
Cutaway of a permanent magnet synchronous generator [18].

A potential variant of synchronous generators is the high-temperature superconducting generator

[31; 27; 49; 55]. See Fig. 9 for a multi-MW, low-speed HTS synchronous generator system. The machine
comprises the stator back iron, stator copper winding, HTS field coils, rotor core, rotor support structure, rotor
cooling system, cryostat and external refrigerator, electromagnetic shield and damper, bearing, shaft and
housing. In the machine design, the arrangements of the stator, rotor, cooling and gearbox may pose particular
challenges in order to keep HTS coils in the low temperature operational conditions.

FIGURE 9.
Schematic of a HTS synchronous generator system [11].

Superconducting coils may carry 10 times the current than conventional copper wires with negligible
resistance and conductor losses. Without a doubt, the use of superconductors would eliminate all field circuit
power loss and the ability of superconductivity to increase current density allows for high magnetic fields,
leading to a significant reduction in mass and size for wind turbine generators. Therefore, superconducting
generators provide much promise in high capacity and weight reductions, perhaps suited better for wind
turbines rated 10 MW or more. In 2005, Siemens successfully launched the worlds first superconducting wind
turbine generator, which was a 4MW synchronous generator. However, there are many technical challenges to
face especially for the long-life, low-maintenance wind turbine systems. For instance, there is always a
necessity to maintain cryogenic systems so that the time to cool down and restore operation following a
stoppage will be an additional issue.

(c) AC Asynchronous Generators

Whilst conventional power generation utilizes synchronous machines, modern wind power systems use
induction machines extensively in wind turbine applications. These induction generators fall into two types:
fixed speed induction generators (FSIGs) with squirrel cage rotors (sometimes called squirrel cage induction
generators-SQIGs) [40; 1] and doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs) with wound rotors
[9; 29; 19; 32, 43; 13; 34]. Cutaway diagrams of a squirrel-cage induction generator and a doubly-fed
induction generator are presented in Fig. 10 and Fig. 11, respectively, and their system topologies are further
illustrated in Fig. 12.
When supplied with three-phase AC power to the stator, a rotating magnetic field is established across the
airgap. If the rotor rotates at a speed different to synchronous speed, a slip is created and the rotor circuit is
energized. Generally speaking, induction machines are simple, reliable, inexpensive and well developed. They
have high degree of damping and are capable of absorbing rotor speed fluctuations and drive train transients
(i.e. fault tolerant). However, induction machines draw reactive power from the grid and thus some form of
reactive power compensation is needed such as the use of capacitors or power converters. For fixed-speed
induction generators, the stator is connected to the grid via a transformer and the rotor is connected to the wind
turbine through a gearbox. The rotor speed is considered to be fixed (in fact, varying within a narrow range).
Up until 1998 most wind turbine manufacturers built fixed-speed induction generators of 1.5 MW and below.
These generators normally operated at 1500 revolutions per minute (rpm) for the 50 Hz utility grid [37], with a
three-stage gearbox.
FIGURE 10.
Cutaway of a squirrel-cage induction generator [22].
FIGURE 11.
Cutaway of a doubly-fed induction generator with a rotary transformer [43].

SCIGs can be utilized in variable speed wind turbines, as in controlling synchronous machines. However, the
output voltage can not be controlled and reactive power needs to be supplied externally. Clearly, fixed speed
induction generators are limited to operate only within a very narrow range of discrete speeds. Other
disadvantages of the machines are related to the machine size, noise, low efficiency and reliability. These
machines have proven to cause tremendous service failures and consequent maintenance.
FIGURE 12.
Schematic of two induction generator systems.

SCIGs led the wind turbine market until the last millennium [16; 26], overtaken by the wide adoption of
DFIGs. Nowadays, over 85% of the installed wind turbines utilize DFIGs [41] and the largest capacity for the
commercial wind turbine product with DFIG has increased towards 5MW in industry. In the DFIG topology,
the stator is directly connected to the grid through transformers and the rotor is connected to the grid through
PWM power converters. The converters can control the rotor circuit current, frequency and phase angle shifts.
Such induction generators are capable of operating at a wide slip range (typically 30% of synchronous speed).
As a result, they offer many advantages such as high energy yield, reduction in mechanical stresses and power
fluctuations, and controllability of reactive power.
For induction generators, all the reactive power energizing the magnetic circuits must be supplied by the grid
or local capacitors. Induction generators are prone to voltage instability. When capacitors are used to
compensate power factor, there is a risk of causing self-excitation. Additionally, damping effect may give rise
to power losses in the rotor. There is no direct control over the terminal voltage (thus reactive power), nor
sustained fault currents.

As shown in Fig. 12(b), the rotor of the DFIG is mechanically connected to the wind turbine through a drive
train system, which may contain high and low speed shafts, bearings and a gearbox. The rotor is fed by the bi-
directional voltage-source converters. Thereby, the speed and torque of the DFIG can be regulated by
controlling the rotor side converter (RSC). Another feature is that DFIGs can operate both sub-synchronous
and super-synchronous conditions. The stator always transfers power to the grid while the rotor can handle
power in both directions. The latter is due to the fact that the PWM converters are capable of supplying voltage
and current at different phase angles. In sub-synchronous operation, the rotor-side converter acts as an inverter
and the grid-side converter (GSC) as a rectifier. In this case, active power is flowing from the grid to the rotor.
Under super-synchronous condition, the RSC operates as a rectifier and the GSC as an inverter. Consequently,
active power is flowing from the stator as well as the rotor to the power grid.

FIGURE 13.
Per-phase equivalent circuit of the DFIG.

To analyze the DFIGs performance, it always needs to adopt its per-phase equivalent circuit, as exampled
in Fig. 13. From this figure, it can be seen that the DFIG differs from the conventional induction machine in
the rotor circuit where a voltage source is added to inject voltage into the rotor circuit. The actual d-q control
of the DFIG is similar to the magnitude and phase control of the injected voltage in the circuit.
The matrix form of the equation for this circuit is

[VsVr/s]=[Rs+j(Xs+Xm)jXmjXmRr/s+j(Xr+Xm)][IsIr][VsVr/s]=[Rs+j(Xs+Xm)
(1

jXmjXmRr/s+j(Xr+Xm)][IsIr] )

Options

The input power P in can be summarized from the output power P out and the total loss P loss . The latter
includes stator conductor loss P cu1 , rotor conductor loss P cu2 , core loss P core , windage and friction
losses P wf and stray load loss P stray . Among these losses, P cu1 is assumed to vary with the square of the stator
current I s while P cu2 varies with the square of the rotor current I r . The stray load loss could be split into two
parts: the fundamental component P fun occurring at the stator side and P har at the rotor side. Thus P fun is
proportional to I s 2 while P har is proportional to I r 2 .
The total loss is then given by

Ploss=3Is2(Rs+Rfun)+3Ir2(Rr'+Rhar)+Pcore+PwfPloss=3Is2(Rs+Rfun)+3Ir2(Rr'+Rhar)+Pcore+Pwf
(2)

Options

The efficiency of the DFIG is

=PoutPin=3Voutcosr6Is(Rs+Rfun+Rr'+Rhar)
(3
+3Voutcosr=PoutPin=3Voutcosr6Is(Rs+Rfun+Rr'+Rhar)+3Voutcosr
)

Options

The efficiency can be expressed as a function of the load current I s and this function is continuous and
monotonic. Consequently, the maximum efficiency can be found when

Is=0Is=0
(4)

Options

That is, the condition of maximum efficiency for DFIGs is

 Pcore+Pwf=Pcu1+Pcu2+PstrayPcore+Pwf=Pcu1+Pcu2+Pstray
(5)

Options

In order to optimize the DFIG machine design, its losses and efficiency need to derive numerically or
experimentally. An additional refinement parameter is the machines operational point. The condition of the
maximum efficiency occurrence indicates: when the load-dependent losses equalise the load-invariant losses,
the machine efficiency peaks. In the design and operation of DFIGs, it is beneficial to match the generators
characteristics with the site-specific wind speed by moving this maximum efficiency point close to the rated or
operational load.

For control purposes, the DFIG mathematical model is based on the synchronous reference frame as follows,

vsd=rsisd+dsddtssqvsq=rsisq+dsqdt+ssd{vsd=rsisd+dsddtssqvsq=rsisq+dsqd
(6)
t+ssd

Options

vrd=rrird+drddt(sr)rqvrq=rrirq+drqdt+(sr)rd{vrd=rrird+drddt
(7
(sr)rqvrq=rrirq+drqdt+(sr)rd )

Options

{sd=(Lls+Lm)isd+Lmirdsq=(Lls+Lm)isq+Lmirq{sd=(Lls+Lm)isd+Lmirdsq=(Lls+Lm)isq+Lmirq
(8)

Options

{rd=(Llr+Lm)ird+Lmisdrq=(Llr+Lm)irq+Lmisq{rd=(Llr+Lm)ird+Lmisdrq=(Llr+Lm)irq+Lmisq
(9)

Options

where
rsrs
and
rrrr
are the stator and rotor resistances in ,
LlsLls
and
LlrLlr
are the stator and rotor leakage inductances in H,
LmLm
is the magnetizing inductance in H.
ss
is the synchronous electrical speed in rad/sec.
rr
is the rotor electrical speed of the DFIG and its relation with rotor mechanical speed
gg
is
r=Pgr=Pg
, where
PP
is pole pairs.

The electromagnetic torque is given by

Te=32PLm(isqirdisdirq)Te=32PLm(isqirdisdirq)
(10)

Options

In DFIGs, active power is used to evaluate the power output and reactive power is responsible for its electrical
behavior in the power network. The DFIG requires some amounts of reactive power to establish its magnetic
field. In case of grid-connected systems, the generator obtains the reactive power from the grid itself [48]. In
case of isolated system operation, the reactive power needs to be provided by external sources such as
capacitors [4] or batteries [9].
(d) Switched Reluctance Generator Technologies
Switched reluctance WTGs are characterized with salient rotors and stator. As the rotor rotates, the reluctance
of the magnetic circuit linking the stator and rotor changes, and in turn, induces currents in the winding on the
armature (stator). See Fig. 14 for a schematic of the switched reluctance generator system.
FIGURE 14.
Schematic of a switched reluctance generator system [12].

The reluctance rotor is constructed from laminated steel sheets and has no electrical field windings or
permanent magnets. As a result, the reluctance machine is simple, easy to manufacture and assembly. An
obvious feature is their high reliability because they can work in harsh or high-temperature environments.
Because the reluctance torque is only a fraction of electrical torque, the rotor of switched reluctance is
generally large than other with electrical excitations for a given rated torque. If reluctance machines are
combined with direct drive features, the machine would be extremely large and heavy, making them less
favorable in wind power applications.

5. Design Considerations and Challenges

Generally speaking, wind turbine generators can be selected from commercially available electrical machines
with or without minor modifications. If a wind turbine design is required to match a specific site, some key
issues should be taken into account. These include:

Choice of machines

Type of drive train

Brush topology
 Rated and operating speeds

Rated and operating torques

Tip speed ratio

Power and current

Voltage regulation (synchronous generators)

Methods of starting

Starting current (induction generators)

Synchronizing (synchronous generators)

Cooling arrangement

Power factor and reactive power compensation (induction generators)

Power converter topology

Weight and size

Protection (offshore environment)

Capital cost and maintenance.

Among these design considerations, the choice of operating speed, drive type, brush topology, and power
converter are focused and further analyzed in details.

(a) Fixed or Variable Speed?

Clearly, it is beneficial to operate WTGs at variable speed. The reasons are several. When the wind speed is
below rated, running the rotor speed with the wind speed and keeping the tip speed ratio constant ensure that
the wind turbine will extract the maximum energy. Variable speed operation helps reduce fluctuating
mechanical stresses on the drive train and machine shaft, the likelihood of fatigue and damage as well as
aerodynamically generated acoustic noise. The rotor can act as a regenerative storage unit (e.g. flywheel),
smoothing out torque and power fluctuations prior to entering the drive train. Direct control of the air-gap
torque also aids in minimizing gearbox torque fluctuations. Since there is a frequency converter between the
wind turbine generator and the power grid, it becomes possible to decouple the network frequency and the
rotor rotational speed. This permits variable speed operation of the rotor and controllability of air-gap torque of
the machine. Furthermore, variable speed operation enables separate control of active and reactive power, as
well as power factor. In theory, some wind turbine generators may be used to compensate the low power factor
caused by neighboring consumers. In economic terms, variable speed wind turbine can produce 8-15% more
power than fixed speed counterparts [45]. Nonetheless, the capital costs will be increased arising from the
variable speed drive and power converters, as well as increased complicity and control requirements.
FIGURE 15.
Variable speed control system [35].
In principle, variable speed operation can be achieved mechanically by the use of differential gearboxes or
continuously-variable transmission systems [8], based on the control of speed and angular speed of
gyroscopes. But the general practice is to achieve this goal by electrical means. There are two major methods
in use: broad range and narrow range variable speed [8]. The former refers to a wide operational range from
zero to the full rated speed where the latter refers to a narrow operational range between a fraction (up to
50%) of synchronous speed. In reality, this latter range is practically sufficient and can saving significant
costs on power electronic converters. A closed loop speed control of such a method is demonstrated in Fig. 15.
In the design of variable-speed wind turbines, three control aspects in association with the wind speed need to
consider. First, a constant optimized tip speed should be maintained to achieve maximum aerodynamic
efficiency by varying the rotor speed with the actual wind speed. Second, the rotor speed should be maintained
constant after the rotor has reached its rated speed but the power has not, in the case of moderate winds. When
the wind speed is higher, the control is to maintain a constant rated power via the pitch angle control or stall
control. Whilst using the pitch angle control, the blade pitch is varied to control the rotor speed together with
the generator torque.

(b) Direct or Geared Drive?

In a geared wind turbine, the generator speed increases with the gear ratio so that the reduction in machine
weight is offset by the gain in gearbox weight. For instance, the wind turbine operates at a speed of 15 rpm and
the generator is designed to operate 1200 rpm (for 60 Hz) [2]. An up-speed gearbox of 1:80 is required to
match the speed/torque of the turbine with these of the generator.
However, historically, gearbox failures are major challenges to the operation of wind farms. This is especially
true for offshore wind turbines which are situated in harsh and less-accessible environments. Because of this,
direct drive systems are increasingly desired in new wind turbine systems. One example is the excited
synchronous generator with wound field rotor is a well-established design in the marketplace; and another may
be a popular neodymium magnet generator design which also attracts much attention in the marketplace.

Obviously, direct drive configuration removes the necessity for gears and the related reliability problems [46].
Therefore, some wind turbine manufacturers are now moving toward direct-drive generators to improve
system reliability. Since wind turbine generators are operated with power electronic converters, direct drive
topology can provide some flexibility in the voltage and power requirements of the machines. Nonetheless, a
drawback of the direct drive is associated with the low operating speed of the turbine generator. As the nominal
speed of the machine reduces, the volume and weight of its rotor would increase approximately in inverse
proportion for a given power output. This can be explained in the following equation governing the power
output of any rotating electrical machine [28],

P=k(D2L)nP=k(D2L)n
(11)

Options

where k is a constant, n is the rotor rotational speed, D is the rotor diameter and L is the rotor length, in
arbitrary units.
Direct drive increases the size of electrical generators which effectively offsets some of the weight savings
from removing gearboxes. See Fig. 16 for a direct drive wind turbine generator, which is more than 10 times
larger than its equivalent geared machine. Moreover, it typically requires the full rated power converters for
grid connection. As a consequence, it is always needed to strike a balance between the weight of machines and
the weight of gearboxes. Hybrid systems use one or two stages of gears rather than three or four required by
conventional MW generators. Sometimes, hybrid systems can offer a better compromise in terms of the overall
performance of the wind turbine system.
FIGURE 16.
Example of a direct drive MW wind turbine generator.

For direct drive, the popular machine option is the PM synchronous machines. Although considerable effort
and investment have been spent on improving reluctance machines [10; 15], they are still not commercially
competitive to date. Direct drive brings about some design challenges on the generator and the power
converters. For PM direct drive generators, they require a significant amount of costly rare-earth permanent
magnets [51; 53; 44]. In addition, it needs to increase the rating of IGBTs in the back-to-back converter, or to
integrate machine side converter components with the stator windings. Obviously, the advantage of direct drive
is the removal of gearbox at the expense of increased size and weight of the wind turbine generator. As a rule
of thumb, the machine volume is proportional to the torque required and inversely proportional to the
operational speed for a given power. The increased mass of the generator can be a limiting factor for offshore
installations because the shipping carrying capacity is generally limited to 100 tons so that the direct drive
generator may not be greater than 10 MW.
With the hybrid option, the generator size and speed lie in between direct and geared drives. In this case,
synchronous machines are more popular than induction machines. It generally involves medium-speed, multi-
pole generators which are almost exclusively permanent magnet machines. The hybrid drive train can facilitate
more nacelle arrangements and match the size of the generator and gearbox.

(c) Brushed or Brushless Topology?

In general, DC machines, wound rotor synchronous generators, wound rotor induction generators all employ
commutators, brushes or sliprings to access the rotating rotor circuits. Consequently, routine maintenance and
replacement lead to some difficulties in wind power applications, especially for offshore installations. Clearly
it would be particularly desirable to rid of any components physically connected to the rotating parts of wind
turbines. There are several ways of achieving this. Taking the DFIG for example, brushless doubly-fed
generators (BDFGs) can be a solution. They use two windings on the stator (a power winding and a control
winding) with different pole numbers. The rotor can be of squirrel cage type and an indirect coupling of the
two stator windings is established through the rotor. It is also possible to use a reluctance rotor in this topology
where the machine has become a brushless reluctance generator [6, 14, 25]. By modifying the conventional
machines, a higher reliability is achieved due to the absence of the brushes and slip rings. The penalty is the
use of two machines in a machine case.
(d) Two-Level, Multi-Level or Matrix Converter?
Power electronics is recognized as being a key and enabling component in wind turbine systems. Broadly,
there are three types of converters widely used in the wind market. These are two-level, multi-level and matrix
converters.

Two level power converters are commonly called back-to-back PWM converters, as shown in Fig. 17(a).
They include two voltage source inverters (with PWM control scheme) connected through a DC capacitor.
This is a mature technology but suffers from high costs, high switching loss and large DC capacitors. Any
power converters having three or more voltage levels are termed multi-level converters. These are illustrated
in Fig. 17(b). They are particularly favored in multi-MW wind turbines since they offer better voltage and
power capacity, lower switching loss and total harmonic distortion. However, the power electronic circuits are
more complex and costly.
FIGURE 17.
Three types of power converters in wind applications. (a) [21], (b) [42], (c)[5].

On the contrary, matrix converters are different in the way of AC-AC conversion. They remove the necessity
of a DC stage and directly synthesize the incoming AC voltage waveform to match the required AC output. As
shown in Fig. 17(c), they generally have nine power electronic switches with three in a common leg. The
elimination of DC capacitors improves the reliability, size, efficiency and cost of power converters. The
downsides are the limited voltage (up to 86% of the input voltage), sensitivity to grid disturbances [26], and
high conducting power loss.

5. Performance Comparisons
A quantitative comparison of DFIGs, synchronous and PM generators is listed in Table 1. It can be seen that
direct drive wind turbine generators are larger in size but shorter in length compared to geared counterparts.
From this limited range of data, three-stage geared DFIGs appear to be lightest; conventional synchronous
generators are the heaviest and the mostly costly machines.
In addition, a performance comparison of different wind turbine generators is summarized in Table 2.

Parameter

Air-gap diameter (m)

Stack length (m)

Iron weight (ton)

Copper weight (ton)

PM weight (ton)

Generator active material cost (kEuro)

Gearbox cost (kEuro)

Converter cost (kEuro)

Generator construction cost (kEuro)

Total generator system cost (kEuro)

 Annual electricity yield (MWh)

Yield/total cost (kWh/Euro)

TABLE 1.
Quantitative comparison of three major wind turbine generators [38; 30].

Performance DC
indicator generators

Speed variable

Power supply directly to

Voltage fluctuation high

Converter scale 100%

Controllability poor

Active-reactive power control no

Grid-support capability low

Efficiency low

Reliability poor

Fault response slow

Cost low

Mass saving low

Suitability low power

TABLE 2.
Overall performance comparison of different wind turbine generators (partially, 3; 20).

6. Conclusions
Wind energy has attracted much attention from research and industrial communities. One of growth areas is
thought to be in the offshore wind turbine market. The ongoing effort to develop advanced wind turbine
generator technologies has already led to increased production, reliability, maintainability and cost-
effectiveness. At this stage, the doubly-fed induction generator technology (equipped with fault-ride-through
capacity) will continue to be prevalent in medium and large wind turbines while permanent magnet generators
may be competitive in small wind turbines. Other types of wind turbine generators have started to penetrate
into the wind markets to a differing degree. The analysis suggests a trend moving from fixed-speed, geared and
brushed generators towards variable-speed, gearless and brushless generator technologies while still reducing
system weight, cost and failure rates.

This paper has provided an overview of different wind turbine generators including DC, synchronous and
asynchronous wind turbine generators with a comparison of their relative merits and disadvantages. More in-
depth analysis should be carried out in the design, control and operation of the wind turbines primarily using
numerical, analytical and experimental methods if wind turbine generators are to be further improved. Despite
continued research and development effort, however, there are still numerous technological, environmental and
economic challenges in the wind power systems.

In summary, there may not exist the best wind turbine generator technology to tick all the boxes. The choice of
complex wind turbine systems is largely dictated by the capital and operational costs because the wind market
is fundamentally cost-sensitive. In essence, the decision is always down to a comparison of the material costs
between rare-earth permanent magnets, superconductors, copper, steel or other active materials, which may
vary remarkably from time to time.

7. Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful discussions with Prof G. Asher of Nottingham University and
Prof B. Mecrow of Newcastle University, UK.
March 13, 2009

Counter-Weighted HAWT
Filed under: Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) Tags: Very Large Wind Turbine, Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind
Turbine, Wind Turbine Scalability, Wind Turbine Scalable Tower, Wind Turbine Tower Salient White Elephant @ 11:42 am

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most effective. Whats wrong with a turbine that has guy wires
that attach to the top of the tower and a counter-weighted nacelle?

One advantage of a three bladed rotor is that it is much quieter than a two bladed rotor. This is true
because a three bladed rotor rotates more slowly than a two bladed rotor. But maybe a four bladed
rotor could turn more slowly still, and maybe it would be even quieter. We can achieve this with
counter-balanced counter-rotating two bladed rotors:
 One advantage of this last machine is that the downwind rotor can extract some of the rotational
energy that the upwind rotor supplied to the streamtube. It may also be possible for one wind rotor to
turn the generator rotor, while the other turns the generator stator in the opposite direction. This
doubles the effective generator rpm.

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Tilted Darrieus
Filed under: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) Tags: Darrieus Rotor, Darrieus Wind Turbine Salient White Elephant @
9:06 am

Guy wires are eliminated by tilting the tower into the wind. The tilt angle is a function of thrust gravity
and thrust vectors combine to produce a net compressive force on the tower:
 To simplify the drawing, the diagram shows only two blades. In reality the machine would have three
blades. Three bladed Darrieus rotors provide nearly constant torque. This allows the tilt direction and
angle to be adjusted to an appropriate value for a given wind speed. (If only two blades were used, the
force on the tower that tries to bend the top in the downwind direction would fluctuate a great deal.)

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Teetering Darrieus de Saint Louis

Filed under: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) Tags: Darrieus Rotor, Darrieus Wind Turbine, VAWT, Vertical Axis Wind
Turbine, Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind Turbine Salient White Elephant @ 8:16 am
 To simplify the drawing, the diagram shows only two blades. In reality the machine would have three
blades. Three bladed Darrieus rotors provide nearly constant torque. Using three blades makes the
bending force on the rotating tube nearly constant.

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Imperial Crown Darrieus

Filed under: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) Tags: Darrieus Rotor, Darrieus Wind Turbine, VAWT, Vertical Axis Wind
Turbine, Very Large Wind Turbine, Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind Turbine, Wind Turbine Scalability, Wind Turbine Scalable
Tower, Wind Turbine Tower Salient White Elephant @ 7:42 am
 Leave a Comment

March 12, 2009

Extremely Large Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine With Three

Rotors and Three Towers
Filed under: Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) Tags: Very Large Wind Turbine, Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind
Turbine, Wind Turbine Scalability, Wind Turbine Scalable Tower, Wind Turbine Tower Salient White Elephant @ 8:57 pm

This post describes an idea for an extremely large Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine. The turbine has three
towers and three rotors. This idea is similar to the Radially Displaced Darrieus Rotor. (You might want to
read that post first.)

This turbine has the same three lattice towers as the Radially Displaced Darrieus Rotor, and it also has
a ring on top that can rotate about the center of the structure. In addition to this structure, put a long
horizontal tube on top of the ring, and mount three horizontal axis rotors on the tube:
 Now if the three nacelles and their rotors are instead suspended from the horizontal tube on three short
vertical tubes, then the force of gravity keeps the rotor disks vertical. If desired, the short vertical tube
from which a nacelle and its rotor is suspended may rotate somewhat about the supporting horizontal
tube above. This provides a teetering action that helps make to mitigate the fluctuating loads
associated with wind gusts.

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Radially Displaced Darrieus Rotor

Filed under: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) Tags: Darrieus Rotor, Darrieus Wind Turbine, VAWT, Vertical Axis Wind
Turbine, Very Large Wind Turbine, Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind Turbine, Wind Turbine Scalability, Wind Turbine Scalable
Tower, Wind Turbine Tower Salient White Elephant @ 8:37 pm

This post describes an idea for an extremely large Darrieus Wind Turbine.

Imagine a lattice tower supported by two guy wires:

Now add two more towers, each supported by two guy wires:

Now connect the tops of the towers with I-beams:

Now put a ring on top that can rotate with respect to the towers:
Connect the ring to a vertical torque tube that is centered about the axis of rotation:

Now put a rotating ring near the bottom and add a couple of Darrieus blades:

The following diagram gives the general idea for synchronizing the rotating rings:
 Heres another way to synchronize the rings:

Actually, I wonder if the gearbox would even be necessary in the above diagram. If the radius of the
rings is large enough, then perhaps this could be a direct drive machine.

The diagrams above depict a two bladed Darrieus. A better design would have three blades in order to
provide a relatively smooth power output.

Exceeding the Betz Limit

One of the disadvantages of a Darrieus turbine is that it typically extracts less energy from the wind
than a horizontal axis turbine with the same swept area. However, consider a radially displaced
 Darrieus rotor with an extremely large radial displacement (i.e., the diameter of the rotating rings is
very large). In this case the de-energized air will be re-energized by the time it reaches the downwind
blade. Horizontal axis wind turbines are typically spaced two or three rotor diameters apart in order to
allow the wind to be re-energized as it travels from one turbine to the next. If we make the radial
displacement of the radially displaced Darrieus rotor blades equal to this distance, then this should be
sufficient for allowing the wind to be re-energized as it travels from the upwind blade to the downwind
blade. In this case, the Betz limit says that we should be able to extract a maximum of 2 x 60% = 120%
of the winds kinetic energy. For this reason, a radially displaced Darrieus rotor should realize a much
higher efficiency than a horizontal axis turbine with the same swept area.

Comments (2)

Helically Stacked Darrieus or Savonius Rotor

Filed under: Helical Rotor, Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT), Wind Turbine Tags: Darrieus Rotor, Darrieus Wind
Turbine, Helical Rotor, VAWT, Vertical Axis Wind Turbine, Very Large Wind Turbine, Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind
Turbine, Wind Turbine Scalability, Wind Turbine Scalable Tower, Wind Turbine Tower Salient White Elephant @ 1:23 pm

Darrieus Turbines have a number of well know advantages. The generator and gearbox are located at or
near to ground level, the turbine doesnt require yaw angle regulation, blade loads are largely tensile,
and so forth. One well known disadvantage is that the power output fluctuates from about 100% to zero
at the rate of twice per revolution of the rotor.

One way around this problem is to twist the two blades into a helical shape. This very cool idea was
patented in 2001 by Professor Alexander M. Gorlov of the Northeastern University. (See Gorlov Helical
Turbine on Wikipedia.)

Unfortunately, this approach is not very effective for utility scale wind turbines. The problem is that
although the helical blades smooth the power output, the mechanical loads that the blades and tower
components must support are very large.

The Helically Stacked Darrieus Rotor

The power smoothing characteristic of the Helical Rotor may be closely approximated by stacking
traditional two bladed Darrieus rotors one on top of another in helical fashion:
 This combines the power smoothing advantages of the helical rotor with the favorable mechanical
properties of the traditional Darrieus machine. (For simplicity, only two guy wires are shown in the
above diagram. In reality, at least three guy wires are required.)

Multi-Level Guy Wires

One potential advantage of stacking rotors is that guy wires may attach to the tower between levels:
 Another option increases the diameter of the stacked rotors for the lower levels. This is possible
because the guy wires on the lower levels are closer to horizontal.

Three Bladed Darrieus

It would seem that adding more and more blades to a Darrieus rotor would make its power output
smoother and smoother. This intuitive idea is a little misleading. In some cases, mother nature has
endowed the number three with magical properties. For example, while single phase and two phase
electrical circuits deliver fluctuating power, the output power of a three phase circuit is constant it
doesnt fluctuate at all. This same effect renders the output of a three bladed Darrieus
rotor nearly constant. Why nearly and not perfectly constant? Actually, I dont know, but I suspect it is
because wind must fan out as it flows through a turbine rotor:
Why does the wind fan out like this? Because slower moving wind requires a larger cross-sectional area
in order to maintain the same volume rate of flow as the faster moving wind that approaches the rotor.
This is closely related to the Betz Limit the law that says that a turbine rotor cannot extract more than
16/27 = 59.3% of the kinetic energy in the wind. (See Betz Law in Wikipedia.)

Once upon a time, a company called Flowind built and tested a three bladed Darrieus turbine. I heard
that the torque ripple at the gearbox for this machine was only 15%.

One disadvantage of the helically stacked Darrieus rotor is that various levels of the tower tube are
torqued by the blades at different rotational angles. For this reason, it may be desirable to provide each
level with three blades rather than two. These three bladed levels may still be rotated with respect to
their upstairs and downstairs neighbors in order to further smooth power output in the manner of a
helical rotor. We can also make more efficient use of the space between the guy wires by letting the
rotors overlap (vertically) somewhat with their upstairs and downstairs neighbors. The following
diagram gives a general idea of what I am talking about.
Helically Stacked Savonius Rotor

Just as you can smooth power by stacking Darrieus rotors in a helical fashion, you can also smooth
power by stacking Savonius rotors in a helical fashion. Not only does this smooth output power, it also
makes the machine much easier to manufacture. Savonius rotors have been built with their vanes
twisted into a helical shape. I dont know much about aerodynamics, but I suspect that a helical
Savonius might not be such a good idea. My suspicion stems from noting that the helical Savonius
shape tends to deflect wind in a partially vertical direction. Any vertical kinetic energy that remains in
the wind after it leaves the region occupied by the rotor is kinetic energy that was not converted into
electricity, and it would seem that this energy represents an innefficiency of the helical Savonius
design. No worries we can get the same power smoothing effect by stacking traditional Savonius
rotors one on top of another in helical fashion. Flat disks are placed between each Savonius rotor and
its upstairs and downstairs neighbor rotors. The disks aerodynamically isolate each rotor from its
neighbors.

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Precision Wind Turbine Yaw Sensor

Filed under: Wind Turbine Auxilliary Devices Tags: Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind Turbine, Wind Turbine Yaw
Control, Wind Turbine Yaw System Salient White Elephant @ 12:23 pm

The following diagrams show the relationship between the tower shadow and the rotational angle of the
rotor:
Tower shadow is detected by monitoring the instantaneous power produced by the turbine. Tower
shadow produces a very short negative spike (drop) in the turbines power output. If this negative spike
is sharp (very short in duration), and if it occurs when one blade passes the 6 oclock position, then the
turbine is correctly yawed. If the spike occurs too early or too late, then the turbine is not correctly
 aligned with wind direction. The lower diagram above shows that when the yaw angle is not correct, the
tower shadow for the blade root occurs at a different time than the tower shadow of the blade tip. In
this case the duration of the tower shadow increases. Furthermore, since the blade tip is generating
torque when the root is in the shadow, and since the root is generating torque when the tip is in the
shadow, the magnitude of the negative spike in power should decrease. So the controller knows that
the turbine is misaligned whenever:

the duration of the tower shadow is increased,

the magnitude of the negative spike in power is reduced, and
the tower shadow occurs earlier or later than 6 oclock.

In designing the yaw angle control system, the traditional vane sensor might provide an estimated
value for yaw angle while the precision yaw angle sensor provides for fine tuning this value.

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March 7, 2009

Wind Turbine Tower Ideas

Filed under: Wind Turbine Tower Tags: Very Large Wind Turbine, Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind Turbine, Wind Turbine
Scalability, Wind Turbine Scalable Tower, Wind Turbine Tower Salient White Elephant @ 2:26 pm

In this blog post, I will present three simple ideas for reducing the cost and weight of a horizontal axis
wind turbine tower. The first idea is to add a streamlined shroud for the tower:
 The next idea is more of a question really why cant guy wires go inside of the tower?

The last idea is also very simple if people think lattice towers are ugly, then why not make them look
like a tubular tower? One way of doing this is to put a lattice tower inside of a thin-walled, light-weight
tubular tower. Another is to cover the lattice with a pourus fabric. This would make the tower look solid,
while reducing drag by allowing some wind to penetrate the fabric. And finally, why not cover a lattice
tower with slats that can open up like venetian blinds to reduce drag during storm winds:

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March 2, 2009
Wind Turbine Flow Accelerator for Downwind Rotor
Filed under: Wind Turbine Auxilliary Devices Tags: Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind Turbine, Wind Turbine Airfoil, Wind
Turbine Blade Salient White Elephant @ 10:46 am

The shroud and the cone are connected. They form a teardrop shaped unit called the flow
accelerator. The accelerator is supported by rods that are not seen in the diagram because they are
inside the accelerator. These supporting rods are connected to the extended rotor shaft in a way that
allows the accelerator to rotate about the extended rotor shaft. This allows the rotor to turn while the
accelerator remains more or less stationary. Wind accelerates as it veers to avoid the flow accelerator.
This causes the wind that passes through the outer portions of the rotor blades (the portions furthest
from the rotor shaft) to be traveling faster than it would have been traveling had the accelerator not
been present. In this way, the accelerator prevents air from escaping through the aerodynamic
doughnut hole in the center of the rotor, and directs it instead to the outer sections of the blades
where its energy can be extracted. The flow accelerator must be carefully designed not to produce
turbulence. This is so because turbulence can rob the rotor of some of its energy harvesting
capabilities.

The size of the annular airfoil like ring is exaggerated in the diagram above. A practical design will
minimize the size of this component, and will maximize the size of the windsock. This allows the sock to
open up so that it has a near zero drag profile when the turbine is shut down for high wind conditions.

The flow accelerator might be a good combination with a rotor that has variable length blades. As the
blades are extended to sweep more area, the section near the hub where there is no root will be in front
of the flow accelerator, so it wont matter that theres no root section there.

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Highly Scalable Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
Filed under: Wind Turbine Tags: Direct Drive Wind Turbine, semi-direct drive wind turbine, Very Large Wind
Turbine, Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind Turbine, Wind Turbine Drive, Wind Turbine Gearbox, Wind Turbine
Scalability, Wind Turbine Scalable Tower, Wind Turbine Tower Salient White Elephant @ 4:22 am
The Highly Scalable Wind Turbine is remarkable in that guy wires assist in supporting all of the large
tower loads that are carried by the machine. These loads include:

overturning moment on central (vertical) tower tube (due to thrust of operating rotors or drag during
storm winds),
moment that tends to bend the ends of the upper (nearly horizontal) tube in the downwind direction
(due to thrust of operating rotors or drag during storm winds), and
moment that tends to bend the ends of the upper tube down towards the ground (due weight of
nacelles and blades).

Note that the configuration of the Highly Scalable Wind Turbine allows guy wires to attach to the tubes
they support at any desired location along the tubes longitudinal dimension, including at the
very end of the tube. This feature facilitates the design of a very large turbine that does not require a
correspondingly massive tower. It also permits the use of very high towers on sites that have favorable
wind shear.
 The top tower tube is just long enough to allow the rotors to clear the guy wires that support the central
tower tube. Tubes or lattice structures may be substituted for guy wires if greater control over tower
resonance is required, or if an upwind design is selected.

Note that the nacelles do not rotate with respect to the top tower tube. Instead, the nacelles and the
top tube rotate as a unit about the central vertical tube in order to regulate yaw angle. The top tube is
bent in order to lower the center of gravity. This way, the upper structure will naturally want to correct
any tendency for one rotor to dip lower while the other rises up. In fact, it may even be desirable to
allow limited motion in this direction so that the structure doesnt have to bear the associated load. (Of
course, using a bent tube in the upper structure rather than a straight tube also results in a tendency
for the rotors to rock out of the page in the upwind view above.)

Although the machine in the diagrams has two-bladed downwind rotors, it is readily apparent that this
configuration would be equally effective with upwind or downwind rotors, regardless of how many
blades they have. (Some guy wires will be replaced with tubes or lattice structures if an upwind design
is selected.)

Teetering to Shed Loads

The Highly Scalable Wind Turbine has a remarkable ability to yield in response to sudden changes in
loads. If a wind gust hits one of the rotors but not the other, the machine will compensate by yawing. If
two bladed, downwind, teetering rotors are used, then each rotor can teeter in response to variations in
the wind that flows through its rotor disk. In selecting turbine configuration options, one must
remember that providing more degrees of freedom will render the machine more difficult to understand
and model, and may also lead to instabilities.

It may be useful to explore the option of letting the upper structure teeter about both of the axes that
are orthogonal to the yaw axis. In this case, the upper structure balances on top of the vertical tube.

Tilt Down Option

The highly scalable turbine has yet another extraordinary feature it is naturally counter-balanced! This
means that a tilt-down version may be designed without adding expensive, heavy components. Both
nacelles and rotors may be serviced at ground level, or at least near to ground level.
Heres a folding tilt-down version:
 I guess this is getting pretty outrageous, but imagine the controller folds the turbine not only to
facilitate service and repair, but also in response to storm winds! The procedure might go something
like this:

1. Both rotors are feathered,

2. the brakes lock both rotors at appropriate angles,
3. the machine is yawed to an appropriate angle, and finally
4. the upper structure is folded as depicted above.

Might the controller do all this without human intervention? Seems pretty far out, but if this can be
achieved, what a fantastic high-wind drag profile!

Another high wind shutdown option would simply have one rotor produce (say) 50% power while the
other rotor produces only (say) 20% power. In this case, the rotor operating at 50% capacity would be
dragged to the most downwind location, and the machine would maintain this somewhat low drag
profile throughout the storm. This action is reminiscent of the way some small HAWTs turn their rotors
to the side in high winds. It offers the advantage of quickly and continuously yawing in response to
changes in the direction of the storm wind.

Advantages of the Highly Scalable Design

I am hypothesizing that the scalable design presented here is superior for several reasons. The tower of
the traditional horizontal axis turbine must support the total aerodynamic drag on the rotor and nacelle
during storm wind conditions. Since this force is applied with a lever arm equal to the height of the
nacelle, the tower must be large, heavy, difficult to transport, difficult to erect, and it must be
expensive. The vertical tube of the scalable machine is strengthened by guy wires, allowing it to be
lighter, more manageable, and less costly. The penalty is the addition of another tube (the upper
structure tube) that must support the weight of the rotors and nacelles. But this force is applied with a
lever arm only slightly longer than the length of the rotor blades, and there are guy wires above the
tube to help carry this load. Making the worst case assumption that the scalable turbine is not folded or
tilted down, and that its upper structure tube is at a right angle to the direction of the wind, then the
scalable turbines upper structure tube must support the same storm wind aerodynamic drag as the
one supported by a traditional turbine. But again, the lever arm is only slightly longer than the blade
length, and there are guy wires on the upwind side of this tube to help. There are also guy wires on the
upwind side of the vertical tube to help carry this load, and these guy wires may attach to any place on
the vertical tube, even at the very top of the tube!

In the early 1990s, Carter Wind Turbines, Inc. developed a downwind, tilt-down, two bladed 300 kW
turbine. This machine was considerably lighter and more flexible than the more common upwind, three
bladed turbine. The lightweight, small diameter tower was possible because it had guy wires. It is
important to realize that this tower was strong enough to:

withstand storm wind aerodynamic drag loads applied with a lever arm equal in length to the height
of the nacelle, and
support the weight of the nacelle and rotor (applied with the same lever arm) when the tower was in
a nearly horizontal position. (This would be the case when tilting the machine down.)
 If the provision of guy wires can make the lighter, less costly Carter design feasible, then it can make
the lighter, less costly scalable design feasible as well. This is so because the scalable turbine must
support exactly the same loads. In fact, the lever arm for the scalable turbine load is likely to be shorter
than than the lever arm for the load on a traditional machine. Furthermore, it is very important to
realize that the Carter machine achieved all this with guy wires that could reach no higher than the
height of the tip of a blade in the 6 oclock position. The scalable design enjoys the luxury
of guy wires that can attach to its tubes at any desired longitudinal position.

Now that utility scale turbines have reached a size of two or three megawatts, transportation of turbine
components and construction of the turbine have become very significant cost and technology issues. A
turbines maximum size may be influenced by some combination of the following factors:

cost of transportation,
feasibility of transporting the turbines largest components to the wind farm site,
cost of construction,
maximum weight that can be lifted by a crane,
maximum height that can be reached by a crane,
cost of the crane.

The industry is attempting to design larger and larger wind turbines because increasing scale
potentially lowers the cost of energy. However, the benefits of scale may be eroded by any or all of
these factors. The highly scalable turbine proposes to solve this problem by reducing the size and
weight of tower components, and by facilitating the design of a tilt-down machine. The tilt-down design
allows tower top components to be assembled either on the ground, or at least at a much reduced
elevation. Furthermore, since the scalable turbine has two rotors rather than one, it provides twice the
power of the traditional horizontal axis machine for a given blade length. Of course, it also has two
rotors, two gearboxes, and two generators. But it has only one yaw drive, transformer, and foundation.
And finally, it makes more efficient use of tower resources. You can see this by noting that the scalable
turbine extracts twice the benefit from every extra meter that is added to the height of the vertical
tube.

Yaw Drive

If the pitch of the rotor blades is variable, then the machine is easily yawed as follows:
 If a rotor is feathered, the machine will yaw in the direction that will move the feathered rotor in the
upwind direction.
If a rotor is stalled, the machine will yaw in the direction that will move the stalled rotor in the
upwind direction.

If the pitch of the rotor blades is fixed, then equipping each blade with a spoiler will allow the machine
to be yawed in a manner similar to that just described. That is, if the spoilers on the blades of one of
the rotors are deployed, then the machine will yaw so as to move the rotor with active spoilers in the
upwind direction.

Another yaw drive option would employ a tail fin. The highly scalable turbine configuration certainly has
plenty of room for a yaw fin. The yaw fin may be mounted on a supporting tube that extends in the
downwind direction from the vertex of the bent tube in the upper structure.

Yet another possibility would use a yaw rotor that is similar to a helicopter tail rotor. Like the tail fin, the
yaw rotor would be suspended in a position downwind from the vertex of the bent tube. It would rotate
about a horizontal axis that is parallel to the plane of the upwind view in the first diagram. The yaw
rotor has symmetrical airfoils with zero pitch (i.e., the airfoils are symmetrical about the plane of
rotation). Such a rotor will generate a strong correcting yaw moment whenever the yaw angle deviates
even slightly from its correct value. If the yaw rotor airfoils have variable pitch, then the turbine can be
yawed even when theres no wind. This may be useful for untwisting the power cables, and for
adjusting the yaw angle to a value that is appropriate for tilting the machine down.

Untwisting Power Cables

One final yaw drive strategy that might be effective for untwisting power cables would use one of the
rotors as a propeller. Suppose theres no wind. One of the generators drives its rotor like a propeller,
yawing the upper structure until the power cables have been untwisted. If the machine does not have
any other active yaw drive system, then this same trick may be used to adjust the yaw angle to a value
that is appropriate for folding or tilting the machine down.

Synchronized Drive Variation

Since the rotational axes of both rotors are parallel, I wonder if they could by synchronized with a
sprocket and chain drive (kind of like the drive on a bicycle). In this case, both rotors could drive a
single generator that is situated somewhere near the top of the vertical tube. This has the added
advantage of reducing the amount of weight that the upper structure tube must support, and it would
probably also stabilize the upper structure somewhat, reducing any tendency to tilt from side to side. In
fact, maybe the generator could be lowered somewhat in order to further lower the center of gravity of
the upper structure.

Semi-Direct Drive Option

The following semi-direct drive option is possible because the nacelle is fixed with respect to its
supporting tube. This design eliminates the gearbox.
Or the streamlined ring can be pinched between two tires:
 Leave a Comment

March 1, 2009

Teetering Tower Wind Turbine

Filed under: Wind Turbine Tags: Very Large Wind Turbine, Wind Energy, Wind Power, Wind Turbine, Wind Turbine
Scalability, Wind Turbine Scalable Tower, Wind Turbine Tower Salient White Elephant @ 3:57 am

This blog post elaborates on the earlier posts Scalable Tower for Very Large Wind Turbine, and Turbine
de Saint Louis.
 For simplicity, the tower in the diagram has only two legs (an actual tower would have at least three).
The nacelles do not rotate with respect to the vertical part of the tower that supports them. Instead,
both nacelles, the vertical part of the tower, the teetering axis, and the teetering mechanism all yaw
together as a unit.

Counter-Rotating Direct Drive Version

In this version, the wind rotors are counter-rotating. The generator is located in the lower nacelle. The
energy generated by the upper wind rotor is mechanically transmitted to the lower nacelle. One wind
rotor drives the generator rotor, and the other wind rotor drives the generator stator in the opposite
direction. This doubles the effective generator rpm, and thus may eliminate the gearbox. Furthermore,
decreasing the weight of the upper nacelle while increasing the weight of the lower nacelle may
increase the stability of the teetering action.
Heres a variation that allows both the rotors and the tower to teeter:
A tail fin may be added to help yaw the machine. (For explanation of tail fin, Scalable Tower for Very
Large Wind Turbine.)

Heres another variation:

 Variable speed wind turbine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Original models of wind turbines were fixed speed turbines; that is, the rotor speed was a constant
for all wind speeds. The tip-speed ratio for a wind turbine is given by the following formula:

where is the rotor speed (in radians per second), is the length of a blade, and is the wind speed.
That is to say, for a fixed-speed wind turbine, the value of the tip-speed ratio is only changed by wind
speed variations. In reference to a - graph, which illustrates the relationship between Tip-speed
ratio and efficiency, it is evident that only one value of yields the highest efficiency. That is, the fixed
speed wind turbine is not operating at peak efficiency across a range of wind speeds. This was a
motivator for the development of variable speed wind turbines.

Contents

[hide]

1Background

o 1.1Cp- curves

o 1.2Torque Rotor-speed diagrams

1.2.1Notes

2Blade forces

3Operating strategies for variable speed wind turbines

o 3.1Stall regulated

3.1.1Below rated power

3.1.2Rated power and above

o 3.2Pitch regulated

3.2.1Below rated power

3.2.2Above rated power

4Gearboxes

5Generators
 o 5.1Grid Connections

5.1.1Power converters

6References

Background[edit]
All wind turbines that generated electricity were variable speed before 1939. [1]

All grid-connected wind turbines, from the first one in 1939 until the development of variable-speed
grid-connected wind turbines in the 1970s, were fixed-speed wind turbines. As of 2003, nearly all
grid-connected wind turbines operate at exactly constant speed (synchronous generators) or within a
few percent of constant speed (induction generators). [1]

Cp- curves[edit]

Below is an illustration of the curve for a typical wind turbine.

Maximum efficiency occurs at one tip-speed ratio only. Since tip-speed ratio is given by the
aforementioned expression, variable speed wind turbines can operate at maximum efficiency over all
wind speeds (ideally).

Torque Rotor-speed diagrams[edit]

For a wind turbine, the power harvested is given by the following formula:

where is the power, is the density of the air, is the length of the blade, is the velocity of the wind,
and is the power co-efficient for the wind turbine. The power co-efficient is a representation of how
much of the available power in the wind is captured by the wind turbine.
The torque, , on the blades is given by the ratio of the power extracted to the rotor speed, :

The rotor speed can be related to the wind speed, , through the tip-speed ratio, :

Thus we can get the following expressions for torque and power:

and

From the above equation, we can construct a torque- rotor speed diagram for a wind turbine. This
consists of multiple curves: a constant power curve which plots the relationship between torque and
rotor speed for constant power (green curve); constant wind speed curves, which plot the
relationship between torque and rotor speed for constant wind speeds (dashed grey curves); and
constant efficiency curves, which plot the relationship between torque and rotor speed for constant
efficiencies, .[2] This diagram is presented below:

Notes[edit]

Green curve: Plot of power = rated power

Grey curve: Wind speed, , is held constant

Blue curve: Constant

Blade forces[edit]
For further details, see Blade Element Momentum Theory

Consider the following figure:

This is the depiction of the apparent wind speed, as seen by a blade (left of figure). The apparent
wind speed is influenced by both the free-stream velocity of the air, and the rotor speed. From this
figure, we can see that both the angle and the apparent wind speed are functions of the rotor
speed, . By extension, the lift and drag forces will also be functions of . This means that the axial and
tangential forces that act on the blade vary with rotor speed. The force in the axial direction is given
by the following formula:

Operating strategies for variable speed wind turbines[edit]

Stall regulated[edit]

As discussed earlier, a wind turbine would ideally operate at its maximum efficiency for below rated
power. Once rated power has been hit, the power is limited. This is for two reasons: ratings on the
drivetrain equipment, such as the generator; and second to reduce the loads on the blades. An
operating strategy for a wind turbine can thus be divided into a sub-rated-power component, and a
rated-power component.

Below rated power[edit]

Below rated power, the wind turbine will ideally operate in such a way that . On a Torque-rotor speed
diagram, this looks as follows:
where the black line represents the initial section of the operating strategy for a variable speed stall-
regulated wind turbine. Ideally, we would want to stay on the maximum efficiency curve until rated
power is hit. However, as the rotor speed increases, the noise levels increase. To counter this, the
rotor speed is not allowed to increase above a certain value. This is illustrated in the figure below:

Rated power and above[edit]

Once the wind speed has reached a certain level, called rated wind speed, the turbine should not be
able to produce any greater levels of power for higher wind speeds. A stall-regulated variable speed
wind turbine has no pitching mechanism. However, the rotor speed is variable. The rotor speed can
either be increased or decreased by an appropriately designed controller. In reference to the figure
illustrated in the blade forces section, it is evident that the angle between the apparent wind speed
and the plane of rotation is dependent upon the rotor speed. This angle is termed the angle of
attack.

The lift and drag co-efficients for an airfoil are related to the angle of attack. Specifically, for high
angles of attack, an airfoil stalls. That is, the drag substantially increases. The lift and drag forces
influence the power production of a wind turbine. This can be seen from an analysis of the forces
acting on a blade as air interacts with the blade (see the following link). Thus, forcing the airfoil to
stall can result in power limiting.

So it can be established that if the angle of attack needs to be increased to limit the power
production of the wind turbine, the rotor speed must be reduced. Again, this can be seen from the
figure in the blade forces section. It can also be seen from considering the torque-rotor speed
diagram. In reference to the above torque-rotor speed diagram, by reducing the rotor speed at high
wind speeds, the turbine enters the stall region, thus bringing some limiting to the power output.

Pitch regulated[edit]

Pitch regulation thus allows the wind turbine to actively change the angle of attack of the air on the
blades. This is preferred over a stall-regulated wind turbine as it enables far greater control of the
power output.

Below rated power[edit]

Identical to the stall-regulated variable-speed wind turbine, the initial operating strategy is to operate
on the curve. However, due to constraints such as noise levels, this is not possible for the full range
of sub-rated wind speeds. Below the rated wind speed, the following operating strategy is employed:
Above rated power[edit]

Above the rated wind speed, the pitching mechanism is employed. This allows a good level of
control over the angle of attack, thus control over the torque. The previous torque rotor-speed
diagrams are all plots when the pitch angle, , is zero. A three dimensional plot can be produced
which includes variations in pitch angle.

Ultimately, in the 2D plot, above rated wind speed, the turbine will operate at the point marked 'x' on
the diagram below.
Gearboxes[edit]
A variable speed may or may not have a gearbox, depending on the manufacturer's desires. Wind
turbines without gearboxes are called direct-drive wind turbines. An advantage of a gearbox is that
generators are typically designed to have the rotor rotating at a high speed within the stator. Direct
drive wind turbines do not exhibit this feature. A disadvantage of a gearbox is reliability and failure
rates.[3]

An example of a wind turbine without a gearbox is the Enercon E82. [4]

Generators[edit]
For variable speed wind turbines, one of two types of generators can be used: a DFIG (doubly fed
induction generator) or an FRC (fully rated converter).

A DFIG generator draws reactive power from the transmission system; this can increase the
vulnerability of a transmission system in the event of a failure. A DFIG configuration will require the
generator to be a wound rotor;[5] squirrel cage rotors cannot be used for such a configuration.

A fully rated converter can either be an induction generator or a permanent magnet generator. Unlike
the DFIG, the FRC can employ a squirrel cage rotor in the generator; an example of this is the
Siemens SWT 3.6-107, which is termed the industry workhorse. [6] An example of a permanent
magnet generator is the Siemens SWT-2.3-113.[7] A disadvantage of a permanent magnet generator
is the cost of materials that need to be included.[8]

Grid Connections[edit]

Consider a variable speed wind turbine with a permanent magnet synchronous generator. The
generator produces AC electricity. The frequency of the AC voltage generated by the wind turbine is
a function of the speed of the rotor within the generator:

where is the rotor speed, is the number of poles in the generator, and is the frequency of the
output Voltage. That is, as the wind speed varies, the rotor speed varies, and so the frequency of the
Voltage varies. This form of electricity cannot be directly connected to a transmission system.
Instead, it must be corrected such that its frequency is constant. For this, power converters are
employed, which results in the de-coupling of the wind turbine from the transmission system. As
more wind turbines are included in a national power system, the inertia is decreased. This means
that the frequency of the transmission system is more strongly affected by the loss of a single
generating unit.

Power converters[edit]

As already mentioned, the voltage generated by a variable speed wind turbine is non-grid compliant.
In order to supply the transmission network with power from these turbines, the signal must be
passed through a power converter, which ensures that the frequency of the voltage of the electricity
being generated by the wind turbine is the frequency of the transmission system when it is
transferred onto the transmission system. Power converters first convert the signal to DC, and then
convert the DC signal to an AC signal. Techniques used include pulse width modulation.
Gas turbine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Microturbine" redirects here. For turbines in electricity, see Wind turbine. For turbines in general,
see Turbine.

Examples of gas turbine configurations: (1) turbojet, (2) turboprop, (3) turboshaft (electric generator), (4) high-
bypass turbofan, (5) low-bypass afterburning turbofan

A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an
upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber or area,
called a combustor, in between.

The basic operation of the gas turbine is similar to that of the steam power plant except that
the working fluid is air instead of water. Fresh atmospheric air flows through a compressor that
brings it to higher pressure. Energy is then added by spraying fuel into the air and igniting it so the
combustion generates a high-temperature flow. This high-temperature high-pressure gas enters a
turbine, where it expands down to the exhaust pressure, producing a shaft work output in the
process. The turbine shaft work is used to drive the compressor and other devices such as
an electric generator that may be coupled to the shaft. The energy that is not used for shaft work
comes out in the exhaust gases, so these have either a high temperature or a high velocity. The
purpose of the gas turbine determines the design so that the most desirable energy form is
maximized. Gas turbines are used to power aircraft, trains, ships, electrical generators, pumps, gas
compressors and tanks.[1]

Theory of operation[edit]

In an ideal gas turbine, gases undergo four thermodynamic processes: an isentropic compression,
an isobaric (constant pressure) combustion, an isentropic expansion and heat rejection. Together,
these make up the Brayton cycle.

Brayton cycle

In a real gas turbine, mechanical energy is changed irreversibly (due to internal friction and
turbulence) into pressure and thermal energy when the gas is compressed (in either a centrifugal or
axial compressor). Heat is added in the combustion chamber and the specific volume of the gas
increases, accompanied by a slight loss in pressure. During expansion through the stator and rotor
passages in the turbine, irreversible energy transformation once again occurs. Fresh air is taken in,
in place of the heat rejection.

If the engine has a power turbine added to drive an industrial generator or a helicopter rotor, the exit
pressure will be as close to the entry pressure as possible with only enough energy left to overcome
the pressure losses in the exhaust ducting and expel the exhaust. For a turboprop engine there will
be a particular balance between propeller power and jet thrust which gives the most economical
operation. In a jet engine only enough pressure and energy is extracted from the flow to drive the
compressor and other components. The remaining high-pressure gases are accelerated to provide a
jet to propel an aircraft.

The smaller the engine, the higher the rotation rate of the shaft(s) must be to attain the required
blade tip speed. Blade-tip speed determines the maximum pressure ratios that can be obtained by
the turbine and the compressor. This, in turn, limits the maximum power and efficiency that can be
obtained by the engine. In order for tip speed to remain constant, if the diameter of a rotor is reduced
by half, the rotational speed must double. For example, large jet engines operate around 10,000
rpm, while micro turbines spin as fast as 500,000 rpm.[22]

Mechanically, gas turbines can be considerably less complex than internal combustion piston
engines. Simple turbines might have one main moving part, the compressor/shaft/turbine rotor
assembly (see image above), with other moving parts in the fuel system. However, the precision
manufacture required for components and the temperature resistant alloys necessary for high
efficiency often make the construction of a simple gas turbine more complicated than a piston
engine.

More advanced gas turbines (such as those found in modern jet engines) may have 2 or 3 shafts
(spools), hundreds of compressor and turbine blades, movable stator blades, and extensive external
tubing for fuel, oil and air systems.

Thrust bearings and journal bearings are a critical part of design. They are hydrodynamic oil
bearings or oil-cooled rolling-element bearings. Foil bearings are used in some small machines such
as micro turbines[23] and also have strong potential for use in small gas turbines/auxiliary power units.
[24]

Creep[edit]
A major challenge facing turbine design is reducing the creep that is induced by the high
temperatures. Because of the stresses of operation, turbine materials become damaged through
these mechanisms. As temperatures are increased in an effort to improve turbine efficiency, creep
becomes more significant. To limit creep, thermal coatings and superalloys with solid-solution
strengthening and grain boundary strengthening are used in blade designs. Protective coatings are
used to reduce the thermal damage and to limit oxidation. These coatings are often
stabilized zirconium dioxide-based ceramics. Using a thermal protective coating limits the
temperature exposure of the nickel superalloy. This reduces the creep mechanisms experienced in
the blade. Oxidation coatings limit efficiency losses caused by a buildup on the outside of the blades,
which is especially important in the high-temperature environment.[25] The nickel-based blades are
alloyed with aluminum and titanium to improve strength and creep resistance. The microstructure of
these alloys is composed of different regions of composition. A uniform dispersion of the gamma-
prime phase a combination of nickel, aluminum, and titanium promotes the strength and creep
resistance of the blade due to the microstructure.[26] Refractory elements such
as rhenium and ruthenium can be added to the alloy to improve creep strength. The addition of
these elements reduces the diffusion of the gamma prime phase, thus preserving
the fatigue resistance, strength, and creep resistance.[27]

Types[edit]

Jet engines[edit]

typical axial-flow gas turbine turbojet, the J85, sectioned for display. Flow is left to right, multistage compressor
on left, combustion chambers center, two-stage turbine on right
Airbreathing jet engines are gas turbines optimized to produce thrust from the exhaust gases, or
from ducted fans connected to the gas turbines.[28] Jet engines that produce thrust from the direct
impulse of exhaust gases are often called turbojets, whereas those that generate thrust with the
addition of a ducted fan are often called turbofans or (rarely) fan-jets.

Gas turbines are also used in many liquid propellant rockets, gas turbines are used to power
a turbopump to permit the use of lightweight, low-pressure tanks, which reduce the empty weight of
the rocket.

Turboprop engines[edit]
A turboprop engine is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.
Turboprop engines are used on small aircraft such as the general-aviation Cessna 208
Caravan and Embraer EMB 312 Tucano military trainer, medium-sized commuter aircraft such as
the Bombardier Dash 8 and large aircraft such as the Airbus A400M transport and the 60 year-
old Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bomber.

Aeroderivative gas turbines[edit]

Diagram of a high-pressure film cooled turbine blade

Aeroderivatives are also used in electrical power generation due to their ability to be shut down, and
handle load changes more quickly than industrial machines. They are also used in the marine
industry to reduce weight. The General Electric LM2500, General Electric LM6000, Rolls-Royce
RB211 and Rolls-Royce Avon are common models of this type of machine.[citation needed]

Amateur gas turbines[edit]

Increasing numbers of gas turbines are being used or even constructed by amateurs.

In its most straightforward form, these are commercial turbines acquired through military surplus or
scrapyard sales, then operated for display as part of the hobby of engine collecting. [29][30] In its most
extreme form, amateurs have even rebuilt engines beyond professional repair and then used them
to compete for the Land Speed Record.

The simplest form of self-constructed gas turbine employs an automotive turbocharger as the core
component. A combustion chamber is fabricated and plumbed between the compressor and turbine
sections.[31]

More sophisticated turbojets are also built, where their thrust and light weight are sufficient to power
large model aircraft.[32] The Schreckling design[32] constructs the entire engine from raw materials,
including the fabrication of a centrifugal compressor wheel from plywood, epoxy and wrapped
carbon fibre strands.

Several small companies now manufacture small turbines and parts for the amateur. Most turbojet-
powered model aircraft are now using these commercial and semi-commercial microturbines, rather
than a Schreckling-like home-build.[33]

Auxiliary power units[edit]

APUs are small gas turbines designed to supply auxiliary power to larger, mobile, machines such as
an aircraft. They supply:

compressed air for air conditioning and ventilation,

compressed air start-up power for larger jet engines,

mechanical (shaft) power to a gearbox to drive shafted accessories or to start large jet
engines, and

electrical, hydraulic and other power-transmission sources to consuming devices remote

from the APU.
Industrial gas turbines for power generation[edit]

GE H series power generation gas turbine: in combined cycle configuration, its highest thermal efficiency is
62.22%

Industrial gas turbines differ from aeronautical designs in that the frames, bearings, and blading are
of heavier construction. They are also much more closely integrated with the devices they power
often an electric generatorand the secondary-energy equipment that is used to recover residual
energy (largely heat).

They range in size from portable mobile plants to large, complex systems weighing more than a
hundred tonnes housed in purpose-built buildings. When the gas turbine is used solely for shaft
power, its thermal efficiency is about 30%. However, it may be cheaper to buy electricity than to
generate it. Therefore, many engines are used in CHP (Combined Heat and Power) configurations
that can be small enough to be integrated into portable container configurations.
Gas turbines can be particularly efficient when waste heat from the turbine is recovered by a heat
recovery steam generator to power a conventional steam turbine in a combined cycle configuration.
[34]
The 605 MW General Electric 9HA achieved a 62.22% efficiency rate with temperatures as high
as 1,540 C (2,800 F).[35] Aeroderivative gas turbines can also be used in combined cycles, leading
to a higher efficiency, but it will not be as high as a specifically designed industrial gas turbine. They
can also be run in a cogeneration configuration: the exhaust is used for space or water heating, or
drives an absorption chiller for cooling the inlet air and increase the power output, technology known
as Turbine Inlet Air Cooling.

Another significant advantage is their ability to be turned on and off within minutes, supplying power
during peak, or unscheduled, demand. Since single cycle (gas turbine only) power plants are less
efficient than combined cycle plants, they are usually used as peaking power plants, which operate
anywhere from several hours per day to a few dozen hours per yeardepending on the electricity
demand and the generating capacity of the region. In areas with a shortage of base-load and load
following power plant capacity or with low fuel costs, a gas turbine powerplant may regularly operate
most hours of the day. A large single-cycle gas turbine typically produces 100 to 400 megawatts of
electric power and has 3540% thermal efficiency.[36]

Industrial gas turbines for mechanical drive[edit]

Industrial gas turbines that are used solely for mechanical drive or used in collaboration with a
recovery steam generator differ from power generating sets in that they are often smaller and feature
a dual shaft design as opposed to single shaft. The power range varies from 1 megawatt up to 50
megawatts.[citation needed] These engines are connected directly or via a gearbox to either a pump or
compressor assembly. The majority of installations are used within the oil and gas industries.
Mechanical drive applications increase efficiency by around 2%.

Oil and Gas platforms require these engines to drive compressors to inject gas into the wells to force
oil up via another bore, or to compress the gas for transportation. They're also often used to provide
power for the platform. These platforms don't need to use the engine in collaboration with a CHP
system due to getting the gas at an extremely reduced cost (often free from burn off gas). The same
companies use pump sets to drive the fluids to land and across pipelines in various intervals.

Compressed air energy storage[edit]

Main article: Compressed air energy storage

One modern development seeks to improve efficiency in another way, by separating the compressor
and the turbine with a compressed air store. In a conventional turbine, up to half the generated
power is used driving the compressor. In a compressed air energy storage configuration, power,
perhaps from a wind farm or bought on the open market at a time of low demand and low price, is
used to drive the compressor, and the compressed air released to operate the turbine when
required.

Turboshaft engines[edit]
Turboshaft engines are often used to drive compression trains (for example in gas pumping stations
or natural gas liquefaction plants) and are used to power almost all modern helicopters. The primary
shaft bears the compressor and the high speed turbine (often referred to as the Gas Generator),
while a second shaft bears the low-speed turbine (a power turbine or free-wheeling turbine on
helicopters, especially, because the gas generator turbine spins separately from the power turbine).
In effect the separation of the gas generator, by a fluid coupling (the hot energy-rich combustion
gases), from the power turbine is analogous to an automotive transmission's fluid coupling. This
arrangement is used to increase power-output flexibility with associated highly-reliable control
mechanisms.

Radial gas turbines[edit]

Main article: Radial turbine

In 1963, Jan Mowill initiated the development at Kongsberg Vpenfabrikk in Norway. Various
successors have made good progress in the refinement of this mechanism. Owing to a configuration
that keeps heat away from certain bearings the durability of the machine is improved while the radial
turbine is well matched in speed requirement.[citation needed]

Scale jet engines[edit]

Scale jet engines are scaled down versions of this early full scale engine

Also known as miniature gas turbines or micro-jets.

With this in mind the pioneer of modern Micro-Jets, Kurt Schreckling, produced one of the world's
first Micro-Turbines, the FD3/67.[32] This engine can produce up to 22 newtons of thrust, and can be
built by most mechanically minded people with basic engineering tools, such as a metal lathe.[32]

Microturbines[edit]
Also known as:

Turbo alternators

Turbogenerator

Microturbines are becoming widespread in distributed power and combined heat and
power applications, and are very promising for powering hybrid electric vehicles. They range from
hand held units producing less than a kilowatt, to commercial sized systems that produce tens or
hundreds of kilowatts. Basic principles of microturbine are based on micro-combustion.[further explanation needed]
Part of their claimed success is said to be due to advances in electronics, which allows unattended
operation and interfacing with the commercial power grid. Electronic power switching technology
eliminates the need for the generator to be synchronized with the power grid. This allows the
generator to be integrated with the turbine shaft, and to double as the starter motor.

Microturbine systems have many claimed advantages over reciprocating engine generators, such as
higher power-to-weight ratio, low emissions and few, or just one, moving part. Advantages are that
microturbines may be designed with foil bearings and air-cooling operating without lubricating
oil, coolants or other hazardous materials.[37] Nevertheless, reciprocating engines overall are still
cheaper when all factors are considered.[original research?]

Microturbines also have a further advantage of having the majority of the waste heat contained in the
relatively high temperature exhaust making it simpler to capture, whereas the waste heat of
reciprocating engines is split between its exhaust and cooling system.[38]

However, reciprocating engine generators are quicker to respond to changes in output power
requirement and are usually slightly more efficient, although the efficiency of microturbines is
increasing. Microturbines also lose more efficiency at low power levels than reciprocating engines.

Reciprocating engines typically use simple motor oil (journal) bearings. Full-size gas turbines often
use ball bearings. The 1000 C temperatures and high speeds of microturbines make oil lubrication
and ball bearings impractical; they require air bearings or possibly magnetic bearings.[39]

When used in extended range electric vehicles the static efficiency drawback is irrelevant, since the
gas turbine can be run at or near maximum power, driving an alternator to produce electricity either
for the wheel motors, or for the batteries, as appropriate to speed and battery state. The batteries act
as a "buffer" (energy storage) in delivering the required amount of power to the wheel motors,
rendering throttle response of the gas turbine completely irrelevant.

There is, moreover, no need for a significant or variable-speed gearbox; turning an alternator at
comparatively high speeds allows for a smaller and lighter alternator than would otherwise be the
case. The superior power-to-weight ratio of the gas turbine and its fixed speed gearbox, allows for a
much lighter prime mover than those in such hybrids as the Toyota Prius (which utilised a 1.8 litre
petrol engine) or the Chevrolet Volt (which utilises a 1.4 litre petrol engine). This in turn allows a
heavier weight of batteries to be carried, which allows for a longer electric-only range. Alternatively,
the vehicle can use heavier types of batteries such as lead acid batteries (which are cheaper to buy)
or safer types of batteries such as Lithium-Iron-Phosphate.

In extended-range electric vehicles, like those planned[when?] by Land-Rover/Range-Rover in

conjunction with Bladon, or by Jaguar also in partnership with Bladon, the very poor throttling
response (their high moment of rotational inertia) does not matter,[citation needed]because the gas turbine,
which may be spinning at 100,000 rpm, is not directly, mechanically connected to the wheels. It was
this poor throttling response that so bedevilled the 1950 Rover gas turbine-powered prototype motor
car, which did not have the advantage of an intermediate electric drive train to provide sudden power
spikes when demanded by the driver.[further explanation needed]

Gas turbines accept most commercial fuels, such as petrol, natural gas, propane, diesel,
and kerosene as well as renewable fuels such as E85, biodiesel and biogas. However, when running
on kerosene or diesel, starting sometimes requires the assistance of a more volatile product such as
propane gas - although the new kero-start technology can allow even microturbines fuelled on
kerosene to start without propane.

Microturbine designs usually consist of a single stage radial compressor, a single stage radial
turbine and a recuperator. Recuperators are difficult to design and manufacture because they
operate under high pressure and temperature differentials. Exhaust heat can be used for water
heating, space heating, drying processes or absorption chillers, which create cold for air conditioning
from heat energy instead of electric energy.

Typical microturbine efficiencies are 25 to 35%. When in a combined heat and

power cogeneration system, efficiencies of greater than 80%[citation needed] are commonly achieved.

MIT started its millimeter size turbine engine project in the middle of the 1990s when Professor of
Aeronautics and Astronautics Alan H. Epstein considered the possibility of creating a personal
turbine which will be able to meet all the demands of a modern person's electrical needs, just as a
large turbine can meet the electricity demands of a small city.[citation needed]

Problems have occurred with heat dissipation and high-speed bearings in these new microturbines.
Moreover, their expected efficiency is a very low 5-6%. According to Professor Epstein, current
commercial Li-ion rechargeable batteries deliver about 120-150 Wh/kg. MIT's millimeter size turbine
will deliver 500-700 Wh/kg in the near term, rising to 1200-1500 Wh/kg in the longer term. [40]

A similar microturbine built in Belgium has a rotor diameter of 20 mm and is expected to produce
about 1000 W.[39]

External combustion[edit]

Most gas turbines are internal combustion engines but it is also possible to manufacture an external
combustion gas turbine which is, effectively, a turbine version of a hot air engine. Those systems are
usually indicated as EFGT (Externally Fired Gas Turbine) or IFGT (Indirectly Fired Gas Turbine).

External combustion has been used for the purpose of using pulverized coal or finely ground
biomass (such as sawdust) as a fuel. In the indirect system, a heat exchanger is used and only
clean air with no combustion products travels through the power turbine. The thermal efficiency is
lower in the indirect type of external combustion; however, the turbine blades are not subjected to
combustion products and much lower quality (and therefore cheaper) fuels are able to be used.

When external combustion is used, it is possible to use exhaust air from the turbine as the primary
combustion air. This effectively reduces global heat losses, although heat losses associated with the
combustion exhaust remain inevitable.

Closed-cycle gas turbines based on helium or supercritical carbon dioxide also hold promise for use
with future high temperature solar and nuclear power generation.

External combustion[edit]
Most gas turbines are internal combustion engines but it is also possible to manufacture an external
combustion gas turbine which is, effectively, a turbine version of a hot air engine. Those systems are
usually indicated as EFGT (Externally Fired Gas Turbine) or IFGT (Indirectly Fired Gas Turbine).

External combustion has been used for the purpose of using pulverized coal or finely ground
biomass (such as sawdust) as a fuel. In the indirect system, a heat exchanger is used and only
clean air with no combustion products travels through the power turbine. The thermal efficiency is
lower in the indirect type of external combustion; however, the turbine blades are not subjected to
combustion products and much lower quality (and therefore cheaper) fuels are able to be used.

When external combustion is used, it is possible to use exhaust air from the turbine as the primary
combustion air. This effectively reduces global heat losses, although heat losses associated with the
combustion exhaust remain inevitable.

Closed-cycle gas turbines based on helium or supercritical carbon dioxide also hold promise for use
with future high temperature solar and nuclear power generation.

In surface vehicles[edit]

The 1967 STP Oil Treatment Special on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum,
with the Pratt & Whitney gas turbine shown

A 1968 Howmet TX, the only turbine-powered race car to have won a race

Gas turbines are often used on ships, locomotives, helicopters, tanks, and to a lesser extent, on
cars, buses, and motorcycles.

A key advantage of jets and turboprops for aeroplane propulsion - their superior performance at high
altitude compared to piston engines, particularly naturally aspirated ones - is irrelevant in most
automobile applications. Their power-to-weight advantage, though less critical than for aircraft, is still
important.
Gas turbines offer a high-powered engine in a very small and light package. However, they are not
as responsive and efficient as small piston engines over the wide range of RPMs and powers
needed in vehicle applications. In series hybrid vehicles, as the driving electric motors are
mechanically detached from the electricity generating engine, the responsiveness, poor performance
at low speed and low efficiency at low output problems are much less important. The turbine can be
run at optimum speed for its power output, and batteries and ultracapacitors can supply power as
needed, with the engine cycled on and off to run it only at high efficiency. The emergence of
the continuously variable transmission may also alleviate the responsiveness problem.

Turbines have historically been more expensive to produce than piston engines, though this is partly
because piston engines have been mass-produced in huge quantities for decades, while small gas
turbine engines are rarities; however, turbines are mass-produced in the closely related form of
the turbocharger.

The turbocharger is basically a compact and simple free shaft radial gas turbine which is driven by
the piston engine's exhaust gas. The centripetal turbine wheel drives a centrifugal compressor wheel
through a common rotating shaft. This wheel supercharges the engine air intake to a degree that can
be controlled by means of a wastegate or by dynamically modifying the turbine housing's geometry
(as in a VGT turbocharger). It mainly serves as a power recovery device which converts a great deal
of otherwise wasted thermal and kinetic energy into engine boost.

Turbo-compound engines (actually employed on some trucks) are fitted with blow down turbines
which are similar in design and appearance to a turbocharger except for the turbine shaft being
mechanically or hydraulically connected to the engine's crankshaft instead of to a centrifugal
compressor, thus providing additional power instead of boost. While the turbocharger is a pressure
turbine, a power recovery turbine is a velocity one.

Passenger road vehicles (cars, bikes, and buses)[edit]

A number of experiments have been conducted with gas turbine powered automobiles, the largest
by Chrysler.[41][42] More recently, there has been some interest in the use of turbine engines for hybrid
electric cars. For instance, a consortium led by micro gas turbine company Bladon Jets has secured
investment from the Technology Strategy Board to develop an Ultra Lightweight Range Extender
(ULRE) for next generation electric vehicles. The objective of the consortium, which includes luxury
car maker Jaguar Land Rover and leading electrical machine company SR Drives, is to produce the
worlds first commercially viable - and environmentally friendly - gas turbine generator designed
specifically for automotive applications.[43]

The common turbocharger for gasoline or diesel engines is also a turbine derivative.

Concept cars[edit]
The 1950 Rover JET1

The first serious investigation of using a gas turbine in cars was in 1946 when two engineers, Robert
Kafka and Robert Engerstein of Carney Associates, a New York engineering firm, came up with the
concept where a unique compact turbine engine design would provide power for a rear wheel drive
car. After an article appeared in Popular Science, there was no further work, beyond the paper
stage.[44]

In 1950, designer F.R. Bell and Chief Engineer Maurice Wilks from British car
manufacturers Rover unveiled the first car powered with a gas turbine engine. The two-
seater JET1 had the engine positioned behind the seats, air intake grilles on either side of the car,
and exhaust outlets on the top of the tail. During tests, the car reached top speeds of 140 km/h
(87 mph), at a turbine speed of 50,000 rpm. The car ran on petrol, paraffin (kerosene) or diesel oil,
but fuel consumption problems proved insurmountable for a production car. It is on display at the
London Science Museum.

A French turbine powered car, the Socema-Gregoire, was displayed at the October 1952 Paris Auto
Show. It was designed by the French engineer Jean-Albert Grgoire.[citation needed]

GM Firebird I

The first turbine powered car built in the US was the GM Firebird I which began evaluations in 1953.
While photos of the Firebird I may suggest that the jet turbine's thrust propelled the car like an
aircraft, the turbine in fact drove the rear wheels. The Firebird 1 was never meant as a serious
commercial passenger car and was solely built for testing & evaluation as well as public relation
purposes.[45]
Engine compartment of a Chrysler 1963 Turbine car

Starting in 1954 with a modified Plymouth,[46] the American car manufacturer Chrysler demonstrated
several prototype gas turbine-powered cars from the early 1950s through the early 1980s. Chrysler
built fifty Chrysler Turbine Cars in 1963 and conducted the only consumer trial of gas turbine-
powered cars.[47] Each of their turbines employed a unique rotating recuperator, referred to as a
regenerator that increased efficiency.[46]

In 1954 FIAT unveiled a concept car with a turbine engine, called Fiat Turbina. This vehicle, looking
like an aircraft with wheels, used a unique combination of both jet thrust and the engine driving the
wheels. Speeds of 282 km/h (175 mph) were claimed.[48]

The original General Motors Firebird was a series of concept cars developed for the 1953, 1956 and
1959 Motorama auto shows, powered by gas turbines.

As a result of the U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970, research was funded to developing
automotive gas turbine technology.[49] Design concepts and vehicles were conducted
by Chrysler, General Motors, Ford (in collaboration with AiResearch), and American Motors (in
conjunction with Williams Research).[50] Long-term tests were conducted evaluate comparable cost
efficiency.[51] Several AMC Hornets were powered by a small Williams regenerative gas turbines
weighing 250 lb (113 kg) and producing 80 hp (60 kW; 81 PS) at 4450 rpm.[52][53][54]

Toyota demonstrated several gas turbine powered concept cars, such as the Century gas turbine
hybrid in 1975, the Sports 800 Gas Turbine Hybrid in 1979 and the GTV in 1985. No production
vehicles were made. The GT24 engine was exhibited in 1977 without a vehicle.

In the early 1990s Volvo introduced the Volvo Environmental Concept Car(ECC) which was a gas
turbine powered hybrid car.[55]

In 1993 General Motors introduced the first commercial gas turbine powered hybrid vehicleas a
limited production run of the EV-1 series hybrid. A Williams International 40 kW turbine drove an
alternator which powered the battery-electric powertrain. The turbine design included a recuperator.
Later on in 2006 GM went into the EcoJet concept car project with Jay Leno.

At the 2010 Paris Motor Show Jaguar demonstrated its Jaguar C-X75 concept car. This electrically
powered supercar has a top speed of 204 mph (328 km/h) and can go from 0 to 62 mph (0 to
100 km/h) in 3.4 seconds. It uses Lithium-ion batteries to power 4 electric motors which combine to
produce some 780 bhp. It will do 68 miles (109 km) on a single charge of the batteries, but in
addition it uses a pair of Bladon Micro Gas Turbines to re-charge the batteries extending the range
to 560 miles (900 km).[56]

Racing cars[edit]

The first race car (in concept only) fitted with a turbine was in 1955 by a US Air Force group as a
hobby project with a turbine loaned them by Boeing and a race car owned by Firestone Tire &
Rubber company.[57] The first race car fitted with a turbine for the goal of actual racing was by Rover
and the BRM Formula One team joined forces to produce the Rover-BRM, a gas turbine powered
coupe, which entered the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, driven by Graham Hill and Richie Ginther. It
averaged 107.8 mph (173.5 km/h) and had a top speed of 142 mph (229 km/h). American Ray
Heppenstall joined Howmet Corporation and McKee Engineering together to develop their own gas
turbine sports car in 1968, the Howmet TX, which ran several American and European events,
including two wins, and also participated in the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans. The cars
used Continental gas turbines, which eventually set six FIA land speed records for turbine-powered
cars.[58]

For open wheel racing, 1967's revolutionary STP-Paxton Turbocar fielded by racing and
entrepreneurial legend Andy Granatelli and driven by Parnelli Jones nearly won the Indianapolis
500; the Pratt & Whitney ST6B-62 powered turbine car was almost a lap ahead of the second place
car when a gearbox bearing failed just three laps from the finish line. The next year the STP Lotus
56 turbine car won the Indianapolis 500 pole position even though new rules restricted the air intake
dramatically. In 1971 Lotus principal Colin Chapman introduced the Lotus 56B F1 car, powered by
a Pratt & Whitney STN 6/76 gas turbine. Chapman had a reputation of building radical
championship-winning cars, but had to abandon the project because there were too many problems
with turbo lag.

Buses[edit]

The arrival of the Capstone Microturbine has led to several hybrid bus designs, starting with HEV-1
by AVS of Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1999, and closely followed by Ebus and ISE Research in
California, and DesignLine Corporation in New Zealand (and later the United States). AVS turbine
hybrids were plagued with reliability and quality control problems, resulting in liquidation of AVS in
2003. The most successful design by Designline is now operated in 5 cities in 6 countries, with over
30 buses in operation worldwide, and order for several hundred being delivered to Baltimore, and
NYC.

Brescia Italy is using serial hybrid buses powered by microturbines on routes through the historical
sections of the city.[59]

Motorcycles[edit]

The MTT Turbine Superbike appeared in 2000 (hence the designation of Y2K Superbike by MTT)
and is the first production motorcycle powered by a turbine engine - specifically, a Rolls-Royce
Allison model 250 turboshaft engine, producing about 283 kW (380 bhp). Speed-tested to 365 km/h
or 227 mph (according to some stories, the testing team ran out of road during the test), it holds the
Guinness World Record for most powerful production motorcycle and most expensive production
motorcycle, with a price tag of US$185,000.
Trains[edit]
Main articles: Gas turbine-electric locomotive and Gas turbine train

Several locomotive classes have been powered by gas turbines, the most recent incarnation
being Bombardier's JetTrain.

Tanks[edit]

Marines from 1st Tank Battalion load a Honeywell AGT1500 multi-fuel turbine back into an M1 Abrams tank at
Camp Coyote, Kuwait, February 2003

The German Army's development division, the Heereswaffenamt (Army Ordnance Board), studied a
number of gas turbine engines for use in tanks starting in mid-1944. The first gas turbine engines
used for armoured fighting vehicle GT 101 was installed in the Panther tank.[60] The second use of a
gas turbine in an armoured fighting vehicle was in 1954 when a unit, PU2979, specifically developed
for tanks by C. A. Parsons & Co., was installed and trialled in a British Conqueror tank.
[61]
The Stridsvagn 103 was developed in the 1950s and was the first mass-produced main battle tank
to use a turbine engine. Since then, gas turbine engines have been used as APUs in some tanks
and as main powerplants in Soviet/Russian T-80s and U.S. M1 Abrams tanks, among others. They
are lighter and smaller than diesels at the same sustained power output but the models installed to
date are less fuel efficient than the equivalent diesel, especially at idle, requiring more fuel to
achieve the same combat range. Successive models of M1 have addressed this problem with
battery packs or secondary generators to power the tank's systems while stationary, saving fuel by
reducing the need to idle the main turbine. T-80s can mount three large external fuel drums to
extend their range. Russia has stopped production of the T-80 in favour of the diesel-powered T-
90 (based on the T-72), while Ukraine has developed the diesel-powered T-80UD and T-84 with
nearly the power of the gas-turbine tank. The French Leclerc MBT's diesel powerplant features the
"Hyperbar" hybrid supercharging system, where the engine's turbocharger is completely replaced
with a small gas turbine which also works as an assisted diesel exhaust turbocharger, enabling
engine RPM-independent boost level control and a higher peak boost pressure to be reached (than
with ordinary turbochargers). This system allows a smaller displacement and lighter engine to be
used as the tank's powerplant and effectively removes turbo lag. This special gas
turbine/turbocharger can also work independently from the main engine as an ordinary APU.

A turbine is theoretically more reliable and easier to maintain than a piston engine, since it has a
simpler construction with fewer moving parts but in practice turbine parts experience a higher wear
rate due to their higher working speeds. The turbine blades are highly sensitive to dust and fine
sand, so that in desert operations air filters have to be fitted and changed several times daily. An
improperly fitted filter, or a bullet or shell fragment that punctures the filter, can damage the engine.
Piston engines (especially if turbocharged) also need well-maintained filters, but they are more
resilient if the filter does fail.

Like most modern diesel engines used in tanks, gas turbines are usually multi-fuel engines.

Marine applications[edit]
Main article: Marine propulsion

Naval[edit]

The Gas turbine from MGB 2009

Gas turbines are used in many naval vessels, where they are valued for their high power-to-weight
ratio and their ships' resulting acceleration and ability to get underway quickly.

The first gas-turbine-powered naval vessel was the Royal Navy's Motor Gun Boat MGB
2009 (formerly MGB 509) converted in 1947. Metropolitan-Vickers fitted their F2/3 jet engine with a
power turbine. The Steam Gun BoatGrey Goose was converted to Rolls-Royce gas turbines in 1952
and operated as such from 1953.[62] The Bold class Fast Patrol Boats Bold Pioneer and Bold
Pathfinder built in 1953 were the first ships created specifically for gas turbine propulsion. [63]

The first large scale, partially gas-turbine powered ships were the Royal Navy's Type 81 (Tribal
class) frigates with combined steam and gas powerplants. The first, HMS Ashanti was
commissioned in 1961.

The German Navy launched the first Kln-class frigate in 1961 with 2 Brown, Boveri & Cie gas
turbines in the world's first combined diesel and gas propulsion system.

The Danish Navy had 6 Slven-class torpedo boats (the export version of the British Brave class
fast patrol boat) in service from 1965 to 1990, which had 3 Bristol Proteus (later RR Proteus) Marine
Gas Turbines rated at 9,510 kW (12,750 shp) combined, plus two General Motors Diesel engines,
rated at 340 kW (460 shp), for better fuel economy at slower speeds.[64] And they also produced 10
Willemoes Class Torpedo / Guided Missile boats (in service from 1974 to 2000) which had 3 Rolls
Royce Marine Proteus Gas Turbines also rated at 9,510 kW (12,750 shp), same as the Slven-
class boats, and 2 General Motors Diesel Engines, rated at 600 kW (800 shp), also for improved fuel
economy at slow speeds.[65]

The Swedish Navy produced 6 Spica-class torpedo boats between 1966 and 1967 powered by
3 Bristol Siddeley Proteus 1282 turbines, each delivering 3,210 kW (4,300 shp). They were later
joined by 12 upgraded Norrkping class ships, still with the same engines. With their aft torpedo
tubes replaced by antishipping missiles they served as missile boats until the last was retired in
2005.[66]

The Finnish Navy commissioned two Turunmaa-class corvettes, Turunmaa and Karjala, in 1968.
They were equipped with one 16,410 kW (22,000 shp) Rolls-Royce Olympus TM1 gas turbine and
three Wrtsil marine diesels for slower speeds. They were the fastest vessels in the Finnish Navy;
they regularly achieved speeds of 35 knots, and 37.3 knots during sea trials. The Turunmaas were
paid off in 2002. Karjala is today a museum ship in Turku, and Turunmaa serves as a floating
machine shop and training ship for Satakunta Polytechnical College.

The next series of major naval vessels were the four Canadian Iroquois-class helicopter carrying
destroyers first commissioned in 1972. They used 2 ft-4 main propulsion engines, 2 ft-12 cruise
engines and 3 Solar Saturn 750 kW generators.

An LM2500 gas turbine on USS Ford

The first U.S. gas-turbine powered ship was the U.S. Coast Guard's Point Thatcher, a cutter
commissioned in 1961 that was powered by two 750 kW (1,000 shp) turbines utilizing controllable-
pitch propellers.[67] The larger Hamilton-class High Endurance Cutters, was the first class of larger
cutters to utilize gas turbines, the first of which (USCGC Hamilton) was commissioned in 1967.
Since then, they have powered the U.S. Navy's Oliver Hazard Perry-
class frigates, Spruance and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and Ticonderoga-class guided missile
cruisers. USS Makin Island, a modified Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, is to be the Navy's first
amphibious assault ship powered by gas turbines. The marine gas turbine operates in a more
corrosive atmosphere due to presence of sea salt in air and fuel and use of cheaper fuels.

Civilian maritime[edit]

Up to the late 1940s much of the progress on marine gas turbines all over the world took place in
design offices and engine builder's workshops and development work was led by the British Royal
Navy and other Navies. While interest in the gas turbine for marine purposes, both naval and
mercantile, continued to increase, the lack of availability of the results of operating experience on
early gas turbine projects limited the number of new ventures on seagoing commercial vessels being
embarked upon. In 1951, the Diesel-electric oil tanker Auris, 12,290 Deadweight tonnage (DWT)
was used to obtain operating experience with a main propulsion gas turbine under service conditions
at sea and so became the first ocean-going merchant ship to be powered by a gas turbine. Built
by Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn-on-Tyne, UK, in accordance with plans and specifications drawn up
by the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and launched on the UK's Princess Elizabeth's 21st
birthday in 1947, the ship was designed with an engine room layout that would allow for the
experimental use of heavy fuel in one of its high-speed engines, as well as the future substitution of
one of its diesel engines by a gas turbine.[68] The Auris operated commercially as a tanker for three-
and-a-half years with a diesel-electric propulsion unit as originally commissioned, but in 1951 one of
its four 824 kW (1,105 bhp) diesel engines which were known as "Faith", "Hope", "Charity" and
"Prudence" - was replaced by the worlds first marine gas turbine engine, a 890 kW (1,200 bhp)
open-cycle gas turbo-alternator built by British Thomson-Houston Company in Rugby. Following
successful sea trials off the Northumbrian coast, the Auris set sail from Hebburn-on-Tyne in October
1951 bound for Port Arthur in the US and then Curacao in the southern Caribbean returning
to Avonmouth after 44 days at sea, successfully completing her historic trans-Atlantic crossing.
During this time at sea the gas turbine burnt diesel fuel and operated without an involuntary stop or
mechanical difficulty of any kind. She subsequently visited Swansea, Hull, Rotterdam, Oslo and
Southampton covering a total of 13,211 nautical miles. The Auris then had all of its power plants
replaced with a 3,910 kW (5,250 shp) directly coupled gas turbine to become the first civilian ship to
operate solely on gas turbine power.

Despite the success of this early experimental voyage the gas turbine was not to replace the diesel
engine as the propulsion plant for large merchant ships. At constant cruising speeds the diesel
engine simply had no peer in the vital area of fuel economy. The gas turbine did have more success
in Royal Navy ships and the other naval fleets of the world where sudden and rapid changes of
speed are required by warships in action.[69]

The United States Maritime Commission were looking for options to update WWII Liberty ships, and
heavy-duty gas turbines were one of those selected. In 1956 the John Sergeant was lengthened and
equipped with a General Electric 4,900 kW (6,600 shp) HD gas turbine with exhaust-gas
regeneration, reduction gearing and a variable-pitch propeller. It operated for 9,700 hours using
residual fuel(Bunker C) for 7,000 hours. Fuel efficiency was on a par with steam propulsion at
0.318 kg/kW (0.523 lb/hp) per hour,[70] and power output was higher than expected at 5,603 kW
(7,514 shp) due to the ambient temperature of the North Sea route being lower than the design
temperature of the gas turbine. This gave the ship a speed capability of 18 knots, up from 11 knots
with the original power plant, and well in excess of the 15 knot targeted. The ship made its first
transatlantic crossing with an average speed of 16.8 knots, in spite of some rough weather along the
way. Suitable Bunker C fuel was only available at limited ports because the quality of the fuel was of
a critical nature. The fuel oil also had to be treated on board to reduce contaminants and this was a
labor-intensive process that was not suitable for automation at the time. Ultimately, the variable-pitch
propeller, which was of a new and untested design, ended the trial, as three consecutive annual
inspections revealed stress-cracking. This did not reflect poorly on the marine-propulsion gas-turbine
concept though, and the trial was a success overall. The success of this trial opened the way for
more development by GE on the use of HD gas turbines for marine use with heavy fuels. [71] The John
Sergeant was scrapped in 1972 at Portsmouth PA.
Boeing Jetfoil 929-100-007 Urzela of TurboJET

Boeing launched its first passenger-carrying waterjet-propelled hydrofoil Boeing 929, in April 1974.
Those ships were powered by two Allison 501-KF gas turbines.[72]

Between 1971 and 1981, Seatrain Lines operated a scheduled container service between ports on
the eastern seaboard of the United States and ports in northwest Europe across the North Atlantic
with four container ships of 26,000 tonnes DWT. Those ships were powered by twin Pratt &
Whitney gas turbines of the FT 4 series. The four ships in the class were
named Euroliner, Eurofreighter, Asialiner and Asiafreighter. Following the dramatic Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) price increases of the mid-1970s, operations were
constrained by rising fuel costs. Some modification of the engine systems on those ships was
undertaken to permit the burning of a lower grade of fuel (i.e., marine diesel). Reduction of fuel costs
was successful using a different untested fuel in a marine gas turbine but maintenance costs
increased with the fuel change. After 1981 the ships were sold and refitted with, what at the time,
was more economical diesel-fueled engines but the increased engine size reduced cargo space. [citation
needed]

The first passenger ferry to use a gas turbine was the GTS Finnjet, built in 1977 and powered by
two Pratt & Whitney FT 4C-1 DLF turbines, generating 55,000 kW (74,000 shp) and propelling the
ship to a speed of 31 knots. However, the Finnjet also illustrated the shortcomings of gas turbine
propulsion in commercial craft, as high fuel prices made operating her unprofitable. After four years
of service additional diesel engines were installed on the ship to reduce running costs during the off-
season. The Finnjet was also the first ship with a Combined diesel-electric and gas propulsion.
Another example of commercial usage of gas turbines in a passenger ship is Stena Line's HSS
class fastcraft ferries. HSS 1500-class Stena Explorer, Stena Voyager and Stena Discovery vessels
use combined gas and gas setups of twin GE LM2500 plus GE LM1600 power for a total of
68,000 kW (91,000 shp). The slightly smaller HSS 900-class Stena Carisma, uses twin ABB
STAL (sv) GT35 turbines rated at 34,000 kW (46,000 shp) gross. The Stena Discovery was
withdrawn from service in 2007, another victim of too high fuel costs.[citation needed]

In July 2000 the Millennium became the first cruise ship to be propelled by gas turbines, in
a Combined Gas and Steam Turbine configuration. The liner RMS Queen Mary 2 uses a Combined
Diesel and Gas Turbine configuration.[73]

In marine racing applications the 2010 C5000 Mystic catamaran Miss GEICO uses two Lycoming T-
55 turbines for its power system.[citation needed]

Advances in technology[edit]

Gas turbine technology has steadily advanced since its inception and continues to evolve.
Development is actively producing both smaller gas turbines and more powerful and efficient
engines. Aiding in these advances are computer based design (specifically CFD and finite element
analysis) and the development of advanced materials: Base materials with superior high
temperature strength (e.g., single-crystal superalloys that exhibit yield strength anomaly) or thermal
barrier coatings that protect the structural material from ever-higher temperatures. These advances
allow higher compression ratios and turbine inlet temperatures, more efficient combustion and better
cooling of engine parts.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has contributed to substantial improvements in the
performance and efficiency of Gas Turbine engine components through enhanced understanding of
the complex viscous flow and heat transfer phenomena involved. For this reason, CFD is one of the
key computational tool used in Design & development of gas [74] turbine engines.

The simple-cycle efficiencies of early gas turbines were practically doubled by incorporating inter-
cooling, regeneration (or recuperation), and reheating. These improvements, of course, come at the
expense of increased initial and operation costs, and they cannot be justified unless the decrease in
fuel costs offsets the increase in other costs. The relatively low fuel prices, the general desire in the
industry to minimize installation costs, and the tremendous increase in the simple-cycle efficiency to
about 40 percent left little desire for opting for these modifications.[75]

On the emissions side, the challenge is to increase turbine inlet temperatures while at the same time
reducing peak flame temperature in order to achieve lower NOx emissions and meet the latest
emission regulations. In May 2011, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries achieved a turbine inlet temperature
of 1,600 C on a 320 megawatt gas turbine, and 460 MW in gas turbine combined-cycle power
generation applications in which gross thermal efficiency exceeds 60%.[76]

Compliant foil bearings were commercially introduced to gas turbines in the 1990s. These can
withstand over a hundred thousand start/stop cycles and have eliminated the need for an oil system.
The application of microelectronics and power switching technology have enabled the development
of commercially viable electricity generation by micro turbines for distribution and vehicle propulsion.

Advantages and disadvantages[edit]

The following are advantages and disadvantages of gas-turbine engines: [77]

Advantages[edit]
Very high power-to-weight ratio, compared to reciprocating engines

Smaller than most reciprocating engines of the same power rating

Smooth rotation of the main shaft produces far less vibration than a reciprocating engine

Fewer moving parts than reciprocating engines results in lower maintenance cost and higher
reliability/availability over its service life.

Greater reliability, particularly in applications where sustained high power output is required

Waste heat is dissipated almost entirely in the exhaust. This results in a high temperature
exhaust stream that is very usable for boiling water in a combined cycle, or for cogeneration

Lower peak combustion pressures than reciprocating engines in general

High shaft speeds in smaller "free turbine units" although larger gas turbines employed in
power generation operate at synchronous speeds.
 Low lubricating oil cost and consumption

Can run on a wide variety of fuels

Very low toxic emissions of CO and HC due to excess air, complete combustion and no
"quench" of the flame on cold surfaces
Disadvantages[edit]
Core engine costs can be high due to use of exotic materials.

Less efficient than reciprocating engines at idle speed

Longer startup than reciprocating engines

Less responsive to changes in power demand compared with reciprocating engines

Characteristic whine can be hard to suppress

Testing[edit]

British, German, other national and international test codes are used to standardize the procedures
and definitions used to test gas turbines. Selection of the test code to be used is an agreement
between the purchaser and the manufacturer, and has some significance to the design of the turbine
and associated systems. In the United States, ASME has produced several performance test codes
on gas turbines. This includes ASME PTC 22-2014. These ASME performance test codes have
gained international recognition and acceptance for testing gas turbines. The single most important
and differentiating characteristic of ASME performance test codes, including PTC 22, is that the test
uncertainty of the measurement indicates the quality of the test and is not to be used as a
commercial tolerance.