Wind Turbine Fire Protection PDF

Wind Turbine Fire Protection
? ?
Symposium on Fire Protection for a Changing World

Munich 18 April 2016
Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert

University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven
© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 1

Content:
• My background
• Development of wind energy
• Technology used today
• Are proper Standards available?
• Which are the risks concerning fire?
• How can fire develop in wind turbines?
• How can fire be prevented, detected, protected?
• Which are the “wind energy specific challenges”?
• Conclusion, Recommendations

Hochschule Bremerhaven
University of
Applied Sciences
Wind energy research and education

Study Wind Energy at Bremerhaven
Bachelor Study Course: Maritime Technologies
MAR
Master Study Course: Wind Energy Techniques
WET

Study Wind Energy at Bremerhaven
Bachelor Study Course: Maritime Technologies
MAR
Master Study Course: Wind Energy Techniques
WET

Institute for Wind Energy
with the motto
„To understand the wind turbine as a whole“

Content:
• My background

Wind energy is a fast growing industry
in quantity and size
In the last 25 years the rotor diameter of a
serial produced wind turbine has been grown
5 the installed power has been
by a factor of
grown by a factor of 20 in the same period
Development of size in Germany
Largest serial turbine

Airbus A 380
Prototype
Rotor Diameter, m
6 MW
5 MW
3 MW
1.5 MW
0.5 MW
0.3 MW
0.05 MW
Ulm Cathedral
Time

Status wind energy development in
Germany
As of end of 2015
25 980 WT
41 652 MWinst
from those more than 3 295 MWinst
Offshore*)
Source: BWE / Windguard 2016
Status wind energy world wide
Source: BWE, 2016

Content:
• My background

The technology used today
Today’s wind turbines are characterized by:
• MegaWatt to Multi MegaWatt size

• horizontal axis
• upwind rotor with 3 blades
• rotor blades in composite design
• full span pitch control
• variable speed operation
• tip speed less than 80 m/s
• grid connected operation
• Direct drive, with gearbox or “multibrid”
• Steel, concrete or hybrid towers
• tripods, tripiles, jackets as offshore foundations
The technology used today
furthermore:
• low noise operation

• high efficiency of the components
• high technical availability
*)
• low investment and low O&M costs
• long entire life time (20 years) of all
components under extreme external
conditions
© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven *) O&M operation and maintenance 18 April 2016 14
Today‘s wind turbine concepts
Hub
Rotor
Shaft
Gear
Generator
Tower
Foundation
Nacelle

Typical sites where wind farms are located
Complex terrain
Offshore
Flat terrain

Typical wind farms in complex terrain
flat terrain
© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven offshore

18 April 2016
17
Content:
• My background

Are proper Standards concerning fire
protection for wind turbines available?
Wind energy is an international business and fast

growing world wide, especially off-shore
The development of the size and technology grows

faster than the standardisation work
Only a relatively few number of wind turbines burned

down up to now, the pressure on the industry and the
authorities is not very high
HSE1 and fire protection are usually national affairs

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 1 HSE health safety and environment 18 April 2016 19
Statistics of failures
Source: IWES 2016

Harmonisation of Standards for fire protection in a
new field of technology is difficult on national level
It is more difficult on an European level
It is nearly impossible on an international level
Many stakeholders must be involved!
Industry, authorities, associations, standardisation

committees, certification bodies, unions, ................
Which Standards could be useful?
On an international level the IEC TC 88 is responsible for wind turbine

design and operation: With reference to fire protection:
IEC 61400 - 1 Design requirements

IEC 61400 - 24 Lightning protection for wind turbines
New work item proposal under IEC TC 88:
“Wind Turbines - Safety of the WTGs General principles for Design”
The International Electrotechnical Vocabulary IEV 415 (wind turbines)

On European level the CENELEC is responsible for wind turbines

E.g. for safety at work for on-shore wind turbines:
EN 50308
Wind turbines - Protective measures - Requirements for design,
operation and maintenance; German version FprEN1 50308:2013
For off-shore wind farms no Standard is availible
© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 1 FprEN: Draft European Standard for formal vote 18 April 2016 23
On national German level there are some recommendations available:
VdS Schadenverhütung GmbH

Publication by the German Insures (GDV e.V.) on the issue of loss prevention
VdS 3522en: 2016-01 (01) Offshore Wind Power

http://vds.de/fileadmin/vds_publikationen/vds_3522en_web.pdf
VdS 3523en : 2008-07 (01) Wind turbines: Fire protection guideline

http://vds.de/fileadmin/vds_publikationen/vds_3523en_web.pdf
Deutscher Feuerwehrverband e. V. (DFV)

Fachempfehlung Nr. 1 März 2008 Einsatzstrategien an Windenergieanlagen
www.dfv.org
Content:
• My background

Which are the risks concerning fire?
Due to different sites, sizes and type of operation of

wind turbines the answers are different:
In principle on- and off-shore wind farms need to be

handled differently.
The size of the present serial-production on-shore is

2 to 3 MW, off-shore 5 MW. The rotor diameter as well
as the hub height is more than 100 m.
Two types of operation has to be taken into account:

Manned and unmanned operation.
Sites:
Generally wind farms are erected far away from

settlements due to noise and shadow flicker
Offshore wind farms are mostly far away from

beaches and shipping lanes
No high risk for humans when the wind turbine is on

fire?

If the nacelle and the blades are on fire, burning and

possibly harmful debris can be drifted by the wind.
On-shore there is a risk in the warm

seasons with dry crop or woods
around the wind turbine
Distance between turbine 5D to 7D

If the nacelle and the blades are on fire, burning and

possibly harmful debris can be drifted by the wind.
Off-shore there is a risk to pollute the water

Sizes:
Generally wind turbines are high structures. The fire

endangered nacelle is normally based on a tubular
steel or concrete tower (chimney effect)
Ground based extinction is not possible

due to the height
Fire protection is absolutely necessary

Type of operation:
The technical availability of today’s on-shore wind

turbines is more than 97 per cent.
Most of the time the wind turbines run in unattended

automatic operation.
The wind farms are monitored by remote supervision
Most of the time the wind turbine runs unmanned

Manned Operation during erection, commissioning,

maintenance and repair.
In the blade In the tower

Manned Operation:
Rescue from height must always

be guaranteed.
Escape routes are long and

vertical !!!
In the blades and in the hub only one exit is available
From the nacelle roping down is possible, needs time

Manned Operation:
The risk for fire is high if the turbine is not under

normal conditions, e.g. in case of failures or during
erection and commissioning the electrical system
Automatic CO2 extinguishing systems shall not be

used

Which are basic requirements for the staff?
• Adequate personal protective equipment PPE

• Limited number of persons at the nacelle, hub,
rotor blade
• Adequate escape routes
• Safety equipment
• Communication systems
• Speak one language
• Education
• Repeated safety instruction
• Training, training, training, training, .....

Content:
• My background

How can fire develop in wind turbines?
Sources of the fire on a wind turbine:
Lightning strokes: Wind turbines are exposed

structures.
Overheating of components
(bearings, gears, windings, .....)
Short circuits
Sabotage by opponents

Components of a wind turbine which can burn
Rotor blade: composite structures with resin
Gearbox: Grease, oil
Generator: Insulation material
Nacelle: Housing (GRP), cables, hydraulic oil
Inverter systems: Electronics, cables
Transformers: Oil, cables, insulation material

Content:
• My background

How can fire be prevented, detected and
protected?
Due to the unattended operation for along period the

wind turbines must be monitored automatically by a
huge amount of sensors:
Monitoring systems: e.g. CMS Systems
Data acquisition systems with automatic alarms
Camera monitoring
Regular inspection and maintenance

Example: Sensors of today‘s wind turbines
Lightning detectors
Wind vane
Anemometer Strain gauges
Displacement transducer Oil temperatures
Blade pitch position Rotor speed indicator
Outside temperature Rotor azimuth position
Nacelle position Accelerometer
Current transformer Temperature gauges
Icing sensor
Switches and contactors
Pressure transducer Power transducer
Example: IEC 61400 - 24 Lightning protection
receptor
Down conductor
Down conductor Metal mesh
Steel wire
Ref.: IEC 61400-24

Content:
• My background

Which are the “wind energy specific
challenges”?
Due to the unattended operation for along period the

wind turbines must be monitored automatically by a
huge amount of sensors:

Content:
• My background

Conclusion
Wind energy is a relatively young but fast growing

branch. The development of Standards is far behind
the wind turbine techniques.
The wind turbines have been grown in numbers and

sizes very fast. Effort by the manufacturers is always
laid on the development of the latest model.
The technology of the “old models” has been not

improved. This is mostly true for the safety
equipment.
The branch is not very sensitive for fire protection

Recommendations
Bring stakeholders together for the development of

international procedures and standards
Harmonised training of O&M staff has to be pushed
Safety equipment has to be harmonised
Install a data base for accidents and incidents
More research is necessary

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Wind Turbine Fire Protection

Symposium on Fire Protection for a Changing World

Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 1

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 2

Wind energy research and education

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 4

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 5

with the motto

„To understand the wind turbine as a whole“

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 6

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 7

Largest serial turbine

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 9

Source: BWE, 2016

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 12

Today’s wind turbines are characterized by:

• MegaWatt to Multi MegaWatt size

• low noise operation

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 15

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 16

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven offshore

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 18

Wind energy is an international business and fast

The development of the size and technology grows

Only a relatively few number of wind turbines burned

HSE1 and fire protection are usually national affairs

Source: IWES 2016

It is more difficult on an European level

It is nearly impossible on an international level

Many stakeholders must be involved!

Industry, authorities, associations, standardisation

On an international level the IEC TC 88 is responsible for wind turbine

IEC 61400 - 1 Design requirements

The International Electrotechnical Vocabulary IEV 415 (wind turbines)

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 22

On European level the CENELEC is responsible for wind turbines

For off-shore wind farms no Standard is availible

VdS Schadenverhütung GmbH

VdS 3522en: 2016-01 (01) Offshore Wind Power

VdS 3523en : 2008-07 (01) Wind turbines: Fire protection guideline

Deutscher Feuerwehrverband e. V. (DFV)

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 25

Due to different sites, sizes and type of operation of

In principle on- and off-shore wind farms need to be

The size of the present serial-production on-shore is

Two types of operation has to be taken into account:

Generally wind farms are erected far away from

Offshore wind farms are mostly far away from

No high risk for humans when the wind turbine is on

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 27

If the nacelle and the blades are on fire, burning and

On-shore there is a risk in the warm

Distance between turbine 5D to 7D

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 28

If the nacelle and the blades are on fire, burning and

Off-shore there is a risk to pollute the water

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 29

Generally wind turbines are high structures. The fire

Ground based extinction is not possible

Fire protection is absolutely necessary

© Prof. Dipl. - Ing. Henry Seifert, Hochschule Bremerhaven 18 April 2016 30

The technical availability of today’s on-shore wind