Operating Characteristics of wind mills

All wind machines share certain operating characteristics, such as cut-in, rated and cutout wind
speeds.

Cut-in Speed :vCut-in speed is the minimum wind speed at which the blades will turn and generate
usable power. This wind speed is typically between 10 and 16 kmph.

Rated Speed : The rated speed is the minimum wind speed at which the wind turbine will generate
its designated rated power. For example, a "10 kilowatt" wind turbine may not generate 10 kilowatts
until wind speeds reach 40 kmph. Rated speed for most machines is in the range of 40 to 55 kmph.
At wind speeds between cut-in and rated, the power output from a wind turbine increases as the
wind increases. The output of most machines levels off above the rated speed. Most manufacturers
provide graphs, called "power curves," showing how their wind turbine output varies with wind
speed.

Cut-out Speed: At very high wind speeds, typically between 72 and 128 kmph, most wind turbines
cease power generation and shut down. The wind speed at which shut down occurs is called the cut-
out speed. Having a cut-out speed is a safety feature which protects the wind turbine from damage.
Shut down may occur in one of several ways. In some machines an automatic brake is activated by a
wind speed sensor. Some machines twist or "pitch" the blades to spill the wind. Still others use
"spoilers," drag flaps mounted on the blades or the hub which are automatically activated by high
rotor rpm's, or mechanically activated by a spring loaded device which turns the machine sideways
to the wind stream. Normal wind turbine operation usually resumes when the wind drops back to a
safe level.

Betz Limit : It is the flow of air over the blades and through the rotor area that makes a wind turbine
function. The wind turbine extracts energy by slowing the wind down. The theoretical maximum
amount of energy in the wind that can be collected by a wind turbine's rotor is approximately 59%.
This value is known as the Betz limit. If the blades were 100% efficient, a wind turbine would not
work because the air, having given up all its energy, would entirely stop. In practice, the collection
efficiency of a rotor is not as high as 59%. A more typical efficiency is 35% to 45%. A complete wind
energy system, including rotor, transmission, generator, storage and other devices, which all have
less than perfect efficiencies, will deliver between 10% and 30% of the original energy available in
the wind.

(A German physicist Albert Betz concluded in 1919 that no wind turbine can convert more than
16/27 (59.3%) of the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical energy turning a rotor. To this day,
this is known as the Betz Limit or Betz' Law. The theoretical maximum power efficiency of any design
of wind turbine is 0.59 (i.e. no more than 59% of the energy carried by the wind can be extracted by
a wind turbine). This is called the “power coefficient” and is defined as: C pmax= 0.59

Also, wind turbines cannot operate at this maximum limit. The Cp value is unique to each turbine
type and is a function of wind speed that the turbine is operating in. Once we incorporate various
engineering requirements of a wind turbine - strength and durability in particular - the real world
limit is well below the Betz Limit with values of 0.35-0.45 common even in the best designed wind
turbines. By the time we take into account the other factors in a complete wind turbine system - e.g.
the gearbox, bearings, generator and so on - only 10-30% of the power of the wind is ever actually
converted into usable electricity.)

Energy developed for different rotor diameter

 Slip power

• The portion of air gap power, which is not converted into mechanical power, is called slip
power. Slip power is nothing but multiplication of slip (s) and

• air gap power (P ag) Slip power = s (P ag)

Slip Power Recovery (Static Kramer System)

• The slip power recovery configuration behaves similarly to a conventional induction

generator with very large slip, but in addition energy is recovered from the rotor.

• The rotor power is first carried out through slip rings, then rectified and passed through a DC
link to a line-commutated inverter and into the grid. The rest of the power comes directly
from the stator as it normally does.

• A disadvantage with this system is that it can only allow super-synchronous variable speed
operation

Cycloconverter (Static Scherbius System)

• A cycloconverter is a converter,

• which converts AC voltage of one frequency to another frequency without an intermediate

• DC link. When a cycloconverter is connected to the rotor circuit, sub and super-synchronous
operation variable speed operation is possible.

• In supersynchronous operation, this configuration is similar to the slip power recovery.

• In addition, energy may be fed into the rotor, thus allowing the machine to generate at sub-
synchronous speeds.

• For that reason, the generator is said to be doubly fed

Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG)

• allow the generator output voltage and frequency to be maintained at constant values, no
matter the generator rotor speed (and thus, no matter the wind speed,

• this is achieved by feeding ac currents of variable frequency and amplitude into the
generator rotor windings.

• By adjusting the amplitude and frequency of the ac currents fed into the generator rotor
windings, it is possible to keep the amplitude and frequency of the voltages (at stator)
produced by the generator constant, despite variations in the wind turbine rotor speed (and,
consequently, in the generator rotation speed) caused by fluctuations in wind speed.