Yaw and pitch drives for wind turbines

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Excerpt: Series 700T slew drives from Bonfiglioli USA, Hebron, Kentucky, come in 13 sizes with output as high as 70,000 Nm thanks to planetary gearing with up to three stages. Output shaft with integral pinion rides on wide-span, high-load bearings. A robust housing features low or raised mounting flange. In …

Small and Community Wind Conference, Nov 3 to 5, 2009 Detroit

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Excerpt: An AWEA sponsored conference and exhibition called AWEA Small and Community Wind will be held in Detroit, Mich., November 3 to 5, 2009. Join wind industry leaders, new entrants to the industry, project developers, economic development groups, municipalities, land owners and other allied organization …

Full day wind session at Design & Manufacturing Midwest

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Excerpt: In collaboration with Canon Communications, Windpower Engineering (www.windpowerengineering.com) and Design World (www.designworldonline.com) will be primary media sponsors for a one-day session titled, “Wind Power Explained – Design and Component Integration.” The session will be colocated at …

Gearboxes for pitch drives

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Excerpt: Pitch drives are located at the base of turbine blades to turn them so they capture wind or let it pass. Limited space and reliability requirements have led Wittenstein, Bartlett, Ill, to develop the alpha TP+ and alpha SP+ drives for those applications and others. Adding sensors to the drive …

Turbine said to tolerate 168 mph winds

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Excerpt: A high-wind version of a vertical axis wind turbine is said to withstand jetstream-like 168 mph winds and extreme weather conditions. The High Wind Windspire from Mariah Power, Reno, Nevada, will feature a shorter version of the company’s giromill straight blade design and its current generato …

Teeter bearing help wind turbines Sssssssh

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Excerpt: A few early wind turbines in the U.K. drew considerable criticism because they were noisy, So Wind Energy Group Ltd. (WEG) paid more attention to acoustic isolation in the recent MS-3 turbine. The primary noise-attenuation feature was a Metalastik Spherilastik “teeter” bearing from Trellebo …

Lithium batteries for renewable-energy backup

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Excerpt: Stationary batteries provide electrical power to systems during power outages. They are used in equipment dedicated to stabilizing voltages by eliminating irregularities in systems that generate electrical power. The batteries can hold large loads temporarily as utility power switches from one g …

Vertical axis turbine works well atop office building

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Excerpt: One forecast for small scale wind generators (sometimes called microgeneration) has them providing 30 to 40% of all the UK’s electricity needs by 2050. The British Wind Energy Association hints that with price trends for crude oil continuing up, the cost of small scale wind could be competitiv …

Three generator designs serve many turbines

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Excerpt: ABB says it has developed permanent magnet (PM) generators for applications that call for direct drives, and medium and high-speed. The electrical performance of individual generators can be tweaked for best performance in cooperation with the wind-turbine OEM. For a closer look: A low-speed gear …

Case Western Reserve U to install three wind turbines

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Excerpt: The Ohio Third Frontier Commission Wright Projects Program has recommended awarding a $3 million grant to Case Western Reserve University's Case School of Engineering and its Great Lakes Energy Institute. The funds, combined with contributions from industry partners, will support a $6 million resear …