Modular towers and the quest for stronger wind

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Taller towers for wind turbines make sense in many ways. For instance, an 80-m tower can let modern 2 to 3-MW wind turbines produce more power than if  installed at 60 m, and taller towers will let larger turbines enter the market. Taller towers also allow putting turbines in less turbulent winds, …

Scanning Spot Laser Sensor Speeds Welding of Wind Towers

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: A new, scanning-spot laser sensor designed to automate and speed the manufacture of wind towers and other structures containing metal of different thickness has been launched by Meta Vision Systems. Designated DLS200, the sensor is produced at the company's factory in Eynsham, Oxfordshire. The th …

28-port Ethernet switch configures in the field

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: A manufacturer of industrial and commercial machine-to-machine networking equipment has released an industrial managed Ethernet switch platform. The EL228, a 28-port switch from Sixnet Inc, Ballston Lake, N.Y., combines the reliability and redundancy required of demanding industrial environments …

First Assess the Site, Then Build the Wind Farm

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Wind developers come in all sizes. For those who would like to offset their electric bills with a small turbine or two, local ordinances provide sufficient guidance and permission. But those who would like to install units capable of generating a few megawatts and more will have to do a little homew …

Tools for Torque, Tools for Tension

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Wind turbine OEMs provide plenty of guidelines and instructions for tightening the bolts on their equipment. Each bolt gets a prescribed torque or tension. Bolts that fasten tower flanges, for instance, are often tightened to 2065 ft-lb. while foundation bolts are assigned a particular tension. Tens …

Simulations Key to More Efficient Wind Farms

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: How can a wind-turbine OEM as well as their countless suppliers squeeze more power from the wind using already well  developed equipment? Even a small efficiency increase would be welcome. The viability of the business depends on it. The wind business is also counting on such gains to improv …

Guiding 200,000 Amps Safely to Ground

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: A main lightning discharge is characterized by rapidly rising current that peaks at about 200,000 Amps and averages  about 30,000 Amps over its duration. Even though the event is over in milliseconds, there is great potential for harm  to personnel and damage to equipment. Personnel working around …

National Labs and OEMs Have Lots of Ideas, Suggestions for Suppliers

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: The recent Wind Power Explained conference, presented at the Design and Manufacture Expo in Chicago, presented a full day of discussions to attendees on topics from the Department of Energy, NREL, Sandia Labs, GE Energy, Northern Wind, and Clipper Windpower. Here’s a sampling: “The DOE re …

Nonglare LEDs Make it Easier to See in the Tower

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Standard fluorescent lamps with an emergency lighting feature have been used to light the insides of turbine towers, but they suffer several drawbacks. For instance, installing them takes a lot of time and work, their maintenance intervals are relatively brief, and the lamps have a short servi …

No Shortage of Amusing Wind Turbine Ideas

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Arizona State architectural student, identified only as Joe, says his idea is to retrofit horizontal steel structures that currently hold freeway signs with two horizontal-axis wind turbines powered by the turbulence from passing cars. (Joe admits borrowing the turbine design from U.K. based quietre …