Wind data from tall towers without their purchase

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Met towers are a must for a proper site assessment. But it takes a while to get them ordered, shipped, and erected, and their cost gets close to $100,000. Wouldn’t it be great to get the wind data without the tower? Engineers at WindPole Ventures agree, and so have devised a way to acquire rea …

Plating protects fittings against corrosion

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: A proprietary plating gives hydraulic fittings protection against red rust. This helps users avoid the cost of corrosion which is calculated in terms of possible leak points and replacement fittings, along with potential lost sales stemming Parker TFD fittings and those from five major competito …

Intelligent vibration monitoring for wind plants

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: An early failure indicator in wind-turbine equipment is a change in its vibration level. On a typical wind turbine, bearing failure and gearbox damage are major causes of turbine downtime. Key to detecting potential failure of wind turbine equipment before it happens is a continuous monitoring o …

Strong wind, weak policy in Wyoming

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Land procurement and development for wind farms is no walk-in-the-park. Obstacles, such as zoning and lack of transmission right-of-ways, are hampering current projects, but even more troubling are new obstacles state legislatures and city councils are implementing, such as those recen …

New ventilation ideas clean the air in plants

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: The blades on wind turbines, and to some extent nacelles, are now made of composites, often fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP) and in some cases carbon fibers. When these components come out of a mold, they require a little grinding and milling that put dust and debris into a plant’s air. Althou …

Pressure and temperature transmitters 101

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Joe Arena/Director, Industrial Automation, North America Kevin Liekweg/Sensors Application Manager, Industrial Automation, North America Danfoss/Baltimore, Md. / www.danfoss.com/ia The harsh conditions in a turbine nacelle give pressure and temperature sensors a critical role ensuring equipment …

Bearing and steel manufacturer unveils many new products

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: By making investments during the recession to expand its wind power offering and capacity domestically and internationally, The Timken Company, in Booth 2803, has introduced what it says is a record number of new product developments for the industry. For example, the manufacturer of propriet …

Intelligent vibration monitoring for wind plants

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Bob Drexel/Vibration Product Manager/ifm efector/Exton, Penn./ifm.com/us An early failure indicator in wind-turbine equipment is a change in its vibration level. On a typical wind turbine, bearing failure and gearbox damage are major causes of turbine downtime. Key to detecting potential fail …

How to monitor 975 turbines at 14 wind plants

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Invenergy owns and operates just such a fleet in the U.S., along with other clean energy generation facilities in North America and Europe. To help maintenance personnel track multiple sensor signals at each site, the firm selected SmartSignal Corp. (smartsignal.com) to install SmartSignal EPI*C …

The next generation in wind power asset management

Archived; click post to view.
Excerpt: Wind operators must squeeze out every watt they can when the wind is blowing. To do so, wind projects must be reliable and maintained with minimum cost. With variable winds, high costs, and slim margins, everything has to work right to make sure that wind is attractive alternative power and a sound …