Superconducting cables closer to commercialization

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Excerpt: A developer of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials and associated technologies says General Cable Superconductors Ltd. (GCS) has completed testing of STI's second generation (2G) HTS wire. General Cable Superconductors, a HTS continuously transposed cable provider in New Zealand, develo …

Turbine Manufacturers 101

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Excerpt: Original equipment manufacturers are the brand-name turbine producers. They do most of the turbine research although often with the assistance of government labs such as Risø in Denmark and the NREL in the U.S. These companies are responsible for most of what goes into the nacelle. Although they ma …

Towers 101

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Excerpt: Turbines erected in the 1970s and 1980s may have been perched on lattice towers, a design that can scale to 200 ft and more. However, for the protection of the techs who must climb the towers, it make more sense to build them from rolled steel. These protect the technician in long climbs, and better …

Wind Measurement Systems 101

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Excerpt: Wind measurement systems: Measuring wind speed and direction is now done at least three ways: mechanically (cup anemometer with a vane), with ultrasonics, or with laser-based devices. There are variations to each. Mechanical sensors, for instance, use moving parts and can connect to data recording d …

Site Assessment 101

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Excerpt: A first step in the development of a wind farm is to identify land with sufficient wind to support a commercial project. This calls for a series of studies, one of which is the wind-study assessment that looks at historical wind data. There may be a meteorological or met tower in the area that has a …

A better way to let a turbine “talk”

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Excerpt: Ethernet interfaces to wind turbines were previously operated mostly by Scada and control stations. A connection to a controller is implemented mainly using discrete data signals. Bachmann’s Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) Client now accesses the Ethernet interface and acts in a similar way …

Owners & Developers 101

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Excerpt: Owners and developers of wind projects play a crucial role in the industry, but it’s often unclear who does what. Developers are contracted by the project owner to plan and develop a project, often from the beginning stages of site assessment through the final stage of commissioning. Developers wi …

Tools 101

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Excerpt: One of the great efforts of wind-turbine OEMs is to take cost out their products without lowering quality. One way to do so is in manufacturing with special tools. For instance, a particular profile on a turbine hub often required several tools and machining techniques to impart required features. I …

Operations & Maintenance 101

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Excerpt: Maintenance crews acknowledge that frequent lubrications with small amounts of grease extend the working life of bearings and seals. But long hours of hub crawling is physically and mentally demanding work. To minimize that work, centralized and automated lubrication systems are useful. One version …

Large aperture design makes it easy to monitor circuit to 1,200A

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Excerpt: The DT Series Large Aperture Current Transducers combines a hall effect sensor and signal conditioner into a single package for use in dc-current applications up to 1,200 amps. Factory calibrated ranges simplify operation and eliminate zero and span pots. Industry standard 4 to 20 mA, 0 to 5 Vdc …