An innovative electronic system for testing the performance of wind turbines is presented. The main goal of the system is to increase the accuracy in the measurements of torque and speed for each steady-state point of the turbine characteristic power curve. Another useful advantage provided by the electronic control is given by the possibility of fine tuning the load in order to obtain a large number of steady state experimental points describing the characteristic curve of the turbine. Moreover, the system is suitable for integration into an automatic data acquisition and control system. In the paper the main characteristics of the electronic system are described and compared with a traditional system. This electronic control system is used for testing a small Vertical Axis Wind Turbine in a wind tunnel. The wind turbine is directly coupled to a direct current electric generator, and a chopper, electronically controlled by means of a Pulse Width Modulator, is used to supply the circuit. The electric generator is used for braking the wind turbine at various speeds during the performance test. The experimental results obtained through the proposed system are presented and discussed.
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November 2001
Technical Papers
Automatic System for Wind Turbine Testing
S. M. Camporeale,
S. M. Camporeale
Dipartimento di Meccanica e Materiali, Universita` di Reggio Calabria, Italy
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B. Fortunato,
B. Fortunato
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Gestionale, Politecnico di Bari, Italy
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S. M. Camporeale
Dipartimento di Meccanica e Materiali, Universita` di Reggio Calabria, Italy
B. Fortunato
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Gestionale, Politecnico di Bari, Italy
G. Marilli
Alcatel, Italy
Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for publication in the ASME JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING. Manuscript received by the ASME Solar Energy Division, Feb. 2000; final revision, Jun. 2001. Associate Editor: D. Berg.
J. Sol. Energy Eng. Nov 2001, 123(4): 333-338 (6 pages)
Published Online: June 1, 2001
Article history
Received:
February 1, 2000
Revised:
June 1, 2001
Citation
Camporeale, S. M., Fortunato, B., and Marilli, G. (June 1, 2001). "Automatic System for Wind Turbine Testing ." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. November 2001; 123(4): 333–338. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1404432
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