Design Fabrication And Evaluation Of Mini Wind Turbine (For Electricity Generation)
Introduction
1.1 Background of Study
Power has been extracted from the wind over hundreds of years with historic designs, known as windmills, constructed from wood, cloth and stone for the purpose of pumping water or grinding corn. With the evolution of mechanical insight and technology, the last decades of the 20th century, in particular, saw the development of machines which efficiently extract power from wind. ”Wind turbines” is now being used as a generic term for machines with rotating blades that convert the kinetic energy of wind into useful power. Wind turbines can rotate about either a horizontal or a vertical axis, the former being both older and more common.
Wind turbines convert wind energy to electricity for distribution. Conventional wind turbines can be divided into three components
The rotor component, which includes the blades for converting wind energy to low speed rotational energy
The generator component includes the electrical generator, the control electronics, and most likely a gearbox adjustable-speed drive or continuously variable transmission component for converting the low speed incoming rotation to high speed rotation suitable for generating electricity.
The structural support component, which includes the tower and other supporting structures and foundation.
1.2 Problem Statement
With the dawn of modern technology, there became a need for cleaner, greener and renewable forms of energy for industrial and commercial uses. Over the decades, different forms of renewable energy for power generation have been discovered such as tidal power (form of hydropower that converts the energy of the tides into electricity or other useful forms of power), wave power (transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work), solar power (conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaic, or indirectly using concentrated solar power), hydroelectricity (production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water), bioenergy (energy made available from materials derived from biological forms such as biomass), and so on.
Wind energy is one of the various forms of renewable energy used for the power generation by extraction of air flow to produce mechanical or electrical power. Wind power as an alternative to fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation, and uses little land. The net effects on the environment are far less problematic than those of non-renewable power.
Wind turbines are devices that convert the wind’s kinetic energy into electrical power. It is an effective machine for harnessing wind energy for power generation. The result of over a millennium of windmill development and modern engineering, today’s wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of horizontal axis and vertical axis types. The smallest turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power. Slightly larger turbines can be used for making small contributions to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid.
1.3 Objectives of Study
The aims of this project are;
To design and construct a mini wind turbine.
To couple electricity generator to the wind turbine to generate electricity.
To test-run the wind turbine powered electricity
1.4 Limitation of the Project
The developed mini wind turbine was specifically designed and fabricated to carry load not greater than 200 watt.
1.5 Significance of Study
The design and production of the mini wind turbine is aimed at discovering effective methods of harvesting wind energy for electrical power generation to be utilized for purposes that require energy where there is no electric grid, or where the grid is unstable. It can provide a very prominent source of electricity supply for those at the sea coasts where there is strong sea wind.
Leave a Comment