21-08-2012, 12:08 PM
Design and Analysis of Gearbox for Wind Turbine for Campsite at Island.
Design and Analysis.doc (Size: 2.84 MB / Downloads: 83)
PROJECT BACKGROUND
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger.
Wind turbine is generated by moving air. As the sun heats the land, the air above also warms and rises. Cold air then replaces the rising air. This creates the winds that we feel most days of the year. The diagram below shows how this ‘system’ works.
Air tends to warm at a faster rate over land because the land retains its heat. Over the sea the air warms more slowly as heat by the sun is slowly cooled by the cold water. If you visit the seaside or coastal area you will probably find that the weather is more breezy or windy than inland. This is because the warm air rises over the land and cold air over the sea replaces it.
Related by function of wind turbine, our group will be design gearbox for wind turbine that used for campsite at island. Commonly at island is difficult to get electricity. Therefore, the use of wind turbine on the island can solve this problem.
In Malaysia, especially at East Coast, have big potential to build wind power station. Since that there have enough wind moving for wind turbine. In general terms, a site that has at least a half acre of open land and average of 7.4 m/s (average Peninsular Malaysia wind speed from Malaysian Meteorological Department) or higher winds are a good candidate for a wind turbine installation.
Nowadays, we try to find any alternative energy which is safe, friendly, renewal and useful in our life. Wind is one of the solutions which if we use it wisely wind will be our alternative energy support for our life.
Large wind turbine technology is already one of the larger future energy supplies and small wind turbines have a big potential. What is needed for a common use of wind are turbines that meet a specification that is flexible enough for general application and be possible to mount almost everywhere and plug-in to the grid. Wind turbines on the market are often larger, mounted on high towers and need plenty of space around them for safety and efficiency. The only way is therefore to specify flexible wind turbines which need a small space, cheap, low risk to install and high efficiency.
Therefore a gearbox must be placed between the low-speed rotor shaft and the high-speed generator shaft. The main shaft has two bearings to facilitate a possible replacement of the gearbox
SUSTAINABILITY CONSIDERATION
Modern engineering design has been characterised by the incorporation of economic considerations as an inherent and inseparable part of the design process. Ecologically sustainable design would similarly require the incorporation of environmental considerations as an inherent and inseparable part of the design process.
Pre-industrial design tended to evolve over hundreds of years by trial-and-error in what Christopher Jones has called a "slow and costly sequential searching for the invisible lines of a good design". The final result was often "an astonishingly well-balanced result" which was well suited to the needs of the user.
Economic considerations have become an integral part of engineering design and a force for refinement and sophistication of design methods. But this is often at the expense of other design considerations. The increasingly scientific/mathematical nature of engineering design has the drawback that, unlike the former craftsmen, designers are weaker at judging the compatibility of a designed product with its environment and the context of its use.
Environmental considerations tend to be marginalised in the modern design process to the extent that Environmental Impact Statements have been introduced around the world in an effort to ensure that the environment is considered by those designing significant engineering projects. Yet whilst environmental impact statements may deal with the gross impacts of developments on the environment, the environmental considerations that should be considered at the design stage of every product and project of whatever size, such as the choice of materials, layout and processes and the implications that follow from these, remain neglected.
CONCLUSION
Gearbox for wind turbine is a product produce by our group which used to generate electricity from the kinetic energy of the wind. From the design that we make, we can achieve the clean power source that will not produce pollution for the environment.
Turbine systems include a rotor, or blades which convert the wind's energy into rotational shaft energy, a tower to support the rotor and drive train, a nacelle including a gearbox and a generator and electronic equipments such as controls, electrical cables, ground support equipments, and interconnection equipments.
When the rotor rotates, the load on the main shaft is very heavy. It runs with approximate 22 revolutions per minute but generator has to go a lot faster. It cannot use the turning force to increase the number of revolutions and that is why wind turbine uses gear to increase the speed.
From this project, we able to apply design skill through the 3D solidwork software. We also manage to do analysis on gears, bearing and shaft to come out with effective and relevant product. So, we successfully designed the gearbox for wind tubine with consider sustainability, safety factor and economic way.