Variable Speed Wind Turbines were an important milestone in the evolution of the Wind Turbines: they solved the problem of getting the most energy from the wind on an extended wind speed range, maximizing the production for wind speeds below the nominal value. Their behavior imposes particular conditions to the their Drive Trains. The DFIG (Doubly Fed Induction Generator Wind Turbines) and Full Converter families of Wind Turbines are Variable Speed Wind Turbines.
This application facilitates the exploration of the influence of key aspects of the Drive Train (the blade type, wind speed ranges, gearbox ratio, generator synchronous speed, etc.), and the definition of the “Operational Curve”, in the desired wind speed range, and computes the Power Curve and required evolution of the Pitch mechanism: this is a key parameter to size the Pitch mechanism.
It is a key application to explore the influence of modifications (i.e. ‘repowering‘) of existing Wind Turbines, to obtain the new Power Curve, and the check if the existing Pitch mechanism can be used.
