How do wind turbines work?

 If the wind blows the blades then the engine attached to the blades generates electricity. 

How does the wind move the blades?

The blades are made up of many airfoil interfaces of different sizes and shapes from the bottom to the tip. Simple airfoil technology makes the blades rotate, and as the fluid flows through the blades, the lifting force is generated, thus creating the most basic rotation. The closer to the tip, the higher the blade speed and the more inclined the relative wind speed. 

Due to noise and mechanical strength problems, the blade speed is too low to generate effective power output, so the speed needs to be increased with a gearbox before connecting to the generator. The gearbox uses planetary gears for a high speed ratio and brakes to stop the blades from spinning when the wind gets too high. The resulting power is sent via cable to a boost transformer in the base station. To maximize the power, the wind turbine should be directly facing the wind direction, and a Velocity sensor is installed on the top of the engine room to measure the wind speed and direction. The wind deviation is sent to the electronic controller, which in turn sends the appropriate signal to the yaw mechanism to correct the error, and the yaw motor turns the cabin. So the wind turbine is always facing the wind, and the relative speed Angle of the wind changes as the speed of the wind changes. The blade tilting mechanism tilts the blades and ensures alignment of the blades with relative velocity so that the blades are always at the best Angle.

Wind turbine blade is basically composed of polyester resin, vinyl resin, epoxy resin and other thermosetting matrix resin and e-glass fiber, S-glass fiber, carbon fiber and other reinforced materials, through manual laying or resin injection molding process composite. 

For the same matrix resin, the strength and stiffness of the blades made of glass fiber reinforced composites are worse than that of the blades made of carbon fiber reinforced composites. Due to the price factor, the reinforcement materials used in blade manufacturing are mainly glass fiber. With the increase of blade length, the blade has put forward new requirements on the strength and rigidity of reinforced materials, and the glass fiber has gradually appeared deficiencies in the performance of large composite blade manufacturing. In order to ensure that the blade can safely bear the external load such as wind temperature, the fan blade can be made of glass fiber/carbon fiber hybrid composite structure, especially in the flanges and other parts which require high material strength and stiffness, carbon fiber is used as the reinforcement material. In this way, not only can the bearing capacity of the blade be improved, but also the damage caused by lightning strike can be effectively avoided due to the electrical conductivity of the carbon fiber. Grinding is one of the necessary processes. It is the step of surface preparation for the next coating process after the blade is formed and assembled. For example, similar to the construction site of ground leveling, bulldozer or flatten the ground. Only when the surface of the workpiece is flat can the next process be continued. Grinding is one of the necessary processes. It is the step of surface preparation for the next coating process after the blade is formed and assembled. For example, similar to the construction site of ground leveling, bulldozer or flatten the ground. Only when the surface of the workpiece is flat can the next process be continued. Because of the large size and complex surface of wind turbine blade, grinding and polishing is very difficult.

For the wind power industry, Moresuperhard offers cutting, grinding, polishing solutions:

1. The standard grinding methods for blades are deep slow feed and reciprocating grinding.

2. The grinding wheel is usually a large hole, to ensure that the coolant can effectively enter the grinding area, avoid burns, and improve the capacity to accommodate metal chips, to avoid blocking the grinding wheel.

3. We also provide the corresponding high precision diamond dressing roller.

---EDITOR: Doris Hu

---POST: Doris Hu