Just like a wildlife photographer I sat in my MiEV waiting for the moment my subject would appear so that I could get a picture. My patience was rewarded and the following pictures will speak for themselves as to the shear size and weight of this unit. The gearbox, consists of a helical set and two sets of planetary gears. The helical gears are attached to the blades as they take most of the load in the 1:80 ratio to the 690 volt 3 phase generator it drives.
In the pictures you can see the size of the technician carefully guiding the unit out of the nacelle.
To get some idea of the scale here. The single 54 meter blade is about 177 feet long.
Also the weight of this unit is around 20,000 pounds! The unit has its own pressurized lubrication system and many sensors that monitor temperature, pressure and vibration during operation.
Here you can see the lid of the nacelle that was removed being lifted up to be reinstalled. The two hatches in it that allow technicians to go outside of the nacelle can be seen in the picture.
On another note. Just for fun I will be spending some time at the Woodlanders gathering in Mineral Point, WI this coming weekend, Sat. July 14th working with several people interested in learning more about the Quilt Block wind farm and how wind turbines work. This will be a hands on, learning workshop.
Each participant is going to get the materials pictured above. Then we will spend the afternoon designing, building, testing and talking about wind turbines to make one of these...
to take home and put up in their yard for experimentation and demonstration of what they learn about making electricity from the wind. Maybe you want to come and join in the serious fun we will be having.
No comments:
Post a Comment