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Bit stumpped how this works.. (wind Turbine)

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large_ghostman

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I have just started taking another set of turbines down, same pretty much as last lot. On looking at some pics i took while taking the first lot down, I discover that they dont seem to work at all like the 3 page manual said they do!

the manual offers no real information, but from discussions with other people who have had turbines, the following is a basic run down of how we saw it.

Blades turn a generator and Dc goes down into the panel where some kind of inverter changed it to three phase, from there through to a three phase meter and out onto the grid...
Some the things I actually know about these particular turbines. the generator has both a weak mechanical and some kind of electric brake on it, none of the break cables were thicker than telephone cable. The optimum output voltage was 600V DC. The generator was controlled speed wise via motor control system made by ABB systems, the same kind of units use to control and monitor conveyor belt motors.

The pics I have are not good, but I might have a chance to take better ones if the panels havnt been completely dismantled. The real question I need answering is, how was the 600V DC change to 3 phase? The unit I assumed was the inverter i am pretty sure is actually a motor control unit.

Why do I need to know? Well despite the brakes being stuck on (they wont be needed anyhow), the units are around 5.6KW each and I have three of them. I will have the panels etc shortly, and the idea is to try and match them to a PTO type set up for off site generation. Anyway take a look at the pics I have so far and see what you think. The company who made them has gone bust, the company who took over will offer no help whatsoever and have been agressive to save the least.

Capture1.PNG

The generator itself is between the red lines, I can take better pics now the shrouds are off and the coupling. They are really heavy coming in around 480Kg each, The green box is part of this 'warner brake' system, i dont think i actually need the brake for what we want to do.

cap2.PNG

The red arrow shows what i was told was the inverter, a close up dosnt show much so again I can take more pics.

Sorry the rest look corrupted! I will try and take some more. Any thoughts so far? The sticker on the large ABB units talks about a max 0f 500V AC, however in the other panels are large stickers warning 600VDC?
 
Surprising amount of gear for 5.6KW. Course, to get to 3⌀AC from 600VDC does take some doing.

What were the specs for the 3⌀AC sent to the grid?
 
I wasnt given the specs. this is one of three cabinets, the end one had a small linux pc in!! when i measured the measured the phases all were spot on. But i have no idea how it was done. I am wondering if the stickers are misleading and the generator is actually 3 phase... I got them at home so will take a closer look. They are a mare to move though.

Not sure houch the junk in the cabinets is worth keeping. The output did go into the main grid.
 
From memory the units can knock out nearly 7KW but for some reason there was a panel limit.
These ones had/have PLC control etc, my job was to simply reset them on vibration shut downs and wind over speed. there was a GSM modem to do it remotely.
These ones are vertical axis ones not horizontal, the big ones i look after have alot more information but dont look anything like these.
 
Wind turbines are usually a lot more than just a generator and an inverter. The brakes are there to prevent overspeed. There are also feathering systems to prevent overspeed, but that isn't always enough. Some of the circuitry is to sense and control speed, weathervane position, cooling, phase/grid synchronization, remote controls, network connections, etc. Do you know whether this is a PM or alternator (externally excited field) type turbine?
I doubt that thing you pointed to is a 5.6kw inverter -- it doesn't look nearly big enough, or have any appreciable cooling, or, for that matter any visible busses that could handle 600v at 10+ amps.
 
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Industrial brakes even large ones use dc and at very little current, it doesnt take much energy to create a static magnetic field strong enough to shove 2 brake pads togther.
The inverter is a grid tie jobby, there are diffo kinds, the simplest just switches the dc direct to the mains connection at the right time, and then does so again but with reverse polarity for the second half of the cycle, they call this modified sine wave, but it is for all intents square wave with dead time.
Better ones use a higher freq switching speed, 4khz is common, and then fabricate a sinewave with Pwm and a lookup table, the Abb one most likely does this.
The little contactors are probably there to drop out if the mains fails, you dont want to shove power back into the grid when theres no amins, some poor old engineer down the substation wouldnt like that if they thought power was off.
 
I need a closer look at the generator. You cant see in the pic but the label on the unit talks about AC. The idolator from the turbine to panel was 3 phase from memory....

There was never alot of information on these units, they are still made but by another company, they wont even give out the connection password for the linux monitor. Cost wise you would not believe what these 3 units cost 4 years ago!

Not sure its going to be wroth trying to get any use out of them which is a shame. might flog the metal cabinets etc they came in/

The big units i look after have alot more info and are alternator type, but they are nothing like these. The motor control units on the smaller ones had to keep the rotation speed pretty precise, the brakes started to come on at 11ms wind speed upto 21ms at which point they went over speed and switched off,.

This was from so extra info i dug up, they were taken down because they cost alot more to run thn they produce!!
 
I might have this all wrong, its raining so cant grab a pic yet, the label on the generator and the cable make me think its a alternator. Also mentions alot of figures, one of which says 400VRMS @ 150rm.......which could be good or bad depending, for use i would like 440V at 440 rpm (PTO low speed). But I guess i could gear it down with a sprocket etc. Getting the brakes etc apart is a real *****!! Hex key bending or snapping GRRR
 
got some pics!!
v1.PNG

m7.PNG

other pics are too large apparently!! so will mess with them later. the cable is 5 core, two have earth tape wrapped around them but i wouldnt take that as meaning much.
So as i dont want to assume much, but being an optimist, am i correct in assuming the 600VDC label in the panel is rubbish and the generator kicks out AC around the 400V mark depending on RPM??

I really need good news on these :D
 
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