Compact design, low tower head mass, and good transportability: The generator\u00a0developed in the EcoSwing research project, is to be used in the next generation of multi-\u00a0megawatt turbines. To demonstrate practical feasibility of the superconductive concept, a test\u00a0campaign on Fraunhofer IWES\u2019 nacelle test bench followed by a field test on a two-blade\u00a0turbine in Denmark was conceived. This first part at IWES is now completed and the experts at\u00a0Fraunhofer IWES can confirm that this concept showed good results due to the functionality of\u00a0the overall system. The testing of this high-temperature superconducting generator presented\u00a0the test engineers with numerous challenges that were successfully addressed with special\u00a0adaptions.<\/p>\n
Sometimes less really is more: 40 per cent less weight and smaller dimensions than a\u00a0comparable permanent magnet synchronous generator \u2013 these EcoSwing features are only\u00a0possible thanks to superconductivity. With this solution just a fraction of the magnetically\u00a0active material is required to outperform the power density of conventional generators. Since\u00a0superconductors have practically no electrical resistance, the size of the conductor cross-\u00a0section can be drastically reduced. This is a highly promising property for the development of\u00a0future turbine generations.
\n“As world first, we stepped up in applying superconducting technology with the\u00a0ambitious project EcoSwing. In order to reduce uncertainties, new technology needs testing\u00a0under realistic conditions. The DyNaLab provided the opportunity to test under definable\u00a0conditions and gain reliable results,” says Jesper Hansen, Senior Project Manager at Envision\u00a0Energy.<\/p>\n
The EcoSwing rotor is made up of two parts which are thermally decoupled by a vacuum\u00a0chamber. The part responsible for the bearing and the mechanical connection of the generator\u00a0rotor is operated at ambient temperatures; the electromagnetic part of the generator rotor is\u00a0designed to operate at cryogenic temperatures. This places particular requirements on the test\u00a0bench: The generator has to be cooled down to 30 K (that is about -240 \u00b0C) using a closed-\u00a0cycle gas cooling. While this was the first time that such a cooling system has been operated at\u00a0Fraunhofer IWES, it got confirmed that this type of cooling performed very reliably.\u00a0Within the framework of EcoSwing, Fraunhofer IWES designed the mechanical\u00a0adaptations for connecting to the test bench and, in doing so, developed and integrated a highly\u00a0accurate measurement system for recording the enormous torques:<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the special drive train concept, the generator is subject to virtually no parasitic\u00a0loads when in use in the turbine, thus this situation also had to be ensured on the test bench. To\u00a0achieve this, the generator was installed and adjusted with highest levels of precision,\u201d said\u00a0Hans Kyling, IWES project leader for EcoSwing, explaining this unique challenge.\u00a0At the same time, a further prerequisite was also all-important: The generator had to be\u00a0fixed in such a way as to allow evasive action when subject to a nominal load. The specific\u00a0adaptation prevented constraining forces from acting on the test object and influencing the test\u00a0data.
\nThe test results are confirmation of the successful validation and excellent functionality\u00a0of the system. The project partners are now looking forward to the field campaign with a 3.6\u00a0MW test turbine from Envision in Denmark. The generator with a diameter of just 4 m will be\u00a0transported there by ship.
\nThe project runs until end of Feb. 2019. The next step, focusing on commercial wind\u00a0applications, is already being planned by the project partners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Compact design, low tower head mass, and good transportability: The generator\u00a0developed in the EcoSwing research project, is to be used in the next generation of multi-\u00a0megawatt\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":18833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","_ms_company":[]},"categories":[7325],"tags":[7632,5639,753],"class_list":["post-1560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wind-energy-sector-news","tag-ecoswing","tag-generator","tag-turbines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18214,"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560\/revisions\/18214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruzgarenerjisi.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}