I’m struggling to find a simple chart which shows turbine Life Cycle Analysis with regard to scale.
A simple graph of gCO2/kWh vs Turbine Rated Power
Does anyone know where to get one?
Energy return on energy invested ERORI used to be a big justification for AWES a decade ago.
And there were charts showing how …
As a normal wind turbine scales the mass becomes stupidly heavy.
Impossible to find
Any advice where I can get one please?
Rigid kites scale in a similar way as wind turbine blades, undergoing almost cubed mass penalty as Dave Santos already pointed that.
Concerning flexible kites, the mass penalty is lesser but not zero. And the flight stresses add constraints making them still less durable. If we have to replace a kite (with tethers) once a year in full operation, we can see that in the end more material will be required. And plastic materials are not indefinitely recyclable, especially if they are composite, unlike aluminum for example (Recyclable Our kites are mostly made of aluminum which can easily be recycled, much better than carbon or glass fiber reinforced plastics, the material conventional wind turbines are mostly made of. Leaving no burden for the future.).
Page 532: “The development originated as an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator
research program from Natick Soldier Systems, whereby iteratively heavier
weight requirements were levied (0.25 ton, 1 ton, 2.25 tons, 4.5 tons, 13.5 tons, and
finally 19 tons). The wing sizes were 36 m2, 102 m2, 250 m2, 350 m2, 900 m2,
and 1,040 m2, respectively.”
With some specific examples of how turbine mass changes with rated power
Anyone ?
ATV atout vent - Blades :
http://atv.tm.free.fr/FT_ATV_02m00.pdf
http://atv.tm.free.fr/FT_ATV_03m00.pdf
http://atv.tm.free.fr/FT_ATV_03m68.pdf
http://atv.tm.free.fr/FT_ATV_04m89.pdf
http://atv.tm.free.fr/FT_ATV_13m40.pdf
http://atv.tm.free.fr/FT_ATV_16m40.pdf
http://atv.tm.free.fr/FT_ATV_23m30.pdf
http://atv.tm.free.fr/FT_ATV_28m30.pdf
Thanks @PierreB there are a few examples in those sheets where blade mass is related to a turbine power.
Same question once again in case anybody knows where a simple reference is …
With some specific examples of how turbine mass changes with rated power
Please
This is still not power to weight
from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266341198_The_Path_from_Functional_to_Detailed_Design_of_a_Coning_Rotor_Wind_Turbine_Concept/figures
Nor is this
https://www.wind-energy-the-facts.org/rotor-and-nacelle-mass.html
Getting closer
The scaling looks quite good on the last image
But surely Mass is growing faster than Power with scale in wind turbines right?
Roddy: From what I remember, turbine mass scaled at somewhat less than the expected cubic function of diameter. I believe one possible reason could have something to do with the fact that as turbine size increases, wind speeds remain ~about~ the same, although I can’t say for sure if that is a true factor.
Another angle is, there are many weight-saving steps that can be taken, depending on how “worth the effort” they are. As turbines get larger, it is more “worth it” to take these weight reduction steps.
At the last conference I vaguely remember the scaling power quoted around 2.63 not cubic
The tower is a hollow cylinder too of course
OR - less than cubic scaling is due to tech advances?
Yes tech advances are part of what I meant by “weight-saving steps”.
Better and faster pitch control and the ability to vary pitch of each blade independently throughout the rotation can reduce excessive loading on blades, hub, and entire drivetrain for example. Then they can use less material. Getting more picky and minimalist about how you design and lay up composites can reduce blade weight. Truncating the trailing edge of the widest part of the blade near the root is another material-saving step. They all add up.
