General description of turbine
Chalmers wind turbine has variable speed operation with a direct driven generator and a frequency converter, it also has a digital control system developed by Chalmers. The wind turbine has a rated power of 45 kW and rated speed of 75 rpm. The wooden tower is 30 m high, the blades of carbon fibres are 7.5 m long, and the turbine diameter is 15.9 m. The individually blade pitch system is electrical. The wind turbine is simulated in FAST and Ashes.
Location of Chalmers wind turbine
The turbine is situated on the island Björkö at Skarviksvägen, 20 km west of Göteborg city. The site is available by public transportation and some walking.
The coordinates are: 57.71818820625921, 11.683382148764485
Control and measurements equipment at Chalmers wind turbine
The wind turbine is equipped with a measurement and control system built up around the hardware Compact Rio from National Instrument. The code is made in Labview. The system has a control loop with the sampling period of 10 ms. Some measurements are done with the rate of 5 ms. The turbine controller with measurements is connected via EtherCat bus to an expansion chassis in the nacelle and tower.
Research possibilities
Chalmers with its partners have designed and erected the wind turbine, with full control of design, drawings, hardware, and software. Turbine simulation models have been developed in FAST, Ashes and Vidyn. The control program is developed and implemented by the staff of Chalmers. The wind turbine can be used for different types of wind turbine research. Research collaborations can be small investigations, for example checking tower eigenfrequencies, or a larger one about for example lifetime estimation of pitch bearings due to frequency control or wake development in complex terrain. There can also be a project with the wind turbine in a micro grid and control of the voltage in the grid by reactive power control from the converter.
