Assignment # 1

Energy Resources and Utilization ME 463

Reference book: Please check email attachment
Due date : May 05 - 2014

1. Define following terms:

a. Total power, maximum power and actual power
b. Betz limit
c. Tip speed ratio, torque and thrust
d. Cut-in, cut-out (aka Furling) wind speed,
e. Pitch controlled and stall controlled wind turbine
f. Rotor solidity and swept area
g. Optimum spacing between wind turbines in wind farm
2. Describe working of wind turbines and different parts. Show that Pmax = 0.593 Ptotal
3. Define Wind power probability density functions. Describe Weibull and
Rayleigh statistics.

4. Draw lift, drag diagram on a 3d wind turbine blade and also show the direction of
incoming wind, relative wind direction and rotor direction of rotation. Take at least
three sections at hub, mid and tip region of blade.
5. A horizontal-axis wind turbine with rotor 20 meters in diameter is 30% efficient in
10 m/s winds at 1 atmosphere of pressure and 15o C.
a. How much power would it produce in those winds?
b. Estimate the air density on a 2500 m mountaintop at 10 oC.
c. Estimate the power the turbine would produce on that mountain with the
same wind speed assuming its efficiency is not affected by air density.
6. An anemometer mounted at height of 10 m above a surface with crops, hedges
and shrubs, shows a wind speed of 5 m/s. Assuming 15 oC and 1 atm pressure,
determine the following for a wind turbine with hub height 60 m and rotor diameter
of 60 m :
a. Estimate the wind speed and the specific power in wind at the highest points
that a rotor blade reaches.
b. Repeat (a) at the lowest point at which the blade falls.
c. Compare the ratio of wind power at the two elevations using results of (a)
and (b) and compare that with the ratio obtained with using equation 6.17

from reference book. (You can also use text book given to you in black &
white).
7. Suppose an anemometer mounted at a height of 10 m on a level field with tall
grass shows as average wind speed of 6 m/s.
a. Assuming Rayleigh statistics and standard conditions (15 oC and 1 atm),
estimate the average wind power (W/m2) at height of 80 m.
b. Suppose a 1300 kW wind turbine 60-3 rotor is located in those 80 m winds.
Estimate the annual energy delivered (kWh/yr) if you assume the turbine
has an overall efficiency of 30%.
c. What would the turbines capacity factor be?
8. Consider the Nordex 1.3 MW, 60-m wind turbine with power specification given in
table 6.7 located in an area with 8 m/s average wind speeds.
a. Find the average power in wind (W/m2) assuming Rayleigh statistics.
b. Create the spreadsheet similar to the one developed in example 6.15 to
determine the energy delivered (kWh/year) from this machine.
c. What would be the average efficiency of the wind turbine?
d. If the turbines rotor operates at 70% of the Betz limit, what is the efficiency
of the gearing and generator?
9. A 750 kW wind turbine with 45 m blade diameter operates in a wind regime that is
well characterized by Rayleigh statistics with average wind speed equal to 7 m/s.
assuming the capacity factor correlation (6.65), what is the average efficiency of
this machine?
10. Suppose that 900 W Whisper H900 wind turbine with 7-ft diameter (2.13 m) blade
costs $1600. By the time system is installed and operational, it costs a total of
$2500, which is to be paid for with a 14-yr, 7 percent loan. Assuming O&M costs
of $100/yr, estimate the cost per Kwhr over the 15-year period if average wind
speed at hub height is 15 mph (6.7 m/s).

11. Suppose that a NEG Micon 750/48 (750-kW generator, 48-m rotor) wind turbine is
mounted on a 50-m tower in an area with 5 m/s average winds at 10 m height.
Assuming standard air density, Rayleigh statistics, Class 1 surface roughness, and
an overall efficiency of 30%, estimate the annual energy (kWh/yr) delivered.
12. Design the rotor radius for a multi-blade wind turbine that operates in a wind speed
of 45 kmph to pump water at a rate of 8 m3/hr with lift of 10 m. Also, calculate the
angular velocity fo the rotor in rpm and m/s. Given: Water density 1000 kg/m3, g =
9.81 m/s, water pump efficiency = 60%, efficiency of rotor to pump = 80 %, Cp =
0.3, TSR = 3.0 and air density = 1.225 kg/m3.

Practice questions:
Example 6.12, example 6.9, question 6.15, question 6.10, example 6.19, example 6.15

Figure 1 Question # 6

Figure 2 Question # 9