Numb-nuts 1 Posted December 13, 2011 Unfortunately only this still was published but the high winds in Scotland produced enough free energy to do this to a wind turbine Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fa chris 0 Posted December 13, 2011 Wind Turbines have brake systems to prevent them from going to fast. Here's what happened to one when the brakes failed: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Numb-nuts 1 Posted December 14, 2011 Here's what happened to one when the brakes failed: That must be what happened although it never mentioned anything about brakes. Wind Turbines have brake systems to prevent them from going to fast. Apparently it's not that uncommon looking at you tube. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sawbones 0 Posted December 14, 2011 Wouldn't they just feather the props to a parallel-to-the-wind pitch on those turbine blades in a high wind? (eg. change the blade pitch so that they're no longer at an angle to the wind?) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted December 14, 2011 Maybe they're not variable-pitch design? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sawbones 0 Posted December 14, 2011 Maybe they're not variable-pitch design? I can't imagine they'd be that silly... perhaps there's an engineering reason why they couldn't make the blades variable-pitch? They can do it with aircraft... why not turbines? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted December 14, 2011 Sure it's silly, but you never know... designers do silly things all the time Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fa chris 0 Posted December 14, 2011 Part of the breaking system involves pitch controls to help slow it down, but it's not always fast enough. Mechanical brakes kick in when pitch controls don't slow it down enough. There's some type of electrical braking too I think. Electrical braking is probably what causes the explosions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted December 14, 2011 Electrical braking at its simplest form would be a very low-resistance load across the generator, which would naturally get VERY warm. If they got really hard-core into it, they'd apply a reverse voltage to it (or reverse-phase voltage, if it's an alternator), but I doubt they'd be set up for that in most cases, as you'd need a source of the "braking" power. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Campbell 0 Posted December 15, 2011 See! Wind farms have a carbon footprint too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ljarrald 0 Posted December 15, 2011 i have always wondered how wind turbines/power stations sync the frequency... you can't have them all out of phase, that'd mess things up. as it is the national 'grid' every single power generator in the country has to be synced... how do they do it? does anyone on here know? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
