V-47 Vestas Wind Turbine

[Star Zephyr]

Hello Ron Stauffer,
Really cool to hear about your climbing expeditions and intended ones. About 7 years ago I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru in Tanzania. Kili was an 8 day hike, I can't imaging spending 2-3 weeks doing those other hikes. My son and I like backpacking in New Mexico but those are only about 12k feet. About a month ago we went to Dog Canyon on the north side of the Guadalupe Mountains and hiked in to the back country and did a 14 mile loop through the trails staying at a couple of different camp sites. It was pretty tough because there is no water up there so we had to pack in everything we needed. At least in NM there are streams and lakes up there in those mountains.

So about the Vestas, On the top of the Vestas there is a wind vane and anemometer that sends info to the computer. The computer controls the direction that it points. The blades are always pointing towards the wind. This is also how all wind turbines operate. The computer also controls the pitch of the blades according to the wind speed. As the wind speed increases the blades pitch further back to maintain a constant 28rpm. At one time we did offer a class to anyone that wanted to sign up and learn more about wind turbines and that wanted to climb the tower, but now just offer it only to the Tech engineering class. And yes, we do have to keep the door locked down below otherwise everyone would try and climb up there. Then I'd have to climb up and rescue everyone down that freezes on the ladder and coax them back down. Yes, it happens with the students now and that's no fun. Makes me wonder what they're going to do once they graduate and have to do this for a living.
Well happy windmilling everyone.

[Wayne]

Thanks for the Info. Another person that I admire is the ones who paint and maintain the big radio and internet towers. Climbing that thing out in the open! WOW

[Ron Stauffer]

I havent figured out how the small wind turbines have to turn at such high rpm to make power but a Vestas turns at a similar enough rpm to a 16 Aermotor - why cant they retrofit to produce decent power?

Two videos I found on you tube while waiting for a foot of snow to leave a jobsite

a good overview for the layman
the rigging on this one is great on detail & seeing the whole crane drive forward to set parts was amazing

I was up Guadalupe on the way back from Big Bend NP, doing Emory when there. Stopped at Carlsbad Cavern too and no the high point of the park is not at the top of the elevator. Have been to El Morro, El Malpais, Aldo Leopold, Capulin, & White Sands in NM. Lots of different & varied stuff in NM and AZ.

Doing peaks in Africa is pricier. Most of the countries have figured out American dollars and require guides for their trips. I was really looking forward to doing a site visit for a windmill & solar project in Kenya because it was within 30 miles of Mt Kenya, Africa's second highest. But it got canceled. Doubtful I will make it to Africa since it is not high on my list unless some one else is picking up the tab. Denali is one of the few high summits that doesnt have a guide requirement. Moving all your gear yourself and Denali's weather factor makes it a worthy challenge, Everest with it's price tag & popularity has no appeal. We had nasty weather in Ecuador on the summits and I gained some appreciation of how climbers can get in trouble fast from weather on big mountains.

Ron

[Minnemiller]

Cool videos. I've read the issue with the Aermotor (or any traditonal mill wheel, for that matter) is that it has too much drag to be efficient. The wind gen props are very efficient at sweeping the power out of the wind.
Therefore a 16ft windmill would have less potential than a 16ft wind turbine. Now add to that the gearbox losses and its just not worth it for such a small diameter. If there were a 100' diameter Aermotors (now theres thought ) available for a depreciated price, then it may be worth the hassle for the smaller consumers.

[charris]

The American Windmill Museum is the outside lab for Texas Tech wind engineering dept. Spring and Fall classes are given the opportunity to climb the Museum V47 50-meter tower. Students are not required to climb, simply given a chance. Most make it, some don't. I used to have one of our female employees sit at the midway platform. As the male students came up, they would look up and say "what is that woman doing theer". It gave them some encouragement. All are worn out when they return. The ones that almost always make it without pain and suffering are the smaller girls. It is 150-feet straight up. One ladder. I have made it up in 3 minutes.

The turbine is rated at 660KW. It has two large yaw motors that are controlled by a computer control program. It is always active -always turning to face the wind (upwind design). The generator is an induction generator with all power flowing to the Museum complex. No inverters, no batteries, no slip rings. It is a good design.
Coy Harris

[Wayne]

Hey everybody thanks for all the neat info. Climbing mountains and wind turbines! Coy a question if you slip and fall how far before the safety harness stops you?

[Wayne]

Watched video. Wow great stuff! So much weight standing and reaching for the sky. Never knew how the foundation was before.

[TipTop]

Back in the early 90s I had the oportunity to a private tour of the World's largest wind turbine, the WTS-4 near Medicine Bow, Wy. It was a gov't project (along with a Boeing Mod2 or something,that had been demolished before we went there). The 2 blades total length was 257', Hollow fibreglass, weighing 15 ton each, fitting into a hub assembly weighing 60 ton. Hub center was 262' off the ground. Elevator went most of the distance up the tower.
It had been bought by a private individual, Bill Young, who invited me to come see it, then he invited me to go into it with him while he changed a hydraulic filter. I took my camcorder and he told me I probably had the only private video like it. I asked if he was ever inside it while it was running, he said Yes, do you want to be- I said YES. He got on an intercom to my wife in the control building about 1/4 mile away and instructed her how to turn it on from a computer there.
It started up, after performing 100 or 200 start up tests, and in the 47 MPH wind was generating it's max, 4 megawatts (equivalent to 5,600 horsepower, he said).
My experience of a lifetime, I guess! It was on the 1 year anniversary of his operating it after he repaired some windings in the alternator when he bought it.
Four months later, something failed in the blade pitch control and one blade hit the tower. It stood, but was not repaired. We went back to view, and collected some souvinors and more video. I believe I have more WTS-4 documentation of any private person.

[Star Zephyr]

Wayne,

Sorry I hadn't seen your question about the safety harness. Attached to the safety harness at about mid torso there is carabiner that attaches to an assender. The assender is a device that is attached to the safety cable that goes up the entire way and is on the front side of the ladder. The assender glides up with you as you climb up. It also glides down with you as you climb down. What happens though is if there is a sudden jerk on it it clamps down on the cable. It doesn't have rollers, but 2 cams that bind up if there is too much weight pulling on it. It's kind of hard to explain, I just know it works. Not because I've slipped and fallen but we have tested them by just letting go of the ladder, but only just one ladder rung off the ground. In climbing down though they can be a little contrary and will lock up because they're doing what they are designed to do. As far as how far you might actually fall, I'd say maybe 2 or 3 inches.

[Wayne]

They had the right idea with the elevator. Didn't want the service man to be too tired to work when he got to the top I suppose! Sounds like a hair raising experience. Is that correct 47 MPH wind? Wow!