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Perry Senior Member Joined: 19/11/2009 Location: Posts: 190
Posted: 07:26am 15 Apr 2010
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Hi all,
Well I just started my new job on Monday. I've spent the last couple of years working for General Electric as an engineer, specializing on their 1.5 MW wind turbines. Got to do pretty much everything from flying 300 ton rotors to developing aftermarket performance upgrades.
I just switched to a new company called Northern Power Systems. We are building the first prototype of a new 2.2 MW turbine. I wish I could post some pic's for you guys because I know you would really dig it. It's a direct drive turbine with no gearbox. The generator is also a PMA. It's quite an ordeal to design a 2200000 watt generator that cuts in at less than 20 rpm. Imagine an AX-FX machine with a 20 ft dia stator.
The website is here;
http://www.northernpower.com/index.php
if you click on the 'technology' tab you can see what it's about.
If your interested in this kind of stuff here are some old pics from the GE days.
Perry
Edited by Perry 2010-04-16
KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178
Posted: 08:45am 15 Apr 2010
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AWESOME good one congratulations Perry
hope its paying well to be standing up there!
Karl Luck favours the well prepared
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 10:15am 15 Apr 2010
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Nice view from the top.
The 6MW PMA Axial flux unit I posted a link to was nowhere near 20' dia rotor, but had multiple stators. Would these you are designing be iron cored machines?
Bet you would like to have a big machine in your own back yard.
Gordon.become more energy aware
VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539
Posted: 01:39pm 15 Apr 2010
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Hi Perry
You shore don't muck around with toys congrats on the job and look forward to so input on the mills.
All the best
BobFoolin Around
SSW_squall Senior Member Joined: 20/03/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 111
Posted: 02:34pm 15 Apr 2010
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Perry,
Good to see your not paddling around down the shallow end.
Imagine the size of the magnets in that generator!!!
You wouldn't want to take your wallet with credit cards up into the nacelle.
Or any metal tools - that could REALLY throw a spanner in the works!!
Nah, I'm sure the magnetic circuit contains the field nicely...
Have fun!
AB
Einstein: Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler
JimBo911 Senior Member Joined: 26/03/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 262
Posted: 06:52pm 15 Apr 2010
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Congrats job well done, must be plenty exciting to be at the forefront of new design work.
Keep us posted. Jim
MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329
Posted: 08:52pm 15 Apr 2010
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Perry
Congratulations! These days merely having a good job is a feat in itself. Having a "new" job is over the top.
Whoa -- that picture of you stand on top of the nacelle scares me. Heck, I get dizzy just using Google Maps! I'll stick to my little backyard toys.
. . . . . MacNothing difficult is ever easy!
Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman,
"Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!"
Copeville, Texas
Perry Senior Member Joined: 19/11/2009 Location: Posts: 190
Posted: 10:08pm 15 Apr 2010
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Thanks for all the replies. I do consider myself lucky cuz I love this kind of work.
Being up at height is no real big deal. First off I am terrified of heights. I once froze up on my roof because I was so scared. It's different here. All the safety equipment alleviates everything. Harnesses, lanyards, safety systems. It really makes a difference and I have never been scared. For me the hard part is climbing an 85 meter ladder with all the climbing gear on. Getting old for that.
It's funny because I still like my small homemade turbines. I have an Ametek 30 with 48" rotor and my Otherpower 10 footer. I guess I like them because I get to drink beer when I work on those. No real wind at my house but I like to build them, fit data aq and try to measure power curves/etc to improve performance.
When I got into this I thought I could help develop features for them that the big turbines use but I have actually seen things going in the other direction with large turbines emulating smaller ones. Direct drive, neo based PMA, etc.
Here's a few more pics of a new blade swap method I helped develop where you can change an individual blade instead of flying the whole hub. Saves about $100k per blade. A big deal when you do a couple hundred blade replacements a year.
Perry
Perry Senior Member Joined: 19/11/2009 Location: Posts: 190
Posted: 07:20am 16 Apr 2010
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missed your question gee dub,
Gen design is not really public. Sorry, don't want to risk my new job by blabbin about all the cool stuff. Hope you understand.
Perry
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 12:19pm 16 Apr 2010
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No worries Perry,
I know how you feel.
I have an opportunity to still get to the top of the windmills down the road from me. I was told the climb to the top was quite a way, but the view was worth it.
Gordon.
become more energy aware
SSW_squall Senior Member Joined: 20/03/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 111
Posted: 12:37pm 16 Apr 2010
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Damn,
I was hoping you'd be able to publish the schematic of the control systems PCB, the one with analogue devices SHARC IC on the website.
For educational value, of course
Oh well, next time maybe...
AB
PS: You guys must have some smart bunny engineers your hole designing THAT stuff. Einstein: Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler
Perry Senior Member Joined: 19/11/2009 Location: Posts: 190
Posted: 08:07pm 16 Apr 2010
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Definitely worth it! 85 meters to the top. Three sections as shown below and 2 more shorter ones. At least you get to rest at each section. It's funny because most of the people I climb with are the site techs and they are young and in shape from climbing every day. One day I smelt this burning smell inside and got scared but it was just the tech stopping and waiting for me and having a smoke on the deck above. Meanwhile I'm panting and on the verge of throwing up something I ate 14 years ago.
Do you have any more info on that blade swap method? Looks very interesting! How do you lower the blade? What is the blade tied to when you lower it?
Does it only work on the GE WTGs?
Cheers,
Adam.
Perry Senior Member Joined: 19/11/2009 Location: Posts: 190
Posted: 07:40am 20 Apr 2010
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hey Adam,
You see, the problem with blade swaps is that you need to fly the hub and replace the blade on the ground. This requires at least a 120 ton crane as well as a smaller 40 ton hydro to pick the blade, (swing the rotor to the horizontal). More often than not the cranes sit idle racking up full pay until winds drop enough.
This method uses ground based winches with long lines to raise and lower the blade. The lines pass through snatch blocks attached to the hub.
GE showed a video of the whole process at last years AWEA conference.
The platform you see in the pic's was provided by a 3rd party and are becoming pretty common in large wind. Mostly used for blade inspections when a ground based telescope won't do the job. We used it to stand on during rigging. Lordy that was an experience being on that.
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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