Endurance wind [RE-wrenches]

Matt Tritt solarone at charter.net
Thu Feb 21 15:12:09 PST 2008


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Keep in mind that these machines have asynchronous motors, are 
gear-driven and have a fixed-pitch rotor. They also have a lot of small 
parts that are required to allow them to operate, including a hydraulic 
brake pressure pump, an anemometer and control electronics. Remember 
that you need to reach "slip" speed (usually >1800 RPM) on the high 
speed shaft before connection to the grid can occur, and that there 
isn't enough juice in winds < 10 to 11 MPH to accomplish connection 
without a lot of false starts. For a small turbine, this seems like an 
excessive number of moving (and non-moving) parts.  Because they are 
fixed pitch, they also must shut down when (correct me if I'm wrong) 
winds hit 40 MPH.

I would also be interested to learn what happens when the weather gets 
really cold. Large turbines have to have heaters to keep the oil in the 
gearbox warm, but it's hard to imagine how this could be a good idea 
with such a small machine.

I much prefer the higher efficiencies possible with gearless 
direct-drive alternators and grid tied inverters. Not to mention having 
far fewer critical wearing parts.

Matt T

Christopher Freitas --- OutBack Power wrote:

>Here is the website for the Endurance Wind turbine manufacturer.  
>
>http://www.endurancewindpower.com/
>
>Seems like they are just finishing beta test and getting ready for
>production.  
>
>It's a AC output machine - induction AC generator - no inverter - which
>usually gives poor performance at low wind speeds as the AC generator's
>power factor and performance is usually heavily dependant on being able
>to achieve reasonable RPMs. They do switch the output to 120VAC at low
>power and then to 240VAC at higher power - which is a interesting
>trick...  
>
>The do advise using tall towers at least!  Also no mention of roof
>mounting either... So the sniff test says they are OK... 
>
>These should also be possible to use in AC coupled off-grid
>applications.   
>
>Christopher
>
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