THROUGH THE THORNS TO THE STARS OR SEVEN TIMES, the long-standing participation of the Terus team in the 3D modeling competition with the project of hydraulic calculation of the thermal circuit of the generator stator became one of the stages of the circuit development, and the victory in it was the impetus for further work. Now they are faced with the task of combining the hydraulic, electrical and technological parameters of the device under study so that everything works. These three components have become a stumbling block on the way to the goal, because if at least one of the requirements is not met, the windmill generator may not work. TVG project specialists shared their experience.
"Now we are working on a real model of a 65 kW generator and are conducting laboratory tests to be sure that the generator will spin "like clockwork". By the way, about the oil. Now we are carefully selecting a suitable liquid that works as a coolant. We check the hydraulic resistance so that the oil functions normally in the hydraulic system of the wind turbine. We need to choose such a technical fluid, the properties of which would allow the generator to work smoothly in the mode from -60 to +60 degrees. Ethylene glycol, which is used in heating systems, was taken as a prototype. The experiment failed — as a result of exposure to the electric field, ethylene glycol began to decompose into components. They began to think further, to carry out the necessary calculations. As a result, we found other options — transformer and silicone oils. These liquids were suitable for heat capacity, dielectric and other physical properties, including viscosity.
We settled on silicone oil. It showed the best results in laboratory tests and experiments involving pumping liquid through a coil (generator element) at various temperature conditions."
Finding the right hydraulic solution is not the only task of the team. In order for the generator to work one hundred percent, it is important to choose the optimal configuration of the circuit of the generator coil in which electricity "originates". Having independently made the coil winding for the experiment in a few days, the team began testing. However, it was also not immediately possible to find a suitable solution.
The experiments did not end there. Colleagues from Ryazan shared the results of another experience. They tested permanent magnets (neodymium and samarium-cobalt), which are part of the generator, to preserve their magnetic properties during repeated heating and cooling. The experiment went on continuously for three months and showed that the magnets slightly lose magnetization in the range of 2-4%, which is quite a normal situation and will not negatively affect the operation of the generator.
The Terus team tried to reproduce what will be used in the real design of the windmill generator, and with the successful implementation of the project, it is planned to obtain technology for creating wind turbines of different capacities based on this prototype with a capacity of 65 kW.