ELEKTRICITETSLÄRA

Current Research Projects

Electric power generation from winds

As the global electricity consumption is increasing and the oil resource are running out, the interest for alternative energy sources such as wind energy is increased.

The wind is both free of charge and renewable, it has no polluting discharges and is therefore a good complement to regulated energy sources such as hydropower.

The wind does not have any transportation costs or waste disposal costs and the fuel price is zero. However, today it is relatively expensive to convert wind energy into electricity. It is therefore important to invest in research and development to find a more cost effective wind power solution for the future.

The wind power research at the division aims at developing simpler and more efficient wind turbines, which require less resources. The work is especially aimed at vertical axis wind turbines with direct driven permanent magnet synchronous generators. In order to understand the wind turbine’s characteristics the research involves electrical machines, structural mechanics and aerodynamics.

In this research area experimental research is included, in order to experimentally verify the theoretical results and to test new developments. In 2005, a 2 kW vertical axis wind turbine was constructed, see figure.

In 2006, a 12 kW wind turbine was designed and constructed at the division. The complete wind turbine was installed and tested in the middle of December, see picture and movie. The wind turbine is situated outside of Uppsala and it is 6 meters tall and has 5 meter long blades. It is expected to generate 12 kW at winds of 12 m/s. This first prototype will be used for several experiments on the whole wind turbine system and is a great asset for the research project.