Bremen, January 2010 – Lloyd Dynamowerke (LDW) and the Bremen Center of Mechatronics (BCM) have started a joint project with four other European partners to push a new technology for wind energy generators toward marketability. Using this technology, electrical machines can be 50 percent smaller and up to 70 percent lighter than current state-of-the-art machines with the same torque. This will not only allow the industry to build and operate wind power plants at much lower costs, but also help to increase the plants’ performances significantly in the medium term.
The new type of generator is based on the so-called transverse flux technology, which is utilised for the first time. It greatly reduces the need for materials such as copper and dynamo sheets in the machine itself, but also – and more importantly – of steel and other materials in the tower and its foundation. These advantages are particularly important for offshore wind farms because the foundation has to be rammed deep into the seabed.
In addition, significant costs are saved for specialised vessels, cranes and assembly. Maintenance efforts are reduced as well, since the direct drives are subject to less wear and tear due to the absence of gears. No gearbox oil needs to be cooled and checked.
The project "Wingy-Pro", which received a 2.5 million euro grant from the European Commission, is scheduled to last four years. The kick-off meeting was hosted by Lloyd Dynamowerke in Bremen, Germany, in December 2009. Over the last years, LDW and the Bremen Center of Mechatronics have already developed and built the generator’s first prototype with a power output of 50 kW. Therefore, the operational reliability has already been proven.
The next step now is to increase the output by a factor of twenty to 1 MW. The scientists are certain that they will be able to reduce vibrations and control the forces which are caused by the extremely high drive torque. Once that is accomplished, the project partners expect further output increases to three, six or more Megawatts within a relatively small time frame.
Next to LDW and BCM, four additional partners from three EU countries are involved, including Atlas Magnetics Europe from The Netherlands, SC Tritecc SRL from Romania and CENTIV GmbH as well as Converteam from Germany.
The EU Commission supports this project because it can make a substantial contribution toward reaching the European climate protection goals. By 2020, the share of wind energy among the general energy mix is supposed to increase from its current level of 3.7 percent to a total of 12 to 14 percent.
More information: Externer Link
www.wingypro.com
Press contact:
Axel Koelling
Phone: +49-421-33659950
Mobile: +49-171-5305119
E-mail: koelling@k-ms.de
