Westwind 48Volt 5000Watt Wind Turbine

The 5.5 kW has an advanced MkII generator which is more efficient and has lower starting friction than its Mk1 predecessor.

Westwind is an internationally renowned Australian manufacturer of high quality and robust wind turbines. Westwind have been designing and manufacturing wind turbines since1983 that have been proven in hundreds of power systems worldwide. Westwind turbines are designed for utmost reliability and performance even in severe weather and climatic conditions.

The turbines are designed for strength, simplicity, and low maintenance as the major design criteria

Power production is maximized by the newly developed generator design employing rare-earth 'super' magnets. The new generator design blends the virtues of Westwind's exceptionally simple, low-maintenance design with even greater performance.

All Westwind wind turbines consist of three blades, up wind of the tower on a horizontal axis and attached directly to a sealed permanent magnet generator.

Rotor over speed protection is achieved via auto furling. The turbine can also be manually furled at the base of the tower. Furling describes the action of the tailboom pivoting around to be at right angles to the axis of rotation. This action turns the blades out of the wind and thereby reduces power output.

Features

• Auto furl high wind protection. The centre of rotation is slightly offset from the yaw axis, so that in high winds the turbines will turn out of the wind and autofurl. This is an effective protection mechanism that has been used successfully in water pumping windmills for decades. The weight of the tailboom provides a restoring force to turn the turbine back into the wind as the gust passes.
• Three Blades. Greater dynamic stability in free yaw than two blades, minimizing the vibrations associated with normal operation, resulting in longer life of all components.
• Blades up wind of the tower. The blades don’t pass through the turbulence induced by the wind passing the tower. This results in less noise and vibrations.
• Direct Drive. Having no gearbox means less parts to wear and less friction to be overcome by the blades. This results in earlier start up in light winds, more power produced, and lower maintenance than designs using gearboxes. With no gearbox our generators run silently this combined with other design features means our turbines can barely be heard.
• Permanent Magnet Generator. Westwind's specifically designed Permanent Magnet generators combine high efficiency with simplicity. With the magnets rotating around a fixed stator there is no need for troublesome high speed slip rings and brushes. A permanent magnet generator also allows the rotor to be stopped and locked in light to moderate winds to enable servicing to be performed.
• A Sealed Generator. The generator is sealed to stop the ingress of foreign particles. This reduces corrosion (especially in coastal locations) but also stops the magnets attracting airborne particles.
• Manual Furl Mechanism. A lever or winch at the base of the tower can be used to manually furl the turbine. This pulls the tailboom and fin around to 90 degrees and so the blades become side on to the wind. Manual furling enables output to be reduced if necessary and also slows the blades to enable the rotor to be stopped for servicing.
• Hot Dip Galvanised and Painted White. All steel components are hot dip galvanized during manufacture. This severely reduces corrosion. An optional powder coated white finish is available in addition to the standard galvanizing.

Technical Specifications

Battery Charging System

Connecting up a Westwind turbine to a battery bank/system first requires the Westwind controller. The controller is used to regulate the amount of energy flowing into the battery during charging. This is done to ensure the battery is not overcharged which would result in a reduced service life.
The controller first rectifies the three phase AC current from the wind turbine to DC for charging the batteries.

Battery voltage is constantly monitored and surplus charging current is diverted to a dump load as the batteries become fully charged. Pulse width modulation ( PWM ) is employed so that an exact proportion of power is diverted to the dump as needed to prevent the batteries from becoming overcharged, while maintaining the battery at a pre-set voltage. A dump load controller is the most effective way of controlling a battery charging wind turbine. By diverting excess power to a dump load (resistive load), the turbine is kept loaded which results in lower rotational speed and less mechanical wear and noise

Grid Connect Systems

Grid connecting a Westwind turbine and controller can be easily performed using a battery fed grid connect inverter. The battery performs as a buffer for power surges between the turbine and the inverter. More recently this problem has been overcome with technology and battery-less inverters are becoming available. Systems should be designed by experienced personnel to ensure compatibility of components and reliability.