Exploring New Technologies for Extreme-Scale Turbines
Larger turbines – beyond today’s multi-megawatt onshore and offshore machines – are one of the most attractive options for reducing the cost of wind energy. Continued technology scale-up to rated capacities of 10MW and beyond requires novel concepts for overcoming the fundamental limitations of today’s turbine designs and materials, including structural constraints of drive-train components. This article explores how magnetic gearbox technologies could provide solutions.
By Luis Cerezo, Technical Executive, EPRI, USA
Basic Science
Magnetic gears rely on field forces, rather than physical contact between gear teeth, to achieve high ratios at greatly reduced mass and size relative to mechanical gearboxes used in today’s wind turbines. Magnetic gearing promises to alleviate constraints to increasing wind turbine ratings above 10MW while also increasing efficiency, improving reliability and reducing levelised cost of energy.
