Impact of wind turbine blade rotation on the lightning strike incidence – A theoretical and experimental study using a reduced-size model

Branko M. Radičević, Milan S. Savić, Søren Find Madsen and Ion Badea

Energy, 2012, vol. 45, issue 1, 644-654

Abstract: The influence of wind turbine blade rotation on the lightning behavior is not sufficiently studied. The original theoretical analysis and experimental investigation, whose most important segments are described in this paper, should enable a better understanding of this phenomenon. The tests were conducted in the high-voltage laboratory, applying the up-and-down method for determination of the 50% flashover standard switching voltage. The impulse voltage waves were applied between the specially designed arching electrode and/or the several rod electrodes at discrete positions along the insulating arching cylinder and the blades of a reduced-size wind turbine model, driven by a frequency controlled motor. A lightning protection system in the form of receptors on the tips of the blades was examined. According to the theory of similarity the paper discusses the characteristics of direct atmospheric discharges for the several typical rotational speeds of the wind turbine. It was concluded that the number of direct lightning strikes in the zone of the air termination system on the blades is decreasing due to the rotation of the blades.

Keywords: Lightning protection; Wind turbine; Reduced-size model; Up-and-down method; Flashover voltage; Discharge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544212005622
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:45:y:2012:i:1:p:644-654

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2012.07.032

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().