Yu WANG (王羽), Lu QU (屈路), Tianjun SI (姒天军), Yang NI (倪阳), Jianwei XU (徐建伟), Xishan WEN (文习山). Experimental study of rotating wind turbine breakdown characteristics in large scale air gaps[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2017, 19(6): 64016-064016. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/aa6743
Citation:
Yu WANG (王羽), Lu QU (屈路), Tianjun SI (姒天军), Yang NI (倪阳), Jianwei XU (徐建伟), Xishan WEN (文习山). Experimental study of rotating wind turbine breakdown characteristics in large scale air gaps[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2017, 19(6): 64016-064016. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/aa6743
Yu WANG (王羽), Lu QU (屈路), Tianjun SI (姒天军), Yang NI (倪阳), Jianwei XU (徐建伟), Xishan WEN (文习山). Experimental study of rotating wind turbine breakdown characteristics in large scale air gaps[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2017, 19(6): 64016-064016. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/aa6743
Citation:
Yu WANG (王羽), Lu QU (屈路), Tianjun SI (姒天军), Yang NI (倪阳), Jianwei XU (徐建伟), Xishan WEN (文习山). Experimental study of rotating wind turbine breakdown characteristics in large scale air gaps[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2017, 19(6): 64016-064016. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/aa6743
When a wind turbine is struck by lightning, its blades are usually rotating. The effect of blade rotation on a turbine’s ability to trigger a lightning strike is unclear. Therefore, an arching electrode was used in a wind turbine lightning discharge test to investigate the difference in lightning triggering ability when blades are rotating and stationary. A negative polarity switching waveform of 250/2500 μs was applied to the arching electrode and the up-and-down method was used to calculate the 50% discharge voltage. Lightning discharge tests of a 1:30 scale wind turbine model with 2, 4, and 6 m air gaps were performed and the discharge process was observed. The experimental results demonstrated that when a 2 m air gap was used, the breakdown voltage increased as the blade speed was increased, but when the gap length was 4 m or longer, the trend was reversed and the breakdown voltage decreased. The analysis revealed that the rotation of the blades changes the charge distribution in the blade-tip region, promotes upward leader development on the blade tip, and decreases the breakdown voltage. Thus, the blade rotation of a wind turbine increases its ability to trigger lightning strikes.