Effective capture of wind gusts in small wind turbines by using a full active rectifier

Small wind turbines have difficulties to start rotating at low wind speeds due to their relatively large rotor inertia and small starting torque. In case a permanent magnet generator is used, the rotor magnets will cause an additional cogging torque which makes starting even more difficult. By using the generator as motor from the moment a wind gust is detected, the turbine is able to accelerate much faster to reach the maximum power point. A maximum power point tracking algorithm is used to locate the optimal working point. At sufficiently large rotor speeds, the controller switches to the generator mode where the energy used for acceleration is recuperated, together with the additional energy captured from the wind gust. To control the generator power in both directions, an active rectifier is used in a back-to-back converter topology. In this paper, this wind capture strategy is simulated. The results show that the power output during a wind gust can be largely increased compared to common MPP-tracking

Crystallographic reconstruction study of the effects of finish rolling temperature on the variant selection during bainite transformation in C-Mn high-strength steels

The effect of finish rolling temperature (FRT) on the austenite- () to-bainite () phase transformation is quantitatively investigated in high-strength C-Mn steels. In particular, the present study aims to clarify the respective contributions of the conditioning during the hot rolling and the variant selection (VS) during the phase transformation to the inherited texture. To this end, an alternative crystallographic reconstruction procedure, which can be directly applied to experimental electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) mappings, is developed by combining the best features of the existing models: the orientation relationship (OR) refinement, the local pixel-by-pixel analysis and the nuclei identification and spreading strategy. The applicability of this method is demonstrated on both quenching and partitioning (Q&P) and as-quenched lath-martensite steels. The results obtained on the C-Mn steels confirm that the sample finish rolled at the lowest temperature (829{\deg}C) exhibits the sharpest transformation texture. It is shown that this sharp texture is exclusively due to a strong VS from parent brass {110}, S {213} and Goss {110} grains, whereas the VS from the copper {112} grains is insensitive to the FRT. In addition, a statistical VS analysis proves that the habit planes of the selected variants do not systematically correspond to the predicted active slip planes using the Taylor model. In contrast, a correlation between the Bain group to which the selected variants belong and the FRT is clearly revealed, regardless of the parent orientation. These results are discussed in terms of polygranular accommodation mechanisms, especially in view of the observed development in the hot-rolled samples of high-angle grain boundaries with misorientation axes between and

Recrystallisation Behaviour of an Fe-Mn-C-Si-Al TWIP

The static recrystallisation behaviour of cold rolled and annealed TWinning Induced Plasticity (TWIP) steels is important for its industrial production. The recrystallisation kinetics have been determined for an Fe-Mn-C-Si-Al TWIP steel using hardness measurements and microstructure analysis: it has been shown that recrystallisation progresses rapidly with increased annealing temperature. Recrystallisation was faster at higher cold reductions, and a smaller final grain size was observed at lower annealing temperatures. This indicates that the mechanism is nucleation dominated at lower temperatures; grain growth at higher temperatures appears similar for all reductions. The recrystallisation results in a crystallographic texture where the main components of the cold rolling texture are preserved in the final texture after annealing, although some randomisation was observed.</jats:p