

'Massive leap' wins engineering award - hanoz
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-33552037

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Mithaldu
That is a lot of hyperbole about a technology whose functionality isn't even
explained. Does anyone on HN know what "digital displacement" actually _is_?

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angry_octet
The article deserves at least a nomination for bad technology writing, because
it doesn't explain why this is such a good thing.

The problem it is trying to solve: wind turbines have a significantly variable
range of speeds/energies. The wind speed varies significantly from the bottom
to the top. It is desirable to have the generators directly produce power at
50/60Hz grid frequency to avoid needing lots of power electronics. To match
this variable but low speed system to the generator you need a gearbox. (There
are other systems using low freq generators but I'm vague as to how they
work.)

A conventional gearbox (ie cogs) which can handle the massive energy
transmission is expensive enough, but one which can change gears to deal with
a range of input speeds is even more expensive and heavy. Since the gearbox is
at the top of the turbine tower it also makes construction and maintenance
more difficult. Many turbines spend time with their blades locked because the
wind is too strong - they would turn too fast for their gearbox to handle.
Also significant downtime for gearbox repairs.

The alternate solution is to change from kinetic rotational energy to
hydraulic transmission, where the blades drive a pump, which pumps a fluid,
which drives a motor, which is directly connected to an electric generator.
These hydraulic systems have good power density and reliability but typically
suffer from low efficiency if not at full load (high frictional losses from
un-required piston actions).

The innovation is that they are able to achieve high efficiency in the
pump/motor at a variety of input loads through use of computer controlled
valve actuators. This doesn't sound that revolutionary, and indeed people have
been working on it for a long time, but maybe they have something that works.

[http://hydraulicspneumatics.com/hydraulic-pumps-amp-
motors/h...](http://hydraulicspneumatics.com/hydraulic-pumps-amp-
motors/hydrostatic-transmissions-power-play-wind-turbine-design)

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zeristor
Great write up. YouTubing for this I found this great video from 6 years ago:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAWI2mI73vw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAWI2mI73vw)

It seems they invented this technology for wave power, some fancy engineering.
I wonder if they can retrofit present turbines with this new tech.

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zeristor
This a further video about the design and engineering of the hydraulics:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1wZb_RKRQg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1wZb_RKRQg)

