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Forum Index : Windmills : Turbine AC Side Protection
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wallablack Senior Member  Joined: 10/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 164 |
Good Morning and Merry Christmas to all. Just a quick question about protection of the turbine on the AC side of the rectifier. It is something I have never given any thought to with any of my past projects but maybe something worth even just considering. I came across the picture below: 
In the picture the three wires connect just below the breakers and the AC current travels through the three breakers on the left and then onto the rectifier. The 3 breakers on the right have a busbar connecting them at the top so therefore this is the brake (three poles shorting). We know that if a mill becomes disconnected we are going to have problems. If all three of these breakers trip we now have a disconnected mill = problems. If one of these breakers trips we obviously have a problem somewhere but what would possibly cause one of these to trip. Would we see the mill over spinning due to one of these tripping, I think we would. How would you select a breaker size on the AC side? Too big and it would be pointless and too small and we have them tripping, not good. Are there regulations in place in AU to say that a wind installation must have protection on the AC side of things? Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools. |
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Downwind Guru  Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Personally i think its a dumb idea to have the breakers there in the first place, what are they actually protecting, the wiring??????? The best solution is to use components suitable to not require protecting and that way protect the mill as thats the important thing. Sometimes it just works |
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fillm Guru Joined: 10/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 730 |
Pretty much agree , it is not much different than a shorting switch , if your mill can handle being direct shorted like a F&P then OK , but do this with an AX or mill that doesn't like it you will end up letting the smoke out . If you want to regulate on the AC try the Liquid Resistor , infinitely variable and a cheap way to dump lots of current . PhillM ...Oz Wind Engineering..Wind Turbine Kits 500W - 5000W ~ F&P Dual Kits ~ GOE222Blades- Voltage Control Parts ------- Tower kits |
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| wallablack Senior Member Joined: 10/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 164 |
Thanks Phil & Pete, you pretty much confirmed my beliefs..... I like the liquid resistor idea.....noice. Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools. |
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