help wind turbine break ? ista breeze 500w

xRascal

hi i got a wind turbine ista breeze and i wondering if it safe to  leave the manual break on for 12 hours to wait for this storm to pass cause it making alot off noises , and dont want next door to moan , 

BB.

As always, you need to refer to the manufacturer for proper operation... But in general, if the turbine is stopped or turns very slowly, then it should be no problem if the brake is left on for hours/days at a time.

However, if the turbine spins at near full speed when the brake is on, then there is a good chance that the turbine's alternator windings can overheat/fail--Or the dump load overheats (if it has a dump load).

For some turbines, if you put the brake on before you have high winds, you can get the turbine stalled, and when the high winds come, it will remain stalled.

Sorry I do not have any exact information about your brand/model to refer to.

-Bill

dangermouse

Where ? Is the break for a ibreeze break I'm missing pages

BB.

"Brake" is a bit flexible for wind turbines.

Larger wind turbines may have a "real" brake (brake shoes/pads/etc.). Others may use a moving tail section or tilting rotor to avoid the wind.

And a typical "brake" is just shorting the windings of the alternator. A dead short will cause so much resistance torque that the blades will stall in the wind (stopped or slowly turning).

However--In some cases, with high winds and/or large diameter blades and "smaller alternator", the torque of a dead short on the alternator is not enough to stop the blades from rotating (such as in a storm), or will still turn so fast that the short circuit current can overheat the alternator windings. Some folks will "apply the brake" due to forcasted winds (with zero or low winds0 instead of trying to shutdown the turbine in already in a storm to lessen the strain on the system.

Does this make sense?

-Bill