sin αst

9
Tower
The present chapter begins with a description of the various options that are available for
the tower, which constitutes the support structure of the wind turbine. It continues with
a selection of the most suited tower type and concludes with a description of its design
and installation.
9.1 Tower options
A brief description of the most prevailing tower types, including their advantages and
disadvantages, is given below.
Lattice tower
The lattice tower, or truss tower, is a simple design that provides the ability of creating a
both stiff and tall tower. For this reason the lattice tower was the preferred tower design
of the first experimental and small commercial wind turbines [36, p. 422]. The lattice
tower is manufactured using welded steel profiles. In countries where the labour costs
are low the lattice construction is an economical solution, as it only requires half as much
material to obtain the same stiffness as free standing tubular tower. In countries with
high labour costs the economical advantage is limited or non-existent [37, p. 35]. figure
9.1 shows a typical lattice tower.
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