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�� HYDRAULIKPRESSE WIND ENERGY Like a leaf in the wind Vacuum process assures technical edge Innovative architecture The new Enercon offices in Magdeburg are designed in the shape of a sine wave. The building, which was officially opened in 2006, was awarded the Magdeburg Architects’ and Engineers’ Prize. The award highlighted the sinusoidal wave design as being “unique and unmistakeable”. The massive rotor blades rotate to the rhythm of the wind. Wind turbines have long been a feature of the landscape in many areas. That is also true in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, where manufacturer Enercon operates three production facilities in Magdeburg. In Saxony-Anhalt alone there are already more than 2,000 wind turbines currently in operation. And 40 percent of the state’s total electricity consumption is generated by wind. Demand continues to grow. The Enercon corporation, based in northern Germany, is one of the largest manufacturers in the sector, having constructed 1,250 installations in the course of 2008 alone across all its business units. Enercon has a roughly 50 percent share of the German market, and forecasts annual growth of around 20 percent in plant construction projects through to 2015. Since its founding in 1984, Enercon has constructed over 13,000 22 wind turbines worldwide. The three Enercon manufacturing facilities in Magdeburg employ a total of 3,800 people, over a total area of 750,000 square metres. The sites manufacture all the components of a wind turbine, including the towers and gondolas, rotor and stators, as well as the switchgear and rotor blades, based on a „modular principle similar to a Lego construction kit“. The prefabricated components are subsequently installed on-site, which means by that stage everything must fit together perfectly, with no complications. And the installation work often has to be carried out at dizzying heights of over 100 metres. Enercon focuses on onshore wind turbines Enercon’s production focus is on onshore wind turbines. Director of the Rothensee-based rotor blade manufacturing centre, Volker Ziem, explains the underlying strategy: “The advantage of wind turbines is that they can deliver power to consumers at a local level. They enable us to generate electricity close to where the demand is, and the plants can also be financed at favourable terms by local power companies. That cuts costs for the consumers, and also makes sense ecologically.” Germany’s Renewable Energies Act (EEG) is forcing the manufacturers of wind turbines continuously to improve their efficiency so that they are more costeffective for the operators. This trend is illustrated by the two-megawatt class category of plant, which is now the standard. The initial prototype went online back in 1995. The latest plants now generate 70 percent more electricity than the early models, and that ongoing development is vital, because the increasing cost resulting from high steel and copper prices can only be covered by selling higher volumes of electricity. Just recently Enercon has moved into the six-megawatt class, constructing three type E-126/6 MW plants near the towns of Emden and Cuxhaven in northern Germany which went online last Autumn. They are currently the most powerful wind plants in the world, generating electricity for 20,000 households and providing the base know-how for subsequent mass production. Tailwind for new solutions Enercon is responding to the growing demands placed on two-megawatt class wind turbines with a series of new developments. The geometry of the rotor blades, for example, has been subjected to a fundamental modification, so as to make even more efficient use of the wind. As a result, the turbines run more smoothly, and produce less noise. Since Enercon in Magdeburg produces all rotor blades in-house, in lengths from 30 to 39 metres, it is continually coming up with fascinating new technical solutions. Back in 2004, for example, it replaced the laminating process, in which the fibre-glass mats for the rotor blades were coated ISSUE AUGUST 2008
in an open process, by a vacuum infusion method which resulted in a much more even covering and also, incidentally, greatly improved working conditions on the factory fl oor. When manufacturing the upper and lower shells of a rotor blade, specially designed moulds are employed to enhance the surface properties and dimensional stability of the blades based on optimised geometries. The upper and lower shells each have their own mould, into which glass fi bre and reinforcing material is infused according to a special plan. The moulds are hermetically sealed and high-performance pumps then generate a vacuum. Epoxy resin is then added to enhance durability in continuous operation. The fi bre-glass mats are saturated evenly with epoxy resin, providing them with a uniform quality fi nish. The prepared rotor shells are fi nally tempered at around 85 degrees Celsius. PTFE corrugated hoses guarantee trouble-free work-fl ow The liquid epoxy resin is fed to the blade moulds through a pipework system. Immediately before the resin enters the mould, the hardener is added to it in a mixer. The mixer and the moulds are connected by PTFE corrugated hoses from HANSA-FLEX, and the choice has proved to be ideal. The hoses are resistant to the solvents, and prevent epoxy resin from being deposited on the walls and clogging the lines. ISSUE AUGUST 2008 Hydraulics – the linchpin to achieve faster production processes Enercon recently optimised its rotor blade production processes by installing a so-called power-hinge supplied by a Canadian manufacturer. Whereas the upper and lower shells previously had to be brought together by cranes prior to bonding, the new machine enables the process to be speeded up. Supported on powerful hydraulics, the power-hinge quickly brings the components together in one simple operation. For this to happen, however, the work platforms around the upper shell mould have to be removed. The HANSA-FLEX branch in Barleben, which serves Enercon in Magdeburg, devised and installed a hydraulic solution featuring three power packs, hydraulic cylinders and the complete control and pipework systems. At the press of a button, the work platforms are hydraulically retracted, enabling the upper shell to be swung down onto the lower shell. With this system, branch manager Peter Mandel and his team succeeded in providing Enercon with a highly eff ective solution. WIND ENERGY A fl at bed trailer leaving Enercon premises in Magdeburg with two rotor blades – the optimised blade geometry enhances the effi ciency of wind energy plants signifi cantly A pioneering wind power plant (GroWiAn) The idea of using the wind as a source of energy really began to � y in Germany during the 1980s with the development of the so-called “GroWiAn” (Grosse Windkraftanlage) generation of largescale wind power plants. The publicly funded large-scale wind power plant in the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog municipality near Marne in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein served as a test bed for the technology. With a hub height of 100 metres, it was long classed as the tallest wind turbine in the world. The � rst trial was conducted on July 6, 1983. The plant, featuring many new technologies previously untested on such a scale, was never able to operate at full capacity because of shortcomings in its design and construction materials. In August 1987 it was dismantled. Still today, developers and designers of stateof-the-art wind power plants continue to bene� t from the know-how gleaned from this early pioneer. 23 H��
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