VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND LTD
VTT ICING WIND TUNNEL 2.0
Winter Wind 2016T. Jokela, M. Tiihonen, L. Makkonen & G. Bluemink
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd.
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Value proposition
VTT Icing Wind Tunnel facility has a unique potential for creating new ideas, testing
prototypes and their functionalities, optimizing design and performing verification of
different products in controlled testing environment
Instruments and products can be evaluated in the VTT Icing Wind Tunnel in the
natural in-cloud icing conditions and study how they survive in different Cold
Climate conditions
water droplet size (MVD) is validated by Finnish Meteorological Institute (2015)
/1/
The promising test results and reports could be seen as a selling point for the
customer in the challenging wind power markets!
Customer driven development project results:
repeatable and reliable in-cloud icing cases!
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NEED – Icing Wind Tunnel 2.0
At the end of the year 2012:
24% (69 GW / 282 GW) of the globally installed wind power capacity was
deployed in the Cold Climate regions /2/
The forecasted global wind power capacity for the years 2013 – 2017:
243 GW, of which 20 % will be deployed in Cold Climate areas /2/
market potential of the Cold Climate applications for wind power industry is vast
Cold Climate solutions, especially the different anemometer, ice detector and
coating markets in the wind power industry, resemble “the Wild West”
At the moment there are no standards and/or guidelines to verify the
instruments and coatings for the Cold Climate conditions
Controlled laboratory environment is needed to solve the above mentioned
challenge:
VTT is currently the only independent research institute in the world that can
provide development services and pre-certification tests for different
instruments, coatings, products and concepts for Cold Climate applications
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Approach – Icing Wind Tunnel 2.0
© VTT Wind Power 2016
Performance of Icing Wind Tunnel: Droplets size distribution:
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Approach – Icing Wind Tunnel 2.0
© VTT Tuomas Jokela 2016
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Controlled and calibrated laboratory environment provide repeatable in-cloud icing
conditions in the VTT wind tunnel!
glaze, rime and mixed ice can be formed on the surface of test specimens
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Approach – Icing Wind Tunnel 2.0
Pre-certification test procedure & test conditions: -5°C, flow velocity 10 m/s, LWC1 = 0.1 g/m3; Light icing condition
-5°C, flow velocity 10 m/s, LWC2 = 0.2 g/m3; Standard icing condition
-5°C, flow velocity 10 m/s, LWC3 = 0.4 g/m3; Harsh icing condition
-5°C, flow velocity 10 m/s, LWC3 = 0.6 g/m3; Extreme icing condition
VTT Icing Wind Tunnel facility has a unique potential for creating
new ideas, testing prototypes and their functionalities, optimizing
design and performing verification of different products in controlled
testing environment
VTT is currently the only independent research institute in the world
that can provide development services and pre-certification tests for
different instruments, coatings, products and concepts for Cold
Climate conditions
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Benefit – VTT Icing Wind Tunnel 2.0
What is the benefit for the VTT’s customer ?
Different instruments measure different values and, therefore, it is difficult for
wind power developers to evaluate, what kind of detector and instrument
solutions would fit best for their needs. At the same time the investment
procedure will be a more challenging task to tackle
Detectors, anemometers and wind power applications can be evaluated in the VTT
Icing Wind Tunnel in the natural in-cloud icing conditions
How the products survived in different Cold Climate conditions?
The promising test results and pre-certification report could be seen as a
selling point for the customer in the challenging wind power markets!
After several pre-certificate test cases are done, for example it is easier to
validate which ice detectors are better than the others (classification process)
At the moment there are no standards and/or guidelines to verify the instruments
and coatings for the Cold Climate conditions
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Competition – VTT Icing Wind Tunnel 2.0
Applications
VTT has also developed a new method to measure ice adhesion
forces on different coating materials /3/
The main advantage of this test method is the accuracy and the
repeatability compared to the rotational ice adhesion testing method
/3/
Irregular specimen shapes can also be applied and, thus coating
tests can be performed on e.g. a wind turbine blade section /4/
Multiple coating specimens can be tested simultaneously to have
faster and comparative results /4/
It is also possible to analyse the durability of the coating materials in
the VTT test facilities
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Competition – VTT Icing Wind Tunnel 2.0
Applications
VTT basic ice adhesion tester /4/
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VTT multiple coating
specimen /4/
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Competition – VTT Icing Wind Tunnel 2.0
How is the icing problems solved today and by whom?
There are roughly 12-14 different wind tunnels in the world, but only in
a few wind tunnels are features that allow them to use it in a icing
conditions
Many of the wind tunnels are mainly used for the aviation purposes!
Therefore the physical size, test parameters and/or pricing of the wind
tunnels in the world are not competitive for the ice detector & coating
development and validation purposes
If the wind tunnel size could be somehow reasonable for the Cold
Climate application development purposes, then the water droplet size
(MVD, [µm]) is not exactly known or validated!
VTT is involved in the group of IEA Wind Task 19
Recommend practices and standardization of wind energy
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Competition – VTT Icing Wind Tunnel 2.0
Why are our benefits significantly better than the competition?
Based on the quick review of the icing wind tunnel supply in the world:
VTT can offer the Icing Wind Tunnel, that has a unique physical size and
running parameters in the test section, especially for the development and
the validation purposes
VTT Icing Wind Tunnel is “Research facility with a low threshold”
Facility is shared between different research topics, this brings down the
cost of operation
Development projects can be designed with utilizing the tailor made
principle and the offer is competitively priced for the customer
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Refecences
1. Droplets Size Distributions Measurement by Finnish
Meteorological Institute (FMI), Atmospheric Composition
Research with CAPS (Cloud, Aerosol and Precipitation
Spectrometer Probe) at VTT Icing Wind Tunnel 2015.
2. A BTM Wind Report. 7 Special Chapter: Cold Climate Turbines
(“CCTs”). Navigant Research. World Market Update 2012.
International Wind Energy Development Forecast 2013-2017. 26th
March 2013.
3. Makkonen, L., 2012: Ice adhesion – theory, measurements and
countermeasures. Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology
26(4), 413-445.
4. Makkonen, L., 2014: TopNANO Final Seminar. Designing and
testing coatings for easy ice release. VTT Technical Research
Centre of Finland. 6.5.2014. Power Point presentation.
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TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS
Contact information:
Tuomas Jokela
Reseach Scientist (M.Sc.)
Email: [email protected]
Mobile:+358-40-8466497