The Ideal Blog

Keep your wind turbine generating power and profits

Ideal team members Mark Stimson & Troy Van Beek have been busy recommissioning a Whisper 500 wind turbine. The turbine has been powering two homes for about 10 years in rural Southeast Iowa. It’s in good condition, and with a few repairs and modifications the output and life-cycle of the turbine will be increased. If you’re a turbine owner, it’s important to maximize the life-cycle of your system by performing regular maintenance. Check out the details of our restoration process below.

Diagnostics

Over time, wind shear can cause damage to wind turbines including:

Additionally, in some turbines, shock absorbers are use to feather the tail out of the wind–another area in the unit that takes heavy stress. Performing a yearly inspection reduces overall downtime and increases productivity, keeping the turbine spinning when it’s needed the most. To assess this Whisper 500, Troy and Mark first disassemble the unit and stripped off the old paint. Then they performed an inspection to identify missing or loose hardware, stress cracks, dents and corrosion. Since structural integrity is paramount, previous repairs are also checked and any problems resolved prior to reapplying paint.

Recomissioning

Troy and Mark focused on repairing fractured blades with fiberglass patches and repainting the unit with multiple coats of ultra-rugged, aircraft enamel with extreme durability. This painting system ensures protection against harsh environmental conditions including UV rays and airborne pollution. Additionally, bearings were upgraded before the turbine was reassembled. Since this is an off-grid system, Troy and Mark also upgraded the battery bank and wiring to increase the overall efficiency of the system.

After the repairs were completed, the turbine was commissioned again and tests run to verify the output of the system, ensuring optimal performance.

Check out the photo journal from the project below.