Aalborg University
ContactProfessor John Dalsgaard SørensenAalborg University Sohngaardsholmsvej 57 DK-9000 Aalborg, Denmark phone: +45 9940 8581 fax: +45 9814 8243 e-mail: jds@civil.aau.dk web: http://en.aau.dk |
 |
|---|
Wind energy research at Aalborg University (AAU) is organized in WEST, which is a virtual centre for Wind Energy Structures and Technologies with participants from several departments at the university. WEST was established in 2001, but wind energy research was previously organized individually at the different departments.
The activities of WEST are to coordinate research and teaching within the fields of wind energy at the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Medicine at Aalborg University, to strengthen the collaboration between wind energy research at the different research environments at the university, to increase the visibility - internally and externally - of the university‘s research and teaching on wind energy, to initiate research and development activities and to coordinate activities related to the test wind turbines.
The research is focused on wind energy and wind turbines in the following areas: energy planning, power electronics, generators, electrical drives and power systems, power quality control, analysis and design of composite structures, aerodynamics, structural dynamics and analysis, foundation engineering as well as loads and safety.
  |
    |
Research groups involved
Aalborg University has more than 40 researchers working with wind energy including 20 Ph.D. students.The activities are organized in research groups from the following departments at the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Medicine:
| Department of Development and Planning: | Energy planning |
|---|---|
| Department of Energy Technology: | Power Electronics, Generators, Electrical Drives and Power Systems |
| Institute for Electronic Systems: | Control |
| Department of Mechanical Engineering: | Analysis and design of composite structures – blades |
| Department of Civil Engineering: | Aerodynamics, Structural Dynamics, Loads and Safety, Offshore technology and Geotechnics |
Facilities & Advanced Research Tools
| Offshore wind turbine in Aalborg: | 2.75 MW offshore wind turbine placed at Aalborg harbour used for research and education. A meteorology mast is placed close to the wind turbine. |
|---|---|
| Offshore wind turbine in Frederikshavn: | 3 MW wind turbine with bucket foundation placed in Frederikshavn. The bucket foundation is 12 m in depth and 12 m in diameter and is instrumented. |
| Power electronic and converter laboratory: | Facilities with generator-set, power device test bench, power converters and grid simulator, DSPACE, AC drive systems, inverter-systems for fuel cell and photovoltaic |
| High Voltage and Power System Lab: | Equipment for insulation test, high voltage AC and DC, Power Quality, Dynamic Voltage Restorer, Lightning |
| Green Power Lab Wave-Current Lab |
New laboratory focusing on the topic of renewable energy systems (photovoltaic, wind,
fuel-cells, etc.) with grid connection. Wave-Current Lab 2 Wave basins and 2 wave flumes with possibilities of reproducing wave-current conditions in scale 1:20 to 1:40 |
| Software | In house developed simulation platform: Wind Turbine Blockset (a beta version for Matlab)
Power Factory (DigSilent) is a dedicated electrical power system simulation tool used for
assessment of power quality and analysis of the wind turbine interaction with the grid.
It has focus on the power system and not on the wind turbine itself. Matlab/Simulink is used as a general model developing tool and also for validation of the models. After validation of the models they are implemented in other simulation tools for instance Power Factory. Computer models for the analysis of integration of wind power into energy systems and computer models for the assessment of wind resources |
R&D Strategy
| TERM | |||
| short | medium | long | |
| Components in wind power systems New power converter topologies for the next generation wind turbines. That includes different multilevel topologies as well as new generator concept. |
 | ||
| Control and monitoring for wind power systems Develop methods to identify failures or potential failure in gearbox and high-voltage transformer. |
|
||
| Develop advanced control methods for power electronic systems for wind turbines/farms. | | ||
| Simulation and design tools for wind power conversion systems Extend the Matlab/Simulink toolbox with new models to cover as many possible configurations as possible |
| ||
| Complement the Matlab/Simulink toolbox with corresponding PSCAD/EMTDC models | | ||
| Models for simulating HVDC power transmission for wind farms. | | ||
| Planning, design and optimisation of the electrical systems for large scale wind farms Develop model setup for being able to optimise a wind farm in respect of cost and reliability. |
| ||
| Run optimisations with practical applications. | | ||
| Interconnection of the wind turbines/farms into power networks Develop technologies for existing wind turbines/farms to address the requirements from utilities |
| ||
| Investigate the impacts of large scale grid integration of wind power on power systems and develop advanced methods to improve power grid performance with the integration of wind turbines/farms | | |
|
| Integration of wind power into regional and national energy systems | | | |
| Probabilistic design of wind turbines | | | |
| Risk based Operation and maintenance planning | | |
|
| Effects of Waves and Currents on Offshore Wind Turbines - Run-up on towers supported by different types of foundations |
| ||
| - Slamming Forces on Entrance Platforms | | ||
| - Scour Development under Varying Wave and Current Conditions | | ||
| Analysis and Design of Composite Structures - Analysis and design of lightweight composite and sandwich structures |
| |
|
| Structural Dynamics - Multi-body dynamics of wind turbines - Non-linear rotor dynamics |
| |
|
| Aerodynamics: - Aerodynamics and CFD |
| |
|
Education and training activities
Aalborg University has three faculties with more than 13,000 students enrolled. The faculties of Engineering, Sciences and Medicine has about 4,000 students and offer more than 25 international M.Sc. programmes. The most relevant Master Programmes related to wind energy are Sustainable Energy Planning and Management, Wind Power Systems, Power Electronics and Drives; Electrical Power Systems and High Voltage Technology; Structural and Civil Engineering.
Furthermore WEST is offering from 2008 the continuing education programme ‘Master in Wind Energy’ which is a two-year master programme on part time. The study programme has an electrical and a mechanical specialization, see http://www.windmaster.aau.dk/.
About 25 Ph.D. students are working with wind energy related topics at Aalborg University and they are also related to the graduate school Danish Academy of Wind Energy (DAWE).
The university offers training courses on-site related to wind energy like simulation of wind turbines, advanced control of electrical drives, materials, foundation and optimization.
