Wind turbine self destructs (video)

"The braking mechanism that limits the speed of the wind turbine broke during a storm in Denmark. This was the outcome." Article about the turbine failure

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Evil Jim

1.21 GIGAWATTS!!!!
goldie_fish

My father used to work for a company that made the giant blades for wind turbines. He told me that when the joint between the blade and the gearbox failed the blades would often fly over a mile before embedding themselves in the ground.
Kulia

#20, I just about spit out my coffee
and along with #27, you just made my day!

I worked my ass off on that movie and am so glad people remember it and I can laugh along with you!

Aaaaah. Thanks.
gquann

@23: I think so. According to the second video mentioned above, there were technicians inside when the brake failed. I guess they had more important things in mind than saving their truck when the turbine went postal and ran like hell instead. :)
arkizzle

#22
For reference, the second video (#5) shows a turbine 60 meters high. They are both made by the same company and so are probably similarly sized.. 60 meters is MASSIVE.
spazzm

Notice how the disconnected blades falling down after the collapse are trailing smoke.
The forces involved must be enormous.

Most of the Danish words I could pick out were profanities, btw.
semiotix

What the–?! Safer than nuclear, my ass!
noen

I don’t think that’s smoke. It’s pulverized concrete or whatever the pylon is made from.
Songe

Shameless self promotion. We know you control the weather. We get it.
isaac

you an see a closer video at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u14tBwO5QVQ&feature=related

looks like one of the blades cut the tower in half!
isaac

i meant to write “can see”
Old Ghosts

Don Quixote +1 Giants 0
tomgraywind

This video depicts the catastrophic failure of a wind turbine in Denmark in mid-February. Press coverage of the event, one of two turbine failures within a week in Denmark, can be found at http://jp.dk/uknews/article1277616.ece . The turbine shown is an older model, without the same level of fault detection and computer control systems as modern, larger machines. The cause is not stated in the news article, but if a turbine’s braking system fails or is disengaged due to human error, the turbine can go into an “overspeed” condition that, depending on conditions, may result in its destruction.

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Chief Engineer, “Modern wind turbines rely on three independently controlled pitch systems. Any one [of those systems] can save the machine from a [runaway] like that. They have their own battery supply systems, fault detection system and internal diagnostics. The master controller monitors all the subordinate control systems (back brake, lubrication system, yaw drive, anemometers, power system, as well as the pitch system). If any one of the sensors behaves abnormally it creates a fault and the machine shuts down.”

The wind is perhaps the most variable energy source, with changes in direction and force that can occur quickly, and it’s a very challenging engineering and operating environment. In the wind industry’s early days 25-30 years ago, turbine failures were very common and many early turbine manufacturers went out of business. Over time, machine designs improved in both durability and productivity, and today failures among the more than 100,000 wind turbines operating worldwide are generally quite rare.

Even so, as the video indicates, turbines do sometimes fail, due to mechanical or human error. Turbine failure can be dangerous to workers, so the wind industry has a very strong and real reason to ensure that failures remain rare.

The American Wind Energy Association has an active Safety Committee with members from all sectors of the turbine industry, including owners, manufacturers, suppliers, construction contractors, and others. The Safety Committee meets on a regular basis and has a number of ongoing initiatives to support a safe industry. Those include safety conferences, discussions with agencies like OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and other trade associations, technician training and community college programs, all aimed at supporting a consistently safe and reliable wind business.

Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
http://www.powerofwind.org
http://www.awea.org
Rob, Denmark

Transcript (more or less):

“No no no”

“There it was” (referring to the collapse)

“We have to keep an eye on the parts” (when the debris was flying in the air)

“Did you get it Thomas?”

“Yes”

“Shut the hell up, it just tore the tower at the middle”

“Its not 3 minutes ago i said; Now its finally happening, you better come”

“You got it all [on video], you damn well better not delete it”.
Takuan

gogogogogogGOGOGOGOGOGOBAMMMMM!!!! wilttttttt….whimper

yeah, we’ve all been there
themindfantastic

Winds that intense would have toppled tree’s, but this is one of the potential dangers. Which is why braking mechanisms are used to prevent this from happening everywhere, occasionally things fail, and that was a wonderfully impressive fail… from a visual standpoint.
sd37

Did they have to evacuate Denmark?
ordodk

Large pieces flew over 750 meters, which is how far they must be from housing. Needless to say, some people (sissies) want the legal limit to be raised :P
Takuan

cool, so I guess the blades feather neutral when there is a problem and the whole array doesn’t spin?

How much wind does it take to just push the whole thing over based on sail area loading?

Also, what did they end up doing about the radar shadow of farms?

Just while we got someone knowledegable,if ya don’t mind
Antinous

We have a lot of them here. If you haven’t seen one close up, they’re enormous. More like twenty story building than a power pole.
mrfitz

you’ll pry my coal-burning, greenhouse gas emitting, electric plant from my cold, dead hands

you hear that you dirty apes?
DefectiveCake

This video reminds me the fighting mecha of FLCL. killer.
songs

… but will it blend?
Wirelizard

“Safer than nuclear, my ass”

Ahh, right, because wind pylons falling over are known to leave so much radioactive waste scattered around…

(The above was sarcasm. I hope your comment was too…)
spazzm

#3 @ noen

Around 0:14, if you look closely. That’s not the blade that hit the pole.
And the poles are steel.
JamesMason

There was an episode of “House” where a guy got hit with one of these blades. Now that I think about it, the scale was all off, because the blade that hit him wasn’t a great deal bigger than he was, and in reality these blades are longer than a semi-truck and about as big.

You don’t get a sense of the size of these things until you drive past a *piece* of one and start to assemble them in your mind…

In reality, if you got hit by one of these pieces, you would be in pieces, and I demand that my entertainment be nothing if not realistic!

Jim
Takuan

from what I could see, it looks as if a kevlar or fiberglass blade delaminated on the leading edge
dculberson

@JamesMason: I saw several of these blades on a trailer in a rest area parking lot. The trailer was considerably longer than a standard semi trailer; I think they had to transport it at night. My unscientific wild-ass guess from hazy memory puts it at about 60′ to 70′, give or take .15 microns.
airshowfan

It’s ok, they built a second one in Hokkaido…
TheStrongRope

#20. LOL!!! That is freaking hilarious. Where is Jodie when you need her?
noen

I see what you mean spazzm. Steel huh? Wow, yeah I bet they were hot.
assumetehposition

They make these in different sizes, guys.
Takuan

is that a truck parked at the base?
Haldor

If the turbine was connected to a treadmill would it have stopped moving?
dinger

Why do we need wind turbines, anyway? I mean, isn’t there enough wind already?
Takuan

I know! And think of the electricity they waste spinning them up to blow like that!