Applied Energy, Vol.88, No.3, 741-747, 2011
Developing the dual system of wind chiller integrated with wind generator
The successfully developed wind chiller in our CCT Lab. directly uses wind force to drive refrigeration system and hence reduces two times energy conversions between mechanical and electrical energies. The wind chiller needs high wind speed for its effective work due to the large working torque is required by the compressor. For the purpose of enlarging the applied wind field by the wind machine, this work aims to develop a dual system of wind chiller integrated with wind generator. The integrated wind generator can use the wind energy which cannot effectively drive the compressor. Therefore, the new developed dual system can apply larger range of the wind field and further increase the total working efficiency of the wind machine. A programmable logic controller (PLC) is applied in this wind forced dual system to select the wind chiller or the wind generator separately in terms of the rotational speed of the wind machine. In this work, the wind chiller is switched on while the accelerated rotational speed reaches 80 rpm and off while the decelerated rotational speed reaches 60 rpm. The integrated wind generator is switched on while the decelerated rotational speed reaches 60 rpm and off while the decelerated rotational speed reaches 40 rpm. The two apparatuses in the dual system always work separately. The results show that there is ca. 18.5% increment of effective working efficiency which is captured by the wind generator. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.