RENEWABLE ENERGY:MECHANICAL SOURCES
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2019/2020
- Teacher
- STEFANO ALVISI
- Credits
- 3
- Curriculum
- AMBIENTALE
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- ICAR/01
Training objectives
- The integrated course RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES consists of a general review on available Energy resources, to transform mechanical and thermal Energy in different forms of Energy – typically electrical Energy – suitable to be exploited by human civil and industrial activities.
The module RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES FROM MECHANICAL ENERGY analyzes hydroelectric power plants, essentially of small size (the so-called mini-hydro) and windfarms devoted to produce electrical energy, the more common type in European Countries. General aspects are described, and a frame is given to allow economically sustainable design, without giving details concerning executive design, that should require a treatise for each kind of plant.
The main knowledge that should be acquired can be summarized as follows:
• General working characteristics of a hydroelectric power plant.
• Main executive characteristics of the fundamental elements of a hydroelectric power plant.
• Fundamentals for the environmental impact evaluation and for a simplified economical evaluation of hydroelectric power plants.
• General working characteristics of a wind turbine.
• Main executive characteristics of the fundamental elements of a windfarm.
• Fundamentals for the environmental impact evaluation and for a simplified economical evaluation of hydroelectric power plants.
The main skills that should be acquired can be summarized as follows:
• To prepare a preliminary design of the main components of a hydroelectric power plant or a windfarm.
• To approximately evaluate the economical sustainability of a hydroelectric power plant or a windfarm.
• To organize the fundamental elements of a preliminary environmental impact evaluation of a hydroelectric power plant or a windfarm. Prerequisites
- The 3-year “laurea triennale” in the class L-7 is a necessary and sufficient prerequisite to profitably attend the course. It is necessary to have understood and assimilated the contents of the course “Hydraulics”. It is also very useful to have understood and assimilated the contents of the course “Hydrology”, more specifically concerning the hydrographic basin physics and the evaluation of liquid discharges at a prescribed cross-section of a river.
Course programme
- The module engages 30 hours of teaching, that consists f frontal lectures and practical examples.
The topics are the following.
HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
General concepts on hydroelectric power plants as renewable source, hydrological cycle, some historical note (5h)
The hydroelectric energy; operating principles; brief classification of hydro power plants; reservoirs or regulated discharge power plants; pump hydro; insertion in channel or networks for water supply; run-of-river hydro power plant.
Fundamental elements of a run-of-river mini-hydro (5h)
Design parameters; deviation and conveyance works; hydraulic turbines; devolution multiplier; electric generators; connection work sto the electric network; auxiliary systems; return works; environmental impact.
The discharge in the hydroelectric power plants (5h)
Discharge measurements; hydrological data records; statistical distribution of the discharge and its influence in the run-of-river hydro power plant.
A case study (5h)
Descrizione dell’impianto; studi di supporto alle scelte progettuali.
Legislative framework (2.5h)
EC Directive; Italian laws and by-laws; planned objectives
WIND ENERGY
Aerodynamics and brief classification of wind turbines (2.5h)
Aerodynamic theory; the model of the actuator disk; the model of the blade element; classification of wind turbines for size, for rotation axis, for generation system; regulation devices; performances.
Wind statistical analysis (5h)
Mean velocity, standard deviation, maximum values; frequency hystograms; probabilità density function; logarithmic velocity profiles; polar diagrams; AEP calculus; install costs and profits. Didactic methods
- The course is organized as follows:
• Frontal lectures on the described topics;
• Practical examples devoted to describe the engineering applications of the theoretical contents. Learning assessment procedures
- The main purpose of the final examination consists of verifying the proper achievement of the previously defined training objectives.
The examination of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES consists of an oral exam; three questions are formulated, two of them concerning the module RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES FROM THERMAL ENERGY and one of them concerning the module RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES FROM MECHANICAL ENERGY. The candidate must show a reasonable competence on the elements of the different kind of power plant, on their operating principles and on the environmental and economical impacts of each kind.
The final mark is the weighted average of the questions on RES-TE and the questions on RES-ME, using weights that are proportional to the number of CFU of the two parts. Reference texts
- Reference text: Lecture Notes; Lecture Slides.
In-depth texts:
• ESHA, Guida alla realizzazione di un piccolo impianto idroelettrico. Bruxelles, Belgio, 2007.
• CAFFARELLI A., DE SIMONE G., STIZZA M., D’AMATO A., VERGELLI V., Sistemi eolici: progettazione e valutazione economica, Maggioli Editore, 2009.
