DYNAMICS OF PITCHING CONTROL MECHANISM OF SMALL PROPELLER-TYPE WIND MACHINES

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Dept. of Aeronautics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

2 Colonel Engineer, Head of Quality Dept., EAF Helwan 0/H Depot, Ph.D. Student, Dept. of Aeronautics, Cairo Univ.

Abstract

The paper is aiming at exploring the area of pitch control . type of regulation used in small propeller-type wind machines. To cover the lack of published information about the real design criteria of such type of regulation, this work is carried out to develop the pertaining theoretical data-base. The paper investigates the dynamic performance of the centrifugally-activated pitch control mechanisms widely-used in wind machines. A typical pitching mechanism is chosen to be the subject of analysis; namely the crank-slider-crank mechanism which is centrifugally-activated by hub-mounted fly weights. The kinematic and dynamic characteristics of the candidate system are fully analysed. The results are presented in a group of charts in terms of the system dim-ensionless design-parameters, best suiting the engineers for design purposes.