Page 16 - Industrial Technology EXTRA - 27th April 2020

BRAKES...

The next big wave in tidal

turbine braking systems

Svendborg Brakes and its portfolio of advanced, high-quality braking solutions were

chosen to deliver an ideal tidal turbine setup for installation at the European Marine
Energy Centre (EMEC) test site
idal turbines leverage a practically
inexhaustible renewable resource by
converting the energy of tidal
Tflows into electricity. Located in
areas of high tidal energy, these
generators require reliable and robust
braking systems to handle challenging
environmental conditions, avoid shock
loads in the drivetrain and protect all the
various components. This is even
more important in large
infrastructures, such as 1 MW
units, in order to ensure
optimal, round-the-clock speed
control and stopping.
Effective and robust tidal
turbine generators must be
able to successfully operate in
the harsh and unstable conditions that
characterise their operating environment. In can counteract these issues by applying a sufficient
particular, tidal turbines must have the ability to torque that maintains the rotational speed below
control their speed, acceleration and deceleration at the allowable limit.
all times, even during power or generator failures. In addition to reacting quickly to faults and
In these situations, braking mechanisms are anomalies, braking systems should also prevent the
fundamental to avoid runaway conditions. In a short turbine from coming to an immediate halt. In order
time, these can lead to overspeed of the entire to protect the brake pads and the entire drivetrain,
equipment, resulting in extreme mechanical stress ‘soft braking’, i.e. stopping the machine in a gradual
on the turbine and its blades. Responsive brakes and controlled way, should be preferred.

April 2020 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA! • p16