New windy ways

A research team at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Cambridge University have developed a new generator for the wind turbine industry.

The Brushless Doubly-Fed Generator (BDFG) can be used in a range of wind turbines ranging from multi-megawatt systems for wind farms down to micro turbines used for domestic power generation.

Research in Cambridge on the generator was started by Prof Williamson in the 1990s and, since 1999, is being undertaken by  Dr Richard McMahon, and his team in collaboration with Durham University's head of engineering, Prof Peter Tavner. The research has recently matured, enabling practical and complete designs to be made, and a university spin-out - Wind Technologies - has been founded to exploit the technology.

To demonstrate the technology, a generator is to be installed on a 20kW turbine at or close to the department's Electrical Engineering Division Building on the west Cambridge site by early 2008.