When the wind blows
Published Tue 14 Apr 2009
A new Danish wind turbine venture is being launched for individual households. By Leif Lind Simonsen
For several years now, reduced consumption based on sustainable energy sources has been a landmark feature of energy policy. This is as much for commercial concerns as for private consumers, who are bombarded on a daily basis by new initiatives designed to help reduce their consumption. Though progress is slow, the results have gradually started to show. According to the industry body Dansk Energie, household electricity consumption has remained stagnant, and in 2006-7 even fell by 0.3% - this despite the fact that during this same period householders experienced a time of strong economic growth, which, among other factors, resulted in increased sales of electrical goods.
The reason why electricity consumption has started to decline can be in part attributed to the average Dane’s increased awareness of energy issues, now an urgent preoccupation. This at the same time has helped create a potential market for firms developing sustainable energy sources for private households. One such company is Vindby, based in Hornbæk, which is on the verge of launching Denmark’s first approved wind turbine for private homes. The turbine, named Vindy, has been developed and refined with the aid of Inventor, the 3D mechanical design solution from Autodesk. The result is a product that may very well spearhead a new venture in wind turbines in Denmark.
Despite increasing public support for sustainable energy, Vindby is well aware that economics is still a deciding factor. Vindby’s Director, John Knud Jørgensen, insists as much, and holds no expectations whatsoever that environmental philanthropy will become the only driver in the future market for mini wind turbines.
“Even if we are talking here about sustainable energy sources, there is no doubt that economics will determine whether we can make the mini turbine a top seller. In general, people are more concerned with how long it takes to make their money back, which in the case of the Vindy is around ten years. In other words, the Vindy, which has an output of 1KW, will over ten years deliver savings on the owner’s bill of approximately €5,300 (40,000 Danish Kroner). On top of that there are the green benefits, which are hard to quantify in terms of hard cash,” Jørgensen says. He and his co-director Ole Jönsson are the men behind Vindby, which as well as wind turbines, specialises in building-integrated solar panels and geothermal energy.
Since January 2008, new regulations for wind turbines in Denmark have meant that even small turbines like the Vindy, with a footprint of under five square metres, are subject to type approval. Approval is based on a six-month test period, of which three must be winter months. The test programme for Vindby’s turbines has just got under way under the observation of the Danish Wind Turbine Association, which issues the certificates. No other test programme in this class of product is yet underway. This means Vindby has a six month advantage over any competition, since future tests will now have to wait until next winter.
Digital Prototyping
The new requirements for type approval of mini wind turbines were published in May 2008. This meant that Vindby only had a few months to modify the Vindy in time for the three-month winter trials. The fact that Vindby was the only company to start the test process this year is largely thanks to Digital Prototyping, which helps make physical prototypes redundant, and thus makes product development faster and far more effective.
”Autodesk Inventor, with its digital prototyping capacity, has been the deciding factor in getting the approval process underway before Winter. If - as we confidently expect - the turbine is approved, then we have gained an important head start on the competition,” says Ole Jönsson. He adds that the Autodesk Inventor development process has lead to a whole raft of concrete optimisations in design and construction. The details, however, are for now being kept secret.
CAD dealer CDLIGHT has been involved in installing Inventor at Vindby. According to CDLIGHT’S Director Leif Jessen-Hansen, Vindby has proved unique in that it has exploited much of the built-in functionality of Autodesk Inventor:
“3D CAD is not simply a tool for designing and developing digital prototypes. It is also a tool for visualising, documenting, analysing and selling product – and Vindby has fully exploited that potential with Autodesk Inventor”, says Leif Jessen-Hansen. Vindby’s sales brochures, which in several instances present products that only exist as virtual prototypes, and are only physically produced when an order comes in.
CDLIGHT has just recently opened an office in the same building as Vindby in Hornbæk, and is also working with Autodesk mapping and segmenting the Green Industry, of which Vindby is a part. Even the offices in Hornbæk are green-oriented, including an independent electricity system that turns on and off with the building’s alarm system, thereby reducing power consumption from machines left on standby outside working hours.
Optimisation is a must
Both John Knud Jørgensen and Ole Jönsson come from engineering backgrounds. They are also the force behind the firm Sheet Metal Design, which delivers engineering support to Vindby. Within Sheet Metal Design, John Knud Jørgensen and Ole Jönsson function as CAD freelancers, and are familiar with continual demands for optimisation from their customers.
“When we sell our engineering expertise, customers expect us to deliver optimisation of their product. For that reason, it’s important that we have the latest and most highly regarded CAD tools at our disposal, so that we can, for example, determine how the customer can reduce use of materials, and thereby lower production costs. It is this strategy, and the way we use Autodesk Inventor, that is currently proving so successful at Vindby,” says Ole Jönsson. John Knud Jørgensen adds:
“At Sheet Metal Design, typically we send customers a 3D model as a DWF file, so the customers themselves can view the design from different angles and engage in a discussion with us about how to further optimise the product. In that way the customers themselves become part of the development process and we can continually monitor expectations, so the end result is exactly what the customer wants.”
Climate control
One of the challenges for Vindby in achieving their dream of a wind turbine venture is that up until now the Danish market has been dominated by Chinese products which fail to withstand the Danish climate. According to John Knud Jørgensen, poor customer experiences with these turbines have adversely affected the image of mini wind turbines in Denmark, and so he welcomes the new legislation on type approval.
“There is no doubt whatsoever that the new requirements for mini wind turbines will separate the sheep from the goats where manufacturers are concerned,” concludes John Knud Jørgensen. “For our part, the rapid development work we have done at Vindby over the last few months has been possible only because we have totally integrated the digital prototyping in Autodesk Inventor into our way of working.”
Vindby is already receiving enquiries on a daily basis from buyers interested in purchasing the new turbine. But until the Danish Wind Turbine Association grants type approval in May 2009, they will have to be patient for a little while longer.
