a hazard of windmills

 

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| Phil Howard KA9WGN (email for humans: first name in lower case at ipal.net) |

 

We had something like that happen in Oregon last year.
A tech forgot to set a brake on the blades and they went
overspeed. A blade hit the tower and the tower buckled.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/08/wind_turbines_column_snaps_
kil.html

OK, so it's a long link and you will have to cut and paste.

 On 25 Aug 2008 03:13:01 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net wrote:


Looks like an overspeed problem.  Most likely due to human error in setting
things up:

"Every day, man is making bigger and better fool-proof things, and every
day, nature is making bigger and better fools. So far, I think nature is
winning."
  --  Albert Einstein
--ron

 


  Overspeed  -  agree.
Human error  -  no evidence.
 John T.

 

I'd agree there's no direct evidence for human error in that video.  But I
thought that human error was the most likely explanation -- whether it was
in the design, construction, or some human designed system.

What kind of problem, that does not involve a human, do you think might
have caused the overspeed and subsequent destruction?

I suppose a meteorite could have hit the turbine.  But I'd guess that would
be a lower probability event than some human error.  And I'd be surprised
if that would cause an overspeed (as differentiated from the turbine merely
appearing to blow up).
--ron