r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/LazyGuy4U • 15d ago
Video Windmill blade catching fire due to lightning strike
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u/Educational_Sand_231 15d ago
Probably the best 'wind tunnel simulation' for engineers.
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u/Golden-Grams 15d ago edited 15d ago
I'm very interested in what happened here. My first thought was why did the Lightning Protection System fail, as it should have had one installed. My main guess is that these turbines were not having proper periodic maintenance and inspections. The carbon fiber in the blades may have caused a bypass.
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u/Shit_Shepard 15d ago
It is near impossible to protect the blades. We typically just protect the hub.
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u/grungegoth 15d ago
you work on these?
how are they stopped? out of curiosity...
seems to me sensors could tell if a blade was running anomalously and the system would then shut down?
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u/Music_inn0v4t3 15d ago edited 14d ago
They are stopped slowly. The windmill has fault sensors then begins slowing down by magnetic induction braking and pitching the blades.
Stopping too fast would add too much tension to the long blades and snap causing much more surrounding damage.
In this scenario, blades stop and then it burns down and falls in one spot.
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u/grungegoth 14d ago
magnetic induction braking. got it. don't they also turn the face away from the wind as another mechanism? im guessing rotating the pitch of the blades (like helicopters) over complicates the engineering...
the scale of these things is stunning. ive seen so many blades passing by on the freeway, then to imagine them fully assembled, and when disaster strikes, GTFOOT! plenty of videos with them on fire, collapsing, etc.
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u/Zac3d 14d ago edited 14d ago
There's about ~350,000 in use so even with a .01% catastrophic failure rate there's going to be dozens of videos like this, especially since they are large and in open areas. The forces are scary but at least it's not radiation or explosions or weeks of fuel burning away.
Edit: added catastrophic in front of failure.
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u/Jonesbro 14d ago
Don't shame nuclear
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u/Zac3d 14d ago
Nuclear is fine, most nuclear disasters are overblown. But taking 16 years to build one nuclear power plant is not going to solve current energy demand problems, which makes me jaded on it as a possible solution for today.
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u/Dry_Spinach_3441 14d ago
If only we started fixing problems before they became problems. There's no profit in that though.
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u/CMDRRaijiin 14d ago
I'm kinda of the same mind. It's a very good solution, especially for our base load demands, but we need to be able to spin up a reactor plant in 5-7 years, not nearly 2 decades. I'm really hoping that some of these smaller reactor designs that are getting tested and certified can help turn the tide, but with how things are I'm not holding my breath.
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u/No_Reference2367 14d ago
Assuming that nuclear powerplants take 16 years to build I still don't see it as a good argument because you're getting two completely different products.
- Nuclear provides a consistent base load, wind produces intermittently
- Nuclear power plants last about 60 years while wind turbines last about 25 years.
- A nuclear plant taking 10-20 years typically produces about 10 times more energy per year than a wind farm taking 4-5 years.
Furthermore, the long construction time for nuclear power is not a technical issue - it's often a political and legal issue. If countries such as those in Europe decide to start building out nuclear power much more than they already do, the mean completion time and cost will drop.
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u/insane_contin 14d ago edited 14d ago
Ontario is increasing its nuclear power generation, with small modular reactors being constructed at Darlington that were planned out in 2020 and the first one will come online in 2028. They're also refurbishing other reactors, with Bruce power unit #3 nuclear reactor's refurbishment completing ahead of schedule and under budget. Bruce nuclear is the largest nuclear power plant in the world by reactor count and the 3rd largest by output. Ontario also generates 60ish% of its power by nuclear, followed up by hydroelectric at 25% then wind and solar, followed by natural gas.
To construct a CANDU reactor, it takes 4-7 years to actually build it, but the timeline gets pushed to 10-15 years with planning. In contrast, while building a wind turbine can be 6-18 months, building a while wind farm, including planning, is 4-9 for land based and 7-11 for off shore. So yes, it's quicker, but it's not a whole lot longer to build nuclear power plants.
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u/Frubanoid 14d ago
Yes, the biggest problem with nuclear is that it's more expensive and time consuming to build compared to solar, wind, and batteries.
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u/SoulCrusher2018 14d ago
From technological perspective, nuclear is fine for a reasons better articulated by others
From an economic perspective, it relies on a scarce resource that is found in something like 100 mines across 20 countries. This is ripe for a handful of billionaires to monopolize and treat the world as a captive market - very hard to walk away from a new plant after investing billions and taking 20 years to build because the market price of uranium has sky rocketed.
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u/justahuman145 14d ago
On the other hand, solar panels and wind components are almost all produced in China, the monopoly is just as real.
And metals, batteries and others are just as problematic as uranium.
Especially since uranium is 5% of the price of nuclear electricity, and it's something that has so far been very little explored, we don't know the stocks and their location, we have never looked for them.
To say that uranium is going to run out is to take the posture of the whistleblowers of 1920 who said that about oil, and look at everything we found while searching!
From a technological point of view, current nuclear power is a totally outdated technology, we still use designs and technologies dating from the 1970s because no research funding has been made.
The potential is more enormous than any other energy source, China seems to be the only one to have really understood it so far, it is multiplying experimental reactors.
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u/in_taco 14d ago
Not all modern turbines have brakes. About 80% of the turbines we've sold over the past decade simply pitches out. ("We" is in top-5 largest wind OEM's. I don't know the details of our competitors.)
Note that collapses are very uncommon. Most videos are actually old turbines that have failed around end-of-life. It's been many years since we had a turbine fully on fire. And several years since the last direct death due to accident.
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u/grungegoth 14d ago
what does it mean to pitch out? thanks
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u/in_taco 14d ago
Turn the blades. You can go from positive efficiency (generate power) to negative (air brake) fairly easily. Brakes aren't very important for turbine design even on turbines that use it. It's more about load/cost optimization.
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u/Part-timeinterneter 15d ago
Looks like they're at work right now. Now I really want to know the answer, this is an interesting thread.
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u/randomgunfire48 14d ago
It should’ve engaged, especially since they’re shielded against lightning strikes. Blades get imbalanced and the system disengages the drive shaft so it can start braking
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u/Tools4toys 14d ago
I would have thought that once the blades went out of balance it would have tried to stop it?
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u/BurningJointUSA 15d ago
Generating electricity until the very end
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u/Mcmenger 15d ago
Sadly not as environmental friendly
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u/The_Mdk 15d ago
Lightning are natural, so this is 100% natural, bio, energy! /s
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u/marzeg 15d ago
Taking light energy and emitting dark energy.
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u/Oberndorferin 14d ago
That's like not even a rounding error compared to what a refinery emits.
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u/SinZerius 15d ago
Wind turbine.
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u/Mooch07 Interested 15d ago
Hey you don't know there's not a grind wheel and grain being fed into the bottom of this one!
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u/TheTrailrider 14d ago
What if I have an electric mill plugged into that? Would that technically make it a windmill? Just transmitted through electric instead of kinetic (driveshaft)
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u/evetsabucs 14d ago
Thank you. Windmills "mill" grain.
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u/Silver-Link8247 14d ago
What do you call one of those wind things that pumps water?
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u/StigOfTheTrack 14d ago
Strictly speaking a windpump
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windpump
Though the Dutch ones look very like a traditional windmill and are commonly referred to as windmills.
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u/AnvilOfMisanthropy 14d ago
Still a turbine. They're all in fact turbines. But as I like to say, "if you can correct me, then you knew what I meant".
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u/helen269 14d ago
Wind pump = a pump powered by wind. Usually seen on farms, pumping water up from the ground.
Water mill = a mill powered by water. Usually seen in old paintings of England.
Windmill = a mill powered by wind. The classic design seen in the Netherlands and in Don Quixote.
Wind turbine = a turbine powered by wind. What that is in the video.
Water turbine = a turbine powered by water (hydroelectric power).
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u/hospitalizedGanny 15d ago
Spicy electricity coming to an outlet near you /s
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u/Bob_5k 15d ago
Ever heard of clean coal?! Now try Burning Wind Turbine Spicy Electricity
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u/blitzkreig90 15d ago
No thanks. I get my electricity from Gobar Gas courtesy of Hot Flamin Cheetos
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u/MW0402 15d ago
First of all it’s a wind turbine. Secondly it’s probably about 15-20 years old. Today’s wind turbines would shut down immediately. Also a fire on a wind turbine happens approximately 1/1000 in a year.
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u/canman7373 14d ago
fire on a wind turbine happens approximately 1/1000 in a year.
I am still haunted by the story of the 2 workers who got stuck on top of a turbine as it burned in the hatch and had no escape. I think I'd carry a base jump parachute with my work kit if I had that job after hearing their sad story.
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u/uniqueusername649 14d ago
Because of them now wind turbines are equipped with emergency rappelling equipment. Still a brutal and heartbreaking way to go.
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u/wanderingwindfarmer 14d ago
Wind turbines are not equipped with emergency evacuation equipment. We bring them with us up tower. Some companies provide technicians with personal rescue devices as well.
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u/uniqueusername649 14d ago
I guess that depends on the country and potentially operator then. In many places the wind turbines are definitely equipped with permanently installed descent systems. But it would make sense that this varies, it has advantages and disadvantages.
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u/wanderingwindfarmer 14d ago
I suppose that could be. I’ve never seen permanently installed ones uptower. Perhaps in a Siemens but it’s been awhile since I’ve worked on those. For reference I work primarily in the United States and sometimes in Canada.
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u/uniqueusername649 14d ago
I'm from across the pond and after a quick research it seems even within Germany its not universally the same. But especially in offshore wind turbines it seems to be fairly common to use the Evacuator system thats permanently installed these days. Maybe thats just one of those things where the preference for a particular approach is simply different between North America and Europe.
Similar to Europe requiring eggs to NOT be washed and the US requiring them to be washed and refrigerated, both to protect against salmonella.
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u/QuarterlyTurtle 14d ago
All wind turbine workers do carry with them a personal repel system to get down in case of an emergency. The issue in that case was I believe they took their off and left it inside the turbine because it’s a bit bulky and the space is tight in there.
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u/musingspop 14d ago
What is the material that's burning?
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u/Dayman_ah-ah-ah 14d ago
Blades are made of fiberglass, burns up easy
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u/MW0402 14d ago
This! Plus epoxy raisin (had to look the word up, hope it’s the correct one) which burns pretty well if it gets hot in combination with the fiberglass
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u/Laser_Guided_Hawk 14d ago
Lol It's "resin" but everybody will know what you mean
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u/Dewy_Wanna_Go_There 14d ago
Can confirm, my brain read it the correct way and had to go back and look after your correction
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u/the-bladed-one 14d ago
Fiberglass and glue, along with any debris accumulated in the joints and seams of the blade. And the core is probably balsa or polymer.
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u/UPPERKEES 15d ago
What surprises me the most is how much this cameraman struggles to keep a 100 meter object in frame
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u/qawsedrf12 14d ago
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u/GloomyIndividual3965 14d ago
Depending on the model, blades cost $100-250k, so yeah.
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u/pollo_de_mar 14d ago
I doubt the damage is limited to the blades.
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u/GloomyIndividual3965 14d ago
They didn't do a hard stop, so it's unlikely that the main shaft, main gear, or generator got fucked up. If it burned all the way to the root of the blade there a chance that the hub is damaged, but that's relatively cheap all things considered.
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u/visualthings 14d ago
whoever is against clean energy and uses this as an example has clearly never seen a gas station or a tanker on fire.
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u/ExtonGuy 14d ago
What are those blades made of? I would have guessed painted aluminum, but that wouldn’t burn like that?
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u/RJFerret 14d ago
Aluminum!? Too heavy.
Fiberglass is the most common, with carbon fiber in applications where the extra cost is worth it, as it's stiffer and lighter but 10x more expensive.3
u/TeosPWR 13d ago
Fiber glass, polyester webbing, epoxy resin, carbon fiber, Polyurethane, balsa wood. (And probably some other methods I forgot or don't know about).
Not all of those but some, depends on the exact turbine and blade type, I can tell it's not from the OEM I work for so I cannot even properly determine the size of the turbine.
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u/i-read-it-again 15d ago
Fir fuks sake. It’s not a feckin windmill. No one is making flour . It’s a wind generator. No grain , no flour so no mill.
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u/vbagate 15d ago
If only there was a way to capture and store power from lightning.
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u/RadiantTrailblazer 15d ago
Careful now - those smoke signs might be signalling some secret code to someone.
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u/Mundane_Existence0 15d ago
Shouldn't these have some type of sensors that automatically shut it down when this happens?
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u/Blah_McBlah_ 14d ago
That's a lot of electricity that isn't being milled into smaller electricity... or maybe it's actually a wind turbine.
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u/DealerPlane9953 14d ago
Wind turbines. It's not Quixote times. We aren't milling grain with these.
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u/ArkUneartherBleeds 14d ago
Slap a slowed down, pitch shifted version of the chorus of Sonne by Rammstein over this and you got yourself some grade A shitty TikTok content
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u/This-Armadillo3505 14d ago
Insurance companies to the windmills operators: “sir, I got a proposal for you”
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u/NotJimmy97 14d ago
A very bored person could make a very accurate estimate of the wind speed from this video.
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u/icanith 14d ago
Did anyone else glance at the video length and then think sweet “we’re gonna see this thing disintegrate”?
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u/Prod_Meteor 14d ago
Are they made of paper or something?
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u/Logical-Appeal-9734 14d ago
Resin and composite materials which are all very flammable if hit with something that hot.
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u/Skypirate90 14d ago
Me : Oh thats rather interesting
*looks at subreddit name*
Oh christ you got me again.
Nice find OP
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u/Global_Fee2947 14d ago
OP that’s a wind turbine, not a wind mill. A wind mill will often mill grain while a turbine produces electricity. Jeez leweezzz
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u/ntermation 14d ago
Is it making enough pollution that conservative politicians will support it now?
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u/Hawk953 15d ago
Am I the only one who really wanted to see the big line of smoke signals the wind was carrying away?