Report from Hannover: Wind in the sails for Hermes Award winner

Visitors inspect interior of Enercon wind turbine at Hannover Messe’s inaugural Wind 2009 trade fair. Source: Deutsche Messe

Hannover, Germany – The central theme of this year’s Hannover Messe trade fair is energy—securing future energy supplies by using it more efficiently and by developing and deploying renewable energy technologies.Hannover Messe is an umbrella event for 13 individual trade shows. One of these is Energy, which includes technologies ranging from smart meters for homes to superconducting cables for transmission lines. This year also marks the first year for a new trade fair, Wind . The Wind expo presented extraordinary displays, including a massive turbine from Enercon that allowed visitors to peer inside from an elevated platform (see photo). Wind provides more than 70,000 jobs Wind power accounts for approximately 7% of Germany’s energy production, is responsible for over 70,000 jobs, and is a strong export market. According to VDMA Power Systems Association (the German wind energy association), the wind sector has recorded growth rates of over 30 percent for the last three years in a row, and 70% of Germany’s wind power manufactured products are exported. It’s no wonder then that German engineers are refining wind turbines with the skill in engineering and manufacturing that the country is known for.Underscoring Germany’s commitment to wind turbine R&D, the winner of this year’s coveted Hermes award was Voith Turbo GmBH , for their new WinDrive turbine technology. The juried Hermes award is conferred by Hannover Messe annually during the opening ceremony. The award includes a purse of 100,000 euros, said to be one of the largest purses in industrial competitions.

On location at Hannover Fair

Control Engineering editorial director David Greenfield, Consulting-Specifying Engineer editor Michael Ivanovich, and Plant Engineering editor Bob Vavra will be reporting from Hannover Messe this week on the new ideas and new technologies from the 2009 event.

Monday – Flying penguin, innovations, efficiency – Phoenix Contact shows new networking, safety relay, junction box – Report from Hannover: Daily Innovation Focus Tuesday – Wind in the sails for Hermes Award winner – Looking for an attendance bump at Hannover Fair – Voice of youth at Hannover Fair Wednesday – Buzzwords include ‘Pleasantly surprised’ – Product focus is on innovation, energy, says Siemens executive – Daily Innovation Focus: sensors, Ethernet switches, safety, controllers – World Energy Dialogue says lead environmentally to succeed Thursday – New SEW system designer packages, stainless steel gear motor Friday – New Beckhoff automation hardware, software – Daily Innovation Focus: explosion-proof sensors, efficiency certification

Voith Turbo manufactures variable-speed hydrodynamic drives for controlling pumps, compressors and other turbo machinery in power generation. When presenting the award, the German Minister of Education and Research said that in addition to representing superior technological innovation, the WinDrive also represents the importance of developing technologies to combat climate change. Engineering efficiency: how they did it I stopped by the Voith Turbo exhibit and looked at a model of the WinDrive. It was amazingly simple. According to Uwe Reimesch, general manager of sales, the WinDrive uses a combination of a torque converter on the output end and a planetary gear designed as a superimposed gear on the input end.Together, this assembly converts variable input speeds into constant output speeds for synchronous generators. This eliminates the need for a frequency inverter while providing network-quality power output. As a result, driveline weight is reduced by 20%, output and reliability are increased, and maintenance is decreased.I asked, what he thought of the Hermes Award. “It’s great,” he said. “It’s just what a company needs to put wind in its sails when starting up a new product.”- Michael Ivanovich, editor-in-chief, Consulting-Specifying Engineer.Edited by Mark T. Hoske , editor in chief, Control Engineering News Desk, www.controleng.com Register here to select your choice of free eNewsletters.

Do you have experience and expertise with the topics mentioned in this content? You should consider contributing to our CFE Media editorial team and getting the recognition you and your company deserve. Click here to start this process.