POWERLESS by Antony W.F. Chow

Author:Antony W.F. Chow [Chow, Antony W.F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-12-19T22:00:00+00:00

2.6 - The Wind Turbines

A thin-looking man with a grey mustache wearing thick glasses appeared in front of Schmendrick. He wore blue-gray overalls which were heavily stained with oil spots. "I'm Pell. I'm the chief mechanic in this control tower." Pell offered a handshake and the teenager took it. "Jenks ordered me to get you up to speed on how to maintain the wind turbines. Before you head out to the water and climb the turbines, I will need to teach you some things about them first. Please follow me to my desk."

The mechanic turned and walked across the platform until he reached a desk at the back. He sat at his desk and typed into the keyboard. The computer terminal showed a diagram of a wind turbine.

Schmendrick sat down in front of the desk.

The chief shook his head. "I need you to come around the desk and see the screen," he said.

Chagrined, the teenager got up from his seat and stood behind the mechanic.

Schmendrick studied the diagram carefully. It showed a cross-section of the wind turbine and each part of the diagram was labeled. The wind blew on the turbine, causing the blades to turn. The blades were connected to a long shaft. The shaft was like a long piece of stick which connected to the gearbox and then the generator. Power cables connected the generator and snaked down the tower and then connected to a transformer. The gearbox and the generator were located inside a nacelle.

"I highlighted the relevant sections in red. What you will need to do is to apply a lubricant. You'll have a giant-sized eye dropper to squeeze the oil around the gearbox. Even though the turbines are built right on the water, sometimes the shaft becomes too dry due to the higher elevation. And then it becomes 'locked' tightly in the gearbox. So we need to apply a lubrication to the shaft around the gearbox on a monthly basis. Secondly, there is an air vent on top of the nacelle to keep the generator from overheating. When you open the nacelle, you'll need to clear any debris blocking the vent. During maintenance, the turbine will be taken offline and turned off. We developed a schedule to take them offline two at a time in order to minimize disruption to the generation of electricity," Pell explained.

Schmendrick looked out the window. He saw the turbines over the water. "Will I need to swim to reach them?" he asked. Someone laughed from behind him. The teenager turned and saw that it was Lance.

"No, we're not THAT cruel to noobs," Lance chuckled. "I asked Jenks for permission to use my hovercraft to take you there. But I should note that the hovercraft can't elevate very high because of the extra weight. With the two of us onboard plus your equipment, the vehicle can rise to a height of twenty feet above the ground. That's halfway up the tower. You'll have to climb the rest of the way up," he explained.

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