Breamlea Wind Generator Monthly Maintenance
Sunday 20 October 1996  10.30am

Following damage to the air brakes on 12 September, they have to be overhauled.
If the wind is 5 metres/sec or less, and it is not raining, we should be able
to remove the air brakes one at a time for inspection, cleaning, greasing and
reassembly. An attempt will be made to hold each air brake in a giant "string
bag" made from cargo netting. The bag will be lowered to the ground by a rope
suspended from the nacelle. Each blade tip weighs about 25 kg, but the
procedure could still be quite tricky (especially pulling it back up again
without tangling the cargo net in the steel shaft which protrudes from the
main part of the blade!). We now have the correct socket and drives. A safety
harness will be available on loan.

Time permitting, and if a steel caving ladder can be obtained in time from
suppliers in NSW, we will also be able to access cracks in the main blade,
and attempt to inject epoxy resin. In this case the wind gen. will be out of
action for a few days while the epoxy cures.

We will probably need 2 people in the nacelle, two at the service door and
2 at ground level. The open day activities will probably be restricted to
allowing the public to view proceedings from ground level, without the
benefit of video link, as we will all be too busy to do more than give a
running commentary on proceedings.

My best guess is that each air brake will take at least an hour to strip
down, grease and reassemble, so an early start seems advisable, say 10.30am.
If anybody has access to another harness, ropes and karabiners, the anemometer
on the lattice tower also needs to be changed over. It weighs 14 kg, so this
is quite a tricky task too.

If you cannot make it this month, please ring me on (03)9376 7515. If the
weather looks unsuitable, please also ring to discuss whether it is worth
going on site. Incidentally, the power output has not been reduced by the
presence of one bent air brake, so the main problem is the risk of further
damage if severe winds cause another overspeed event.

I would like to show all members of the group how to do a restart. The
procedure has now become more complex because of safety modifications that
were completed on 29 September.


Hope to see you Sunday. 




             Michael Gunter          15/10/1996