Design and R&D: Internal polyvalence and external support

Up to 15% of the yearly turnover is reinvested in R&D, to improve constantly on existing solutions and develop new, more powerful and ever more effective ones.

VERGNET’s R&D department is structured around four internal skill centres (Electric, Mechanical, Design, Construction), and relies on a solid network of external partners.

The four specialised engineering departments and the test centres work on the design of the systems, their improvement, and the definition of their components. These versatile departments, labouring under a strict quality approach, design the mechanical and electrical systems, the assemblies, and the on-site implementations (civil engineering).

The Electrical department: electrical engineering for the wind farms

An essential element of the wind activity, the electrical engineering requires a strict approach, to optimise performances and ensure ever greater personnel safety.

The electric research department provides the electrical engineering for the wind farms.

It develops the turbine command/control modules and, through its management system, sets up the power regulation which will permit optimising the machine’s operation under any wind conditions and delivering “clean” electricity over the administrator network’s distribution lines.

It mainly uses standard components from major international manufacturers to guarantee ease of maintenance anywhere in the world. Each day, it works on designing new systems which will eventually enrich and renew the Group’s offer.

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The Mechanical department: architect of the Vergnet wind systems

Aeroelastic modelling can predict the constraints imposed on materials

Its mission is to work in close collaboration with the manufacturer-partners to define all the mechanical components, their assemblies, and their interfaces. The Mechanical department is the one which guarantees the reliability and performance of Vergnet aerogenerators, which it measures through in-depth modelling.

It uses modern and effective means derived from the aeronautic and automotive industries, such as aeroelastic modelling, which is performed jointly with the consulting firms of IDER and GARRAD HASSAN, and which allows it to make very accurate predictions of the constraints imposed on materials, whether under normal conditions or under such extreme conditions as those in which the Vergnet aerogenerators are most often called upon to perform.

15 years of work have allowed it to develop original and effective solutions, in the design of guyed towers, nacelle articulation, propeller teeter hubs…

These are but a few of the solutions that allow Vergnet to produce machines twice as light as their competitors’, yet still with far greater surface areas, making them more efficient.

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The Design department: conjugating aesthetic and functional choices

One does not go about installing 60-meter-tall giants in nature without worrying about their impact on the landscape; this is why aesthetic considerations have always been a main concern for Vergnet.

Vergnet’s design approach combines aesthetic and functional choices drawn from the Vergnet spirit and culture (lightness, ease of installation and maintenance, fluid aesthetics …) with the wind-related technical imperatives: aerodynamics, manufacturing, transportation, accessibility of the machine’s components which are likely to make maintenance interventions easier.

With these features in mind, the first rough design drafts of the machine and its various components are prepared, then submitted to the internal teams before being modelled in 3D to produce a scale model. Afterwards, actual plans are drawn to manufacture the prototype and start large-scale production.

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Civil Engineering, at the centre of technological originality

The Vergnet technology requires extremely small volumes of concrete

Vergnet must offer resistant supports which remain elegant and discreet, even at heights of 60 m.

it must be possible to install these even in locations which are inaccessible to all heavy machinery.

In light of this, guying offers the best solution, as it allows raising the bearer mast using a simple winch.

This choice of guying allows the Vergnet technology to require extremely small volumes of concrete, compared to the conventional free-standing mast solutions usually called upon for this type of work.

The environmental impact is negligible, and dismantling at the end of the power station’s useful life is very simple.

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The technical partnerships

For over 6 years, in order to meet the challenges of modernising and adapting its products to the latest technological developments in the world of aerogeneration, Vergnet has formed partnerships with the field’s most important design, modelling and engineering consulting firms.

GARRAD HASSAN, AERODYN, AEROTROPE, GERMANISCHER LLOYD, DEWI: these are but a few of the names which have become standards in an environment in constant and rapid technological evolution.

Now, they are also VERGNET’s main partners.

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