Wind Turbine Nacelle

The nacelle of a wind turbine is the housing mounted atop the tower that encloses the machine generating components, including the generator, gearbox, drive train and brake assembly, sheltering them from weather while providing a working platform for maintenance. On some offshore wind turbines the nacelle also carries a helicopter hoisting platform, or helideck, sturdy enough to support service personnel and equipment lowered from a hovering helicopter, with the turbine rotor stopped, feathered and locked before anyone boards or leaves the platform by this route. As the component that carries nearly all of a turbine electromechanical machinery, the nacelle size and weight are a central engineering constraint on turbine design, particularly for the largest offshore installations, where it must be lifted and serviced far from shore.