What is Wind turbine: Definition and 180 Discussions

A wind turbine is a device that converts the wind's kinetic energy into electrical energy.
Wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of sizes, with either horizontal or vertical axes. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. They are an increasingly important source of intermittent renewable energy, and are used in many countries to lower energy costs and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. One study claimed that, as of 2009, wind had the "lowest relative greenhouse gas emissions, the least water consumption demands and... the most favourable social impacts" compared to photovoltaic, hydro, geothermal, coal and gas.Smaller wind turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power for boats or caravans, and to power traffic warning signs. Larger turbines can contribute to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid.

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  1. X

    How Do I Calculate the Output of My Wind Turbine Using Faraday's Law?

    guys I am trying to do calculations for coils that i want to use...i don't know how to do faradays law..this is the information i have... 2inch coils, 80 turns (4layers, 20turns each layer) average diameter is .75 inches. distance from magnet is .25inches. speed is 80turns in 1.123seconds...
  2. A

    Heating water with a wind turbine

    Hello, I am new to this forum, I thought you guys could send me in the right direction. what I am trying to do is heat water with a wind turbine. the turbine produces 3 phase wild AC with voltage of 0 to 270V. related to wind speed. I am aware of the general practices with wind turbines-...
  3. V

    Designing Connector for Wind Turbine Blade Root

    Hi Guys, I have a project to hand in before xmas. Basically I have to design a connector for a Wind turbine Blade. ie the Blade root, the one that connects to the hub. for this I have to come up with original ideas, so I cannot use another current of previous blade root connector. I have to...
  4. N

    Wind turbine energy harvesting

    Hi all, I just looked at a thread involving a wind turbine on a car or something of that sort and I have a similar idea... but it does not involve a car. It is similar in the aspect of something creates energy , and you add something else to it to get more energy, but I'm not sure if the...
  5. K

    Wind turbine for low speed winds

    I'm looking for a summer project and I'm thinking of building a wind turbine to generate additional power for our home. I want it connected to the grid so that it runs our meter backwards for times where we arn't using more power than we generate (on vacation or something, electric company has a...
  6. B

    Is a Wind Turbine-Powered Building the Future of Energy Generation?

    Im new to this forum and wanted to see what you think about my new patent pending design. My concept is...using a 2.5Mw wind turbine, refit 110'L rotor blades with a 10-12' diameter of concave vanes or paddles designed to capture max air thru a forced ducted system that is generated from a large...
  7. J

    Calculating Power Output of Wind Turbine

    Homework Statement 1. A wind turbine with a swept diameter of 20m and an efficiency of extracting energy from the wind of 40% is subjected to an average wind speed of 10m/s. (a) How much power might the turbine produce? Please can some one point me to the right equation as everyone I...
  8. P

    Dynamic Mesh - Fluent - Savonius Wind turbine

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  9. M

    Wind turbine, conceptual question

    For years I have been wondering why wind turbines are designed with very skinny blades (photo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turbine_aalborg.jpg ). Most of the available wind passes right through the circular "reach" of the device without touching the blades. Wouldn't it be more efficient if...
  10. N

    Help in designing a simple transmission system for a wind turbine

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  11. C

    Wind turbine motion equations - explain

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  12. A

    How Should the Root Region of a Small Wind Turbine Blade Be Designed?

    Hi, What is the best way to design the root region of a wind turbine blade (for a small model turbine: 0.7m diameter, Re ~ 10,000)? So far we've selected our airfoil and calculated the chord lengths (proprtional to 1/R) but can't find any mathematics on the root region. At what point should...
  13. J

    Small Wind Turbine Power Measurement

    Description of method: The rotor's mass is constant so when it accelerates in a given wind, it does so with an acceleration = torque/mass. This acceleration will depend essentially on wind speed. If tests are carried out in the open with non-turbulent winds it is possible by using a tachometer...
  14. C

    Wind turbine blade characteristics

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  15. H

    Theoretical power from wind turbine

    We honestly haven't gone over this in class and I have no idea why my prof wants us to do this question... so I'm given it a go and come up empty. NEED HELP! Homework Statement Calculate the maximum theoretical power from a wind turbine if the radius of the vane area is 18.1 m and the wind...
  16. 2

    Wind turbine cut in speed decrease.

    my aim is to lower the cut in speed of the horizontal turbines. I know wind speed has a brutal effect on turbine output, so I want to use horns to speed up air. I plan to put a horizontal axis turbine in the midle of the hexagon You see on the pic. Each side of the hexagon is like a...
  17. 8

    Now many lives does a wind turbine save?

    i know climate science is pretty inaccurate at the moment and its difficult to predict the effects of lowering carbon emissions but just as an interesting topic i was wondering roughly how many lives each wind turbine will save? what i mean is how much carbon dioxide will be saved from the...
  18. D

    Wind Turbine coil/magnet design

    As part of a wind turbine design project, I have come to selecting the most appropriate coil and permanent magnet configuration. The aim is to design a turbine capable of 3kW (max), and approximately 300rpm. It will use mechanical furling to regulate speed. So far, I have only seen...
  19. DaveC426913

    Wind Turbine Dynamics: Unraveling the Mystery

    Nope. I'm still having trouble. I asked about this before, but it's still not gelling for me. There's a wind turbine on the "front lawn" of the city of Toronto that I pass every day. Its blades are never more than ~20 degrees from flat, i.e the blades are almost perpendicular to the flow of...
  20. M

    Alternator for Low Wind Speed Wind Turbine.

    Hi I've a wind turbine which have to run under a very low wind speed, from 2-3m/s. Currently, I'm using Envirotek V20, the result is around 1.5V-2.5V, and current is 0.3mA or nearly zero. My aim is to achieve 50W. Any suggestion for the alternator which I should use? p/s: without...
  21. R

    Wind Turbine Design: Find Documentation Here

    Does anyone know of somewhere I could find some documentation on how to create a wind turbine?
  22. J

    Wind turbine energy HW Question

    Hi everyone. I am having extreme trouble finding the answer to this problem. I thought I originally had it, but nope. The original Q is: "Assume a wind turbine with a hub 50 meters above the ground, a rotor diameter of 65 meters and a wind-conversion efficiency of 25 percent. The turbine...
  23. T

    Can a Wind Turbine Improve the Efficiency of a Moving Car?

    If supposing we were to add a wind turbine connected to a generator to a moving car, would we be able to get the air flowing around the car to turn the turbine and therefore gain some energy? If it is possible, is it economical? if it is, is it practical? would there be a loss? would there be...
  24. B

    How Does Blade Number and Wind Speed Affect Wind Turbine Efficiency?

    I'm doing an experiment (at A-Level) to see the efficiency of a wind turbine. I'm doing this by changing the number of blades and varying the wind speeds. I wondered if anyone had an equation that could look at efficiency? I have the current and the voltage (and wind speed). Sorry if I've...
  25. DaveC426913

    Aerodynamics of modern wind turbine

    I've been thinking about the wind turbine (horizontal turbine - like an airplane propellor.) that I pass on the way downtown and I'm realizing I've been taking for granted how it works. Seems to me it's exactly opposite of an airplane wing. Rather than forward speed generating lift, you have...
  26. P

    Energy available to a wind turbine, Bern.'s eq

    HI folks, new to this forum.I posted this on a different thread, but this seems the better location... it's a conceptual question. I'm in a Fluid Dynamics class and need to make a presentation on Bernoulli's conservation of energy equation as it applies to wind turbines. I think I...
  27. P

    Energy available to a wind turbine

    HI folks, new to this forum. I'm in a Fluid Dynamics class and need to make a presentation on Bernoulli's conservation of energy equation as it applies to wind turbines. I think I understand the different energies involved here: kinetic(v^2/2), pressure(P/rho), potential(zg)... I want to...
  28. B

    Wind Turbine Blades and Wind Speed Performance

    I wonder if anyone could shed some light or information about the subject I'm looking into. How will wind turbines with varied amounts of blades perform in varied wind speeds. E.g. the less amount of blades you have the better a turbine will perform at higher wind speeds? Any help on the...
  29. P

    Calculating Wind Turbine Radius for 571 W of Power

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  30. R

    How Much Power Does a 35% Efficient 80m Wind Turbine Generate at 30kph?

    I have a Thermo I problem: Given: 80m diameter wind turbine rotating at 20rpm under steady wind conditions at an average wind velocity of 30kph. The eff of the system is 35%. Need: Power generated Assumptions (made by me):delta PE ~0; mass=constant; operating at Steady Sate; T~constant...
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