Tuesday, August 25, 2009

A Basic Introduction To Wind Turbines

By Jim Samposzi

Since the downturn of the world's environmental state, many ecologists and other people who are concerned have been looking day and night for a different source of power. Many of these people have discovered very promising types but a lot of these sources aren't sufficient enough to entirely do away with other, more harmful ways of harvesting power. Our nation still depends on generating power that are capable of causing harm to our environment ozone layer, and air quality.

Wind turbines are pieces of equipment that gather the force of winds to turn a series of blades. This turning component, known as the rotor, pipes this energy through a shaft and then through the gearbox, which then, sends this force into a generator. This process works very smooth and efficiently, but is not powerful enough to generate adequate energy to power everything we need. Wind turbines usually provide energy to farms for automated grain machines and other industries that require a generator 24-7. Wind turbines are common in the western parts of the country, primarily in Wyoming and areas in California. They are seen in the hundreds sometimes in fields and remote areas throughout the countryside.

The blades on this generator is slanted or pitched. The reason for this is if the blades were not shaped like this, they would be unable to turn during small winds; this would result in a loss of possible energy that could have been generated. Furthermore, these blades are unable to start up with winds higher than 55 mph. The reason for this is because a high wind like this could damage the wind turbine. In addition, a brake is included on the wind turbine which stops the blades if the wind is too lofty. Also, this component, does not operate in winds below 8 mph because its just not worth it.

Wind turbines are simple in design but interesting in how they actually produce power. Wind turbines include what is referred to as a yaw drive and yaw motor. The yaw motor and yaw drive allow the rotor to pivot when the direction of wind changes. This mechanism allows for premium harnessing of energy; if wind turbines omitted this control, they would sit idol at the most insignificant shift in wind patterns.

These incredible machines apply to a few uses but are found in many families farms in rural areas. But, wind turbines are rather loud and residents nearby these fields have been reported to have complained about them. And, in in many situations these large fields of turbines have obsolete units that no longer serve any purpose. Many people are fighting to abolish them, while many owners of these fields have no clue where to relocate the wind turbines to.

Although they are capable of harvesting power, some turbines are unused and just sitting there; other professionals continue to build new and more powerful models that are capable of producing more power than ever. A Canadian researcher, for instance, has come up with a wind turbine that can generate 50 kilowatts of electricity! This is a huge milestone and it is going to be some time until someone comes out with one more powerful.

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