How the Wind Generator Creates Power

Generator in large commercial size horizontal axis wind turbines is mounted at a nacelle located at the top of a tower behind the turbine rotor. A speed increasing gearbox may also be placed between the rotor hub and the generator in order to reduce the generator cost and weight.

The commercial size generator rotors carry field windings to produce rotating magnetic field inside the stator. If a wind generator is quite small, it may use permanent magnets, but because of its size these are too costly in large machines. In addition they do not permit the generator voltage to be regulated conveniently.

Electrical generators usually have a built-in system for AC power producing. Some of the older style wind generators tend to rotate at a constant speed in order to match the power lines frequency. Because of this less pricey induction generators were permitted. Unlike the older wind turbines, new models most often turn at a speed allows them to generate electricity more efficiently. There are multiple technologies allow the variable frequency current production, which in turn is converted to DC and then converted back to AC current in order to match the line voltage and frequency. The equipment is costly and causes power loss, but the turbine has ability to capture a larger amount of the wind energy than turbines producing AC power only. Sometimes a central inverter could be used to plug in DC energy to the grid. This is especially useful when turbines are placed offshore and allows the DC energy to pass from the turbine to the inverter before connection to the grid.

Due to its resin matrix, carbon fiber is one of the best construction materials for wind turbine blades. It’s the strongest and stiffest material available, but it is very expensive, so its use is limited to some blade manufacturers who use it only in the highly loaded rotor blades parts, those where stiffness is critical. Modern blades are composed of lightweight glass-reinforced plastic using an epoxy or polyester resin matrix.

Wind turbines can be made of the different materials, but some of them are more effective than others. However, the key to its operation is not the material is used, but how the turbine generates power to create electricity. Wind turns the rotor blades, which turns the low-speed shaft at a 30 to 60 rotations per minute speed. Once the motion begins, gears connect the low-speed shaft to the high-speed shaft, thus increasing the rotations per minute to something about 1200 to 1500. The key to electricity producing is to get rotations per minute as high as possible. The more rotations the blades make, the more electricity is produced. Wind turbine generator is a simple engine converts the gears kinetic energy into usable electric energy can be used to run machinery or provide electricity in your home or business more efficiently and cheaper than what you pay your local power company to provide the same power.

Your wind turbine will also include the yaw drive and motor to keep the blades facing in right direction. If the blades are not facing towards the wind, it is impossible for the turbine to capture wind power in order to convert it into electricity. Other equipment includes an anemometer necessary to collect data on wind speed, a wind vane to monitor wind direction, and a controller so that if the wind speed is too high or too low the turbine can be turned off. Wind speed should be typically 8 to 16 mph minimum and 65 mph maximum.