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Wind turbine design

Former Member

OK not sure whether this should be here or in power management, but I am choosing engineering

 

This is a new subject to me in relation to the physical build of a turbine

 

I wonder if anyone can tell me why the vanes are perpendicular to the wind direction instead of parallel to the flow of wind

 

In my eyes it may be easier to build a turbine with variable direction blades depending on the speed of the wind so that they are facing the sky, which would reduce the directional workings from the complexity of the design

Parents

  • Hi Mike,

    The wind turbine works by absorbing some of the momentum of the air molecules in the wind with the vanes or impellers of the turbine. The design with the impellers perpendicular to the wing provides a means of offering a reasonable cross section of surface to the wind and not having to bring any of the surfaces against the direction of the wind. Many of the more sophisticated turbines have a way to feather the impellers so that they can react to higher speed winds.

    John

  • in reply to jw0752

    Hi John

     

    My original idea was to use something like the wind speed sensors on a larger scale, and ovalled a bit to look like a deep tablespoon, but then was not sure if it would work and not having the time to experiment at the moment thought I would throw the idea open

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  • in reply to Former Member

    The wind cup design is very functional if you do not have an appreciable load. The power comes from the difference between the effect of the moving air on the front and back of the cups. If you are looking for power however the negative effect of the back of the cup moving against the wind is very expensive energy loss. You could design a type of cup that collapses when moving up wind but still you are only capturing power from one cup at a time. You can pretty much bank on the perpendicular design as the best one for capturing power from the wind.

    John

  • in reply to jw0752

    I have admit I knew some of the arguments against the design but like a little boy hoping that there might have been slightly more plausabilty in the idea