Wind turbines convert wind energy into rotational motion to produce work. They have been used for centuries and are simple, efficient, and use renewable energy. There are two types of wind turbines: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal turbines are more common and use conventional aircraft propeller designs, while vertical turbines use slatted cylindrical impellers and do not need to be constantly turned into the wind. Both types are used for power generation and meteorological instruments.
A wind turbine is a mechanical device that converts wind energy into rotational motion to produce work. These devices have been used around the world for centuries to perform a variety of tasks including pumping water and grinding grain. Wind turbines usually consist of an impeller head that drives a machine or generator through a gearbox. The impeller head can be fixed or rotated to follow the wind via a rudder assembly or an automated drive mechanism. Modern wind-driven propellers are widely used to generate electricity, pump water, and to drive weather station instruments.
Wind energy has been harnessed in various ways to produce work for hundreds of years. Just think of the towed sails of ships of yesteryear or the quintessential Dutch windmill to find examples of the enduring nature of wind energy. While the wind turbine is by no means a new invention, it still sees considerable use today with the ever-growing global focus on clean, renewable electricity generation that drives wind energy technology forward at a healthy pace. Wind turbines are simple, efficient and use one of nature’s most abundant and renewable sources of energy, making them ideal “green machines”.
The wind propeller, or wind turbine as it is more commonly known, uses a simple, free-spinning impeller mechanism to harness wind energy to produce work. The impellers that drive wind machines follow many different design trends ranging from conventional aircraft propeller types to slatted box variants. There are two basic design orientations used in wind turbine machines: horizontal and vertical. All work on a similar principle, albeit with the set of impellers turning a shaft through a gearbox to operate various mechanisms.
Horizontal drive wind turbines are the most common types and drive mechanisms such as water pumps, generators and meteorological instruments. Impeller designs in horizontally driven wind propellers tend to lean more towards conventional aircraft types. Weather station instruments often use a series or bowl-shaped radial cups as impellers, while power-generating wind turbines use long, slender blade designs. A feature of this type of wind propeller is that it must be transformed into wind to function properly. This is usually achieved by attaching a rudder to the propeller head or by turning the head electrically via a separate drive mechanism.
Vertically driven wind propeller designs typically use impeller-type slatted cylindrical impellers to drive a vertically oriented shaft. These models are usually used for power generation and meteorological instrument drives. They are especially effective because the total wind bearing surface of the impellers tends to be larger than in conventional propeller designs. The main advantage of using this design is that it is unidirectional and does not need to be constantly turned into the wind.
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