subject: How A Wind Turbine Works [print this page] A wind turbine is an extremely, environmentally friendly way to generate some electricity and they come in several sizes from the extremely large wind farms that you see down to the smaller, individual home variety. In the right conditions they can generate a surprising amount of power and the technology behind it is simple yet at the same time very clever.
The most common type is the horizontal variety and this has a series of propellers which are spun around and in turn make electricity. The main problem with this though is that if there are gusts above a certain speed they do have to be turned off so they can only work at certain times.
In order to make it a bit easier to understand how it works look at it as being a fan but in reverse. A fan uses electricity in order to then turn the propellers and this creates a breeze to keep you cool but in a wind turbine it is the breeze which in turn rotates the propellers which then generates the electricity.
The blades are connected to a central shaft which goes into the base and as they turn the shaft turns. This is attached to a generator at the base and the rotation then operates this generator and the outcome of this is electricity.
It takes the kinetic energy from the rotation and it turns a set of gears within the tower which has the main job of then helping to increase the amount of energy due to rotating things faster. The generator then has the job of taking what is known as rotational energy and turning it into the electricity however there is one last job to be performed.
This involves a transformer which takes this amount of power and boosts it which means it is now strong enough to be used in whichever way is required. It is only after this part that it can then be put out for consumption by the public or anybody else.
A wind turbine is therefore very simple yet very effective at what it does and this is reflected in how some people with an idea for this kind of thing are actually able to build their own for home. The costs involved can easily be surpassed by the money saved which is one reason why it is fast becoming one of the most popular ways to generate some eco friendly power in the world today.
