by Gene Patterson

Created on: September 25, 2010   Last Updated: November 29, 2010

How wind turbines work!

In these trying times it is good to know ways to save money and energy.  Fossil fuels are not renewable.  When the earth runs out they will be gone forever.  As the enormous reserves get smaller and smaller people are constantly looking for better ways to harness energy.  One of the best and brightest of ways to harness energy is to turn the power of the wind into electromechanical energy. 

The wind is a completely renewable source that will last forever.  The life cyle for the energy gained from wind turbines is simply as long as the physical parts last.

How do wind turbines work:  The Basics.

Wind turbines simply collect all of the kinetic energy imparted on them across the blades.  This spins a wheel that goes down to a drive train.  From this point you can think of it as a fan in reverse.  Rather than the motor spinning a drive shaft which has fan blades on one end; it is the blades spinning the drive shaft which spins the motor, creating electromagnetic energy.

How is the energy generated:

As the wind pushes the large blades around the drive shaft is coupled doiwn to smaller and smaller drives.  Finally it gets to a drive train that is small compared to the enormous blades.  Because of this the gears on the end of the drive shaft going into the drive train will move pretty fast.  As this gear goes round and round it either HAS powerful magnets attached to it or passes through powerful magnetic fields.  The passing of the magnets through the generator creates a positive and negative oscillation of energy.  This oscillation is called alternating current (AC)

Ship the energy out

At this point the real work is done.  The turbine will pass the energy on to the electrical grid.  Along the way it is measured, stored and made safe by all of the controls and equipment in the wind turbine.  After the output is measured the electricity passes out to alone a power line.  Just like the power that is piped into everyone’s homes, but in reverse.

Electrical output.

The output changes based on many variables.  The size of the wind turbine is one major variable.  The larger it is the greater the energy.  The second variable should be obvious: wind.  If it isn’t around the turbines to not generate energy.

Could you have one on your property?

Absolutely.  You could use a wind turbine as a home "green" improvement.  The “science” is minimal.  Nothing really more complicated than a backup generator.  In urban area there is not space to make a large enough wind turbine to be of use.  But if there is room it is easy to set up.  There are only two “extra” steps. 

1)  You need to “store” the unused energy in a generator for when the turbines are not moving.

2)  You would need some sort of a switch over to power company power if you drained the energy in your generator.

If you are able to place a big enough wind turbine on your property you can even set it up to sell excess energy to the power company.  Wind turbines can be a great benefit both to the environment and to your pocketbook.  If you have the room for them, they are definitely worth looking into.

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