Types of Wind Turbine

Before talking about the types of wind turbine, it is important to talk a little about how it works.

In short, the wind passes through the wind turbine blades, causing their rotation to move a generator, thus transforming the kinetic energy of the winds into electrical energy. Due to the number of internal components of the wind turbine, a more detailed post about the operation of the wind turbine will be posted later.

There are currently a variety of wind turbines on the market in order to meet different electrical energy demands and different weather conditions. These wind turbines are classified according to the position of the axis of rotation of the wind turbine, which can be:

• Horizontal axis wind turbine;
• Vertical axis wind turbine.

Current technologies offer a wide variety of options, meeting the specific energy demands along with the characteristics of the installation site.

Let's talk first about what most people know, the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine, these towers are spread all over the world, they have support towers of different sizes and can reach the height of a 40-story building, and their blades are a little smaller, reaching “only” 90m.

Out of curiosity, currently, the largest horizontal axis wind turbine was built in the Netherlands by GE, The Haliade-X has a capacity of 12 megawatts (MW), a height of 260 meters, and a blade length of 107 meters.

Horizontal Axis Turbines are classified as a function of the position of the rotor and blades with the wind flow, which can be upwind, which have the wind rotor positioned just in front of the tower, leading the passage of the wind, directly, through the blades and is the most implemented in large horizontal axis turbines, and downwind, which have an inclination in the positioning of the system, allowing the winds to pass, first, behind the wind turbine and then by your shovels.

So far, there have been two types, and we have only just arrived at vertical axis wind turbines.

Savonius; Darrieus and Panemone, are the names of the main types of small and medium-sized vertical axis wind turbines. The forces that the winds exert can be of different types, they are drag force and lift force, as well as their combinations.

I think it's fair to start with what may have been the first wind turbine ever created, with a patent obtained in the mid-1980s, Panemone has its turbine configuration based on the oldest wind machines built by the Persian peoples.

Drag forces are the main ones acting on this type of turbine, even though lift forces are also present in a minority. The rotor includes a variety of blades placed vertically and held at their ends.

The main feature of Panemone turbines is the vertically positioned rotating shaft and the movement of the blades parallel to the wind.

Following the timeline, we have the turbine developed around the 1920s by the French GJM Darrieus, the Darrieus turbine, composed of curved, straight, or helical bladed propellers with an aerodynamic profile attached by the ends, creating support to move and generate electrical energy.

The only disadvantage of this wind turbine model compared to traditional blade turbines is its greater design and manufacturing complexity due to its propeller-shaped design.

Finally, we have Savônius, patented by Sigurd J. Savonius, in mid-1929 in Finland and patented in the USA, Savônius uses the drag force, in its majority, and also in the lift force that provides the rotation of the turbine.

Because of this combination, Savônius manages to develop a high torque, even with low wind speed. These turbines work with winds from any direction and have several models, which aim to maximize the efficiency of these turbines.

Disadvantages of the Savonius rotor can be the limited rotational speed of the turbine (drag force) and low energy efficiency when compared to the rotor based on the principle of lift forces.

Nowadays there are several variations of these turbines, but applying the same principles, and I'm sure we can evolve this technology to the point of discovering new principles of clean energy generation so that we can take better care of our world.

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