Small Wind Turbines and How They Work
Small wind turbine generators are used at farms or small industrial sites and homes. It is also used with diesel generators or connected to electrical supply grid. Those connected to electrical grids only pays for the electricity they use from the electrical company. The small systems located in remote areas and distant from electrical grid supply maintain sufficient electrical supply through the use of batteries and other energy storage gadget.
There are two types of small wind turbines; the HAWT or Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines which is the type commonly installed currently. In this model, the shaft is parallel to the ground and mechanically simple that requires a small ‘footprint’ to mount the tower on ground. On the other hand, VAWT or Vertical Axis Wind Turbines have its shaft perpendicular to the ground and requires a larger ‘footprint’ to secure the tower on ground.
The components of small wind system include the 1) rotor consisting of blades and shaft; 2) the generator/alternator producing electricity from the turbine rotor; 3) the gearbox used to match rotor speed to the generator; 4) the nacelle protects the generator/alternator and 5) the tail vane of Yaw system used to align a HAWT with the wind however some yaw system can be offset from the vertical axis.
In addition, the following components usually are packaged as part of small wind turbines. These include 1) the control and protection system, 2) the tower (tilt-up towers, guyed towers and non-tilt-up or self-supporting towers) and depending on the application, ‘balance-of-system’ (BOS) are often sold separately. These include 1) batteries, 2) inverter, 3) rectifier, 4) battery charger, 5) alternative electricity source, 6) circuit breakers, fuses, disconnect switches other safety gadgets, and 7) monitoring system.
Learn how to build a wind turbine and make wind power at home.
