Make Wind Power

You have seen a windmill in most typical Holland postcards. It looks similar to airplane propellers but instead of stirring the wind to create a powerful thrust to move the plane, it does the reverse. A typical wind turbine waits for the wind blow in order to work. So depending on the wind direction the propeller must turn to face the wind flow perpendicularly. Usually, a yaw or a flipper that looks like an airplane’s tail is used to guide the wind blades to face the wind.

As windmills have been in use since 200 BC, there are a lot of lessons learned from typical Holland-type windmills, or what are technically known as horizontal axis wind turbines.

Have you seen a windmill that looks like an egg beater? This generation of wind powered electricity generator is an ingenious idea that hopes to eliminate the weaknesses of ancient designs. Here are some reasons why such design is superior to their horizontal counterparts:

• Horizontal types have trouble operating because of wind turbulence and just above the ground. Vertical types could harness even wind airflow just above the ground.
• Cost-wise, the construction of high pylons to mount horizontal wind blades is not needed in vertical designs. Aside from its difficulty to install, a horizontal design would need a crane to construct and do periodic maintenance on the turbine and blades.

• Because horizontal designs need to turn around and adjust to wind direction, its mechanical parts are always subject to stress, fatigue and structural failure. Wear and tear is observed faster in horizontal designs than in vertical types.

• Tall horizontal windmills may impair the proper reading in airport radars.

Today, modern designs of vertical wind turbines are like rotating sails. With this, wherever wind direction comes in, the structure does not have to move, just the sails do.