Why Do Different Propeller Designs of Wind Turbines Produce More Power?
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Turbines
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Wind turbines use the power of wind to turn motors, allowing the motors to generate and store an electric current. The wind turbine tower holds the propeller up at a proper height to encounter the strongest wind gusts, while the propeller catches the force of the wind and turns it into kinetic energy. The design of the blades is very important to this process and can make a large difference in how effective the turbines are.
Rotor Blades
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The rotor blades of the wind turbine are usually made out of a durable, noncorrosive substance like fiberglass or carbon. There are two different types of blade designs. One design is vertical, with an egg-beater style propeller that sits atop the turbine tower and is spun around by wind forces. The more common style is a horizontal, propeller-like arrangement of blades that face the wind. Many newer horizontal rotor blades are even designed to face whichever direction the wind blows throughout the day.
While the eggbeater, vertical style of wind turbine does not technically use blades and is limited in its design, horizontal versions can have several different styles of blades. Most use three blades, although some use two, while the size and the angle or design of the blade can vary from project to project.
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Rotor Blade Designs
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The point of the rotor blades is to turn the turbine, so they need to move as quickly and as smoothly as possible, while also tapping into as much wind energy as they can. The Wind Swept Area formula is used to judge how much of the blade will actually come in contact with the wind force. The larger the blade and the more blades there are, the greater the wind swept area will be.
But this does not mean that you can just pile rotor blades together and achieve a greater energy draw from the wind. The closer the blades are, the more their own little wind streams will interfere with each blade as it turns, causing a rougher and slower turn of the entire propeller system. Three blades, angled correctly, will have minimal interference with each other, while the two-blade system will have no interference at all.
There is also a reason rotor blades are made in the lift design, like the wings of an airplane. These blades have a flat side and a rounded side that create different areas of air pressure and propel the blades more easily through the air. This also affects tip speed, which is a ratio that shows how fast the tips of the blades move. Lift design blades have a much higher tip speed than drag-type blades, and a higher lift speed means more electricity for the turbine.
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