How Wind Turbines Assist in Generating Alternative Energy :: Wind Power Energy

How Wind Turbines Assist in Generating Alternative Energy Abstract I have researched how turbines assist in generating alternative energy. I found my research primarily from the Internet from sources such as the U.S. Department of energy. I then noted what a wind turbine does to help generate energy, and why it is used as an alternative energy. I also found disadvantages to using fossil fuels, and why it is important to use alternative energy like wind. I then researched how the wind turbine worked and what each specific component of the turbine did. Before researching, I hypothesized that wind turbines did very little to help the Earth's crisis of burning fossil fuels, but after researching, I discovered that many farmers and ranchers are using wind turbines to help conserve energy, and they are doing so at a very low cost. Using wind turbines can benefit everyone, and since it is a clean renewable energy, it will not pollute the Earth's atmosphere. Introduction A turbine is a machine, containing a rotor that has blades. The turbines are powered by momentum, and the kinetic energy is converted to mechanical energy. A turbine works by using wind to make energy, which is opposite of a fan. There are two basic groups of turbines, the horizontal-axis variety, and the vertical-axis design. There are also many sizes of turbines ranging from 100 kilowatts to several megawatts. A turbine is constructed of many parts, including an anemometer, two or three blades, a brake, a controller, a gear box, a generator, a high-speed shaft, a low-speed shaft, a nacelle, a pitch, a rotor, a tower, a wind vane, a yaw drive and a yaw motor. Wind Turbines 3 Figure 1 (U.S. Department of Energy, 2006) Figure 1 shows the components of the wind turbine. Each has a different function to aid the conversion of kinetic energy into mechanical energy. According to U.S. Department of Energy, the anemometer measures the wind speed and transmits wind speed data to the controller. The blades are lifted by wind and from that start to rotate. The brake is a disc brake, which is used to stop the rotor in emergencies. The controller starts up the machine at wind speeds of about 8 to 16 miles per hour; turbines do not operate at wind speeds above about 55 miles per hour because they might be damaged by the high winds. The gearbox is where gears connect the low-speed shaft to the high-speed shaft and increases the rotational speeds from about 30 to 60 rotations per minute (rpm) to about 1000 to 1800 rpm, the rotational speed required by most generators to