What are wind power generators?
Wind
is a form of solar power and it can be wielded to
regenerate wind energy. The flow of wind creates a
motion energy that is harnessed into mechanical and
electrical energy by the help of wind power generators.
The patterns of wind flow over the earth’s surface are
altered by various factors like the diversified
topography, rotation of the earth and even by the uneven
heating of the earth’s surface by the sun’s rays. The
vegetative covering and water bodies also contribute
profoundly in the wind flow patterns. There are majorly
two varieties of wind power conversion system like the
wind mills and the wind energy
turbines.
Wind
power generators: How do they
function?
Wind
energy turbines and wind mills are differently used for
generating wind power for different purposes. Wind mills
are deployed to produce mechanical power whereas wind
energy turbines are used to generate electricity for
household as well as national and provincial networks.
Wind mills on the other hand find their application in
pumping water, grinding cereals etc. wind turbines,
however being the most modernized form of wind power
generators are being largely deployed these days.
The
underlying principle of a wind turbine is very simple. A
wind turbine usually consists of a rotor with two or
three blades. This rotor is connected to a main shaft
which again spins a generator that produces electricity.
The number of blades in a wind turbine determines the
output efficiency of the machine. More blades produce
more energy. Of course, the vital role of the amount of
wind in that particular area cannot be ruled out at all.
A faster wind ensures a heavy turnout of wind power. The
minimum wind speed required for an adequate supply of
electricity is 15 miles per hour. Thus wind turbines are
generally installed high up on towers at a usual height
of 100 feet or thirty meters since, higher the altitude,
faster and less roily is the wind. Also the number of
blades alters the efficiency to a great extent. More
blades mean more energy. Wind mills are again of various
types depending on the purpose where the regenerated
mechanical energy is applied. Thus a wind mill that is
deployed for pumping water from a well or a draining
land is called a wind pump. And tjasker is another kind
of wind mill used for raising water in areas where a low
head is needed. Closely compared both the wind power
generators are efficient in their respective fields of
deployment but still a closer look reveals the fact as
to which one is more beneficial and cost-effective.
Wind
power generators: advantages and
disadvantages
The
very fact that wind is an absolutely free and unlimited
resource clearly accounts for the rapidly growing
awareness of the wind power regeneration system. Not
only free but a clean source of power that ensures a
pollution free output is an added bonus indeed. Unlike
the conventional power plants wind power generators
never emit air pollutants and greenhouse gases that
poison the environment by depleting the atmospheric
layers. Coming to the economics of wind power conversion
system, it is quite easy on your pocket as the towers
can be built on farms and ranches in the rural areas
that are supposedly the best wind sites. The lands on
which the towers are built are still useable by the
farmers and ranchers as the plant requires only a small
fraction of the land. The farmers can even lease their
farm lands for rent to the wind energy plant owners.
In
spite of all the advantages the wind power plants pose a
few disfavors like avian mortality (bats and birds being
killed while flying into the rotors), visual impacts
(the huge towers blocking the view of the landscape) and
noise pollution (generated by the rotor blades).
However, the main disadvantage lies in the nude fact
that wind, the sole source of wind power, is an
involuntary phenomenon and thus sporadic in nature.
However, locating wind sites wisely and improvising on
the technological aspect we can easily offset the
disadvantages mentioned above. It is high time we make a
move to stir up the awareness of wind power
worldwide.
