Windmills were previously used in early times to pump water out of the ground to irrigate systems and to grind wheat. Through progressive technology, they soon found other useful purposes for these windmills. With a little human ingenuity, they have been made to generate electricity. But how do windmills works?
Wind power is a renewable kind of energy and it is a powerful source as well. It is considered as one of the most practical and perfect sources because it produces zero emission and it is abundantly free. The best thing about the structure is that it can reduce the power bill of any home by 50 to 80 percent.
Basically this structure consists of 2 to 3 blades that are connected to a shaft. These blades are used to collect the wind energy that flows over them. The shaft meanwhile is wired into a generator, which then is linked to a battery. The generator is also called the heart of such a mechanism, as it is the one that converts the energy collected.
Upon collecting and converting, a battery is needed for storing all the collected energy, which then can be coupled or linked into a home’s electrical system.
How Do Windmills Work – The sequence:
– First of all, it slows down the speed of the wind using the blades, which work similarly as airplane’s propellers.
– When the wind flows over the blades, these blades collect kinetic energy.
– Then the blades, which are linked to a drive shaft, revolve slowly and send a lot of the turning force into the gearbox.
– The gearbox then modifies this turning force, and instead of revolving slowly with a lot of force in every revolution, it goes faster with less force in every revolution.
– At that moment, the generator, which is connected to the gearbox, creates electricity through the many magnets and copper wires inside of it.
An important factor that plays a vital role on the way this machine works is the size of the structure itself, as the amount of electricity generated depends upon it. The bigger it is, the more powerfully it can drive the shaft, which means the greater electricity it can produce.
You might also notice that some windmills are located on top of valleys and mountains. This is because the blend of hot and cold air can create moving air. Sometimes they are positioned near bodies of water, because this also generates wind due to the change in temperature brought about by the sea and the sun.
One important fact on how windmills work is that a single turbine can generate 100 megawatts of electricity. Imagine then how much electricity a wind farm with large turbines grouped together can create to provide bulk power to an electrical grid.
Learn more about wind energy by visiting
Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Energy
and
Solar and Wind Power For Residential
