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Wind Turbine- How it Works?

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The wind is the natural movement of air in the Earth’s atmosphere. It is caused by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the sun. As warm air rises above, cooler air rushes in to fill the void, resulting in air movement, which we perceive as wind. 

Wind can occur at different speeds and directions, and it can have a significant amount of impact on the environment and weather patterns. To harness wind as a renewable energy source, wind turbines can also be used.

Wind Turbins

Wind Turbines

How do Wind Turbines Work?

Wind turbines generate electricity by converting the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical energy. A wind turbine’s basic components are the tower, rotor blades, and a nacelle that houses the gearbox and generator.

The wind is a type of solar energy caused by three simultaneous events:

  1. The sun heats the atmosphere unevenly.
  2. Surface irregularities of the Earth
  3. The earth’s rotation. 

Wind energy and wind power, both the words describe the process of using wind to generate mechanical power or electricity. This mechanical power can be used for tasks such as grinding grain or pumping water, etc., or it can be converted into electricity by a generator.

A wind turbine converts wind energy into electricity by utilizing the aerodynamic force of the rotor blades, which function similarly to an airplane wing or helicopter rotor blade. When the wind blows across the blade, the air pressure on one side drops. Lift and drag are created by the difference in air pressure between the two sides of the blade. The lift force is greater than the drag force, causing the rotor to spin. The rotor is connected to the generator either directly (if it is a direct drive turbine) or via a shaft and a series of gears (a gearbox), which speeds up the rotation and allows for a physically smaller generator. This conversion of aerodynamic force to generator rotation generates electricity. 

Work of Wind

The activity of wind can move colossal amounts of windblown material to extraordinary levels and numerous kilometers. The wind is a violent liquid and transports dregs. We can analyze wind activity with running water however wind streams at a more noteworthy speed than water. Sand, dirt, and residue particles can be conveyed as the suspended burden by the breeze as it has lower thickness. While the bigger particles move along the ground as bed load. The wind is considered an exceptionally compelling specialist of disintegration and affidavit like water. The breeze applies a similar sort of power to particles on the land surface that a stream applies on its bed.

The breeze speed and surface unpleasantness are the two factors that essentially control the force of the wind to dissolve surface particles. The erosive power increments dramatically with the expansion in wind speed. As an outcome, quick breezes are equipped for causing substantially more disintegration than slow breezes. The harshness of the surface at ground level assumes a significant part in controlling the idea of wind disintegration. The dampness influences and dials back the activity of the breeze. 

Consequently, the water table is viewed as a base level for the disintegration of wind. Stones, trees, structures, bushes, and even little plants like grass and spices can build the frictional harshness of the surface and decrease wind speed. Vegetation can likewise lessen the erosional impacts of wind by restricting the dirt particles to the underlying foundations of plants. Eolian or aeolian disintegration are the terms utilized for wind disintegration. It is performed by processes, viz. flattening, scraped spot, and wearing down. Wind transports dregs and changes the scene through these cycles of scraped area and collapse.

Types of Wind Turbines

Wind turbines are classified into many types, each with its own distinct application and design. Broadly wind turbines are classified into three types:

  1. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)
  2. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)
  3. Hybrid Wind Turbine
Types of Wind Turbines

Types of Wind Turbines

Applications of Wind Turbines

Modern wind turbines are classified according to where they are installed and how they are linked to the grid:

  1. LAND-BASED WIND
  2. OFFSHORE WIND
  3. DISTRIBUTED WIND

Difference between Windmill and Wind Turbine

Both of these technologies convert wind kinetic energy into other types of energy. However, there are several distinctions between them, which are highlighted in the table below:

Basis of Difference

Windmill

Wind Turbine

Definition A windmill is a machine that converts wind kinetic energy into rotational mechanical energy. A wind turbine is a wind-powered machine that generates electricity by utilizing the kinetic energy of the wind.
Construction A windmill is made up of massive blades that move in a circular motion due to the force of the blowing wind. A typical wind turbine is made up of two or three blades that are rotated by the force of the wind.
Working principle A windmill’s operation is based on the pressure difference created by the blowing wind. The wind turbine operates on the principle of lift and drag forces, which operate the turbine’s blades.
Main components The main components of a wind mill are the rotor blades, the rotor shaft, and the driving machine. The main components of a wind turbine are the rotor blades, rotor shaft, gearbox, and generator.
Applications Windmills are used to pump water, drive machines, grind grains, crush rocks, shred agricultural materials, and so on. Wind turbines primarily generate electricity for residential and commercial use.

Disintegration by Wind

Wind disintegration is for the most part brought about by two disintegration processes:

  • Collapse: The term flattening is begun from the Latin word “Deflare” which signifies “to blow away”. The outer layer of any desert is covered by different kinds of parts of rock, sand, soil, and dust. Emptying includes the getting or lifting, blowing, and expulsion of fine and dry particles of free sand, residue, and soil from one spot to the next by the wind. The exploding wind picks the sandy and fine-grained materials and abandons the coarser pieces to frame stony and rough deserts.
  • Scraped area: This includes mechanical scratching, scouring, crushing, cleaning, and rubbing of a rock surface by contact among rocks and moving particles during their vehicle by the wind. In this interaction, the singular grains might shed off a portion of their weight and shape and achieve more roundness by crushing off their rakishness. The particles shipped by wind can strike the blocking materials along their way called consumption. The course of erosion can complete cutting, scarring, cleaning, and crushing of rocks. Its force relies upon the size and thickness of conveying materials, and furthermore the Earth’s surface rocks.
  • Whittling down: When the heap silt goes through mileage because of shared influences during the cycle of transportation by wind bringing about an additional decrease in size is known as wearing down.

Transportation by Wind

The complete residue load conveyed by a breeze can be isolated into two sections.

  • Bed load
  • Suspended load

The bigger and heavier particles, for example, sands or rock, which are moved by the breezes yet not lifted more than 30 to 60 cm of the earth’s surface comprise the bed load. While the better mud or on the other hand dust particles which are lifted by the moving breezes by a distance of many meters over the earth’s surface comprises the suspended burden.

Testimony of Dregs by Wind

The residue gets dropped and stored shaping what is known as Aeolian stores. There are two kinds of Aeolian stores;

Sandhills are tremendous stacks of sand framed by the regular testimony of wind-blown sand now and again of qualities and conspicuous shape. Such stores are much of the time found to relocate starting with one spot and then onto the next because of shifts in the course and speed of the wind.

The dynamic rises can be partitioned into three kinds:

  • Barchans or Crescent molded ridges
  • Transverse rises
  • Longitudinal rises

Barchans

These rises that seem to be another moon in the plan are of most normal events. They are three-sided in segments with the lofty side confronting away from the breeze heading and slanted at a point of around 300 to 330 to the even. The tenderly slanting side lies on the windward side and makes a point of around 10 to 150 with the level. They might have variable sizes, with a for the most part greatest level of around 335 meters and horn-to-horn width of say 350 meters.

Cross over Dunes

A cross-over rise is like barchans in the segment yet in plan it isn’t bent like barchans with the end goal that its more drawn-out hub is comprehensively crossed over to the course of the predominant breezes.

Longitudinal Rises

Longitudinal rises are the stretched edges of sand with their more drawn-out pivot comprehensively lined up with the bearing of the overall breeze. At the point when found in the side view, they will seem, by all accounts, to be three-sided on a normal they might be 3 m level and 200 m long.

Loess

The best particles of residue going in suspension with the breeze are moved to a significant distance. At the point when dropped down under great circumstances, these have been found to collect in the various constituents the type of paper-slender laminae, which have amassed together to frame an enormous store known as Loess.

Conclusion

The work of wind, including wind turbines, has the potential to play an important role in the transition to a clean, sustainable energy future. While wind turbines can cause some negative environmental disturbance, it has benefits as well, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, job creation, and energy security, which outweigh the costs. As wind energy technology advances, we will be able to harness the power of the wind to meet our energy needs while protecting the environment.

Related Links

  1. Temperature, Humidity, Air Pressure, and Wind
  2. Work of Sea Waves
  3. Work of Ice
  4. What is the Work of a River?
  5. Why is the Earth called a unique planet?
  6. Composition of Earth’s Atmosphere
  7. The Important Factors which Affect the Wind
  8. Wind Energy Formula
  9. What is the Work of a River?
  10. Energy Conservation
  11. Non-Conventional Sources of Energy
  12. Alternative Sources of Energy

FAQs on Wind Turbine

Q 1. How does a wind turbine work?

Answer-

Wind turbines instead use electricity for the generation of wind, like that fan- wind turbines use wind for the generation of electricity. Wind in the case of a wind turbine turns into a propeller-like that of blades in a turbine around that of a rotor, which spins for the generation of electricity.

Q 2. Why do we use wind turbines?

Answer-

Wind turbines used for the production of energy have much fewer implications on the environment than any other source of energy.

Q 3. What are the three works of wind?

Answer-

The three main works of wind are:

  1. Erosion
  2. Pollination
  3. Energy Generation

Q 4. What is the work of the wind and landform?

Answer-

Wind can have a huge impact on landforms by causing erosion. Erosion by wind occurs when wind blows over loose sand, soil, and rock, lifting and transporting all these to different location. Wind erosion can reshape the landscape and create a variety of landforms over time.

Some examples of landforms created by wind erosion:

  1. Dunes
  2. Ventifacts
  3. Hoodoos
  4. Bluffs
  5. Yardangs


Last Updated : 11 May, 2023
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