Name: Andy
Status: Other
Grade: Other
Location: N/A
Country: United States
Date: August 2008
Question:
Why do companies make very long-bladed wind turbines
instead of short-bladed turbines?
Replies:
Hi Andy,
The answer is simple. Wind turbine blades are very similar in function
to glider wings. Both are designed for maximum lift and efficiency
with minimum drag. Both wind turbines and gliders operate with
relatively slow air speeds passing over their surfaces. It turns out
that a long thin wind turbine "wing", just like a glider wing, offers
the best performance in the very similar conditions under which they
are used.
Regards,
Bob Wilson
The power that can be gotten from a wind generator is proportional to the
area swept out by the blades, so one would hope for a factor of four increase
in power from a factor of two increase in blade length. I do not think the
full increase is actually obtained, though, because the area between the
blades also increases with blade length.
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