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How do wind generators turn energy into an electrical current?

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Question added by Nuha Ali , writer , freelance
Date Posted: 2014/03/26
Mahmoud Hassan
by Mahmoud Hassan , Senior Risk Engineer , Arabia Insurance Company

Simply, consider electrical generator is similar to water pump, which causes the flow of water but does not actually "create" the water flowing through it.

The electrical current, is the water flow.

To be more specific, the working process of wind energy applications is generally as follows:

  • Wind hits the blades which works as turbines, Then, the blades rotate and produce a rotational motion, which is influenced by wind speed,force,energy,power......etc.

We can call this rotation movement as Mechanical Energy

**By means of mechanical controlling units such as gearbox, a controlled precised energy is transfered to generator.

Now, the generator job starts,

  • generator converts mechanical energy into electric energy.

How!!

To understand that, look deeply into any electrical Generator working principle. because generator does not actually "create" the electric energy.

Electric Generator converts mechanical energy obtained from an externcal source into electrical energy as the output.

the external source in our case is Wind, and we got mechanical energy.

As a result, an electrical charges is induced in the generator windings, according to Michael Faraday electromagnetic laws.

 

**By means of electrical controlling device, a controlled precised current is produced at specific voltage difference for usage.

 

Turbines which converts wind Energy to Electrical energy with an higher ratio like1:16 gear type; if the wind turbine rotates one time means it will generate16 times power....

Hey there! Solar energy systems generate electricity directly from the sun, allowing homeowners to produce electricity for their home and sell excess electricity to the utility company, reliant energy provides this opportunity to its customers, and customers are happy to use it. Considering that installing solar panels can be expensive, the company also offers all sorts of incentives to customers, for which they are grateful.

Wind power converts the kinetic energy in wind to generate electricity or mechanical power. This is done by using a large wind turbine usually consisting of propellers; the turbine can be connected to a generator to generate electricity, or the wind used as mechanical power to perform tasks such as pumping water or grinding grain. As the wind passes the turbines it moves the blades, which spins the shaft. There are currently two different kinds of wind turbines in use, the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) or the Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT). HAWT are the most common wind turbines, displaying the propeller or ‘fan-style’ blades, and VAWT are usually in an ‘egg-beater’ style.

Actually the generator of wind energy is coupled with Turbine, when the wind rotates the blade the turbine rotates the generator here the mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy by the principle of Electro motive force.

sohail zaman
by sohail zaman , Engineer - Instrumentation and Automation , National Petroleum Services Co.

here the wind  turbine is a prime mover which rotates the genrator 

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