Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Introduction to Modern Wind Turbines
David A. Spera, Ph.D.
Formerly Chief Engineer of Wind Energy Projects
NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio
and
Wind Energy Consultant
DASCON Engineering, LLC
Bonita Springs, Florida
Introduction
The preceding chapter traces the development of wind power technology from ancient
windmills through the historic
Smith-Putnam
project which ended in 1945. During the next
40-odd years, wind energy enthusiasts proposed turbine designs covering every conceivable
concept, shape, and size. Many of these resulted in complete designs, and a large number
were built and tested. In the last decade of the 20th century typical conigurations of modern
horizontal-axis and vertical-axis wind turbines (HAWTs and VAWTs) began to emerge, and
these will be described in this chapter. The evolutionary process that led to modern wind
turbine conigurations is described in detail in Chapter 3.
Wind turbine nomenclature has also evolved during the past several decades, and deini-
tions of common terms will be presented here. In addition, parameters which wind turbine
engineers use to analyze power and energy output will be introduced, in preparation for the
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