energy efficient homes : wind power - "Building domestic wind generators it's something cool?"

Have you ever wondered what the underlying wind generator technology of these domestic wind generators really is? Primarily there are two designs: horizontal-axis (HAWT) and vertical-axis (VAWT), the former is the most popular.

HAWT is the most popular wind generator technology in which the shaft is mounted parallel to the ground i.e. horizontally. And so a yaw-adjustment mechanism is typically used to line them up with the wind. The yaw system normally has electric motors and gear boxes that are responsible for moving the whole rotor left or right in small increments. The electronic controller of the turbine reads the wind vane and detects the direction of the wind. This helps to position the rotors accordingly to capture most of the wind. In this wind generator technology we use a tower to raise the turbine components to the best possible altitude and so most of the components are above the ground in the air.

VAWT is perhaps the rarer type of wind generator technology wind generator technology which is seldom used around the globe. In this wind generator design the shaft is mounted on the vertical axis unlike HAWT. They are already aligned in the direction of wind and so there is no need of any special adjustment mechanism. But a VAWT needs a boost from its electrical system to get started because it can`t get started by itself. It uses guy-wires for its support rather than a tower and so has a lower rotor. At lower elevation the wind is slow and so they are less efficient.

HAWT have many advantages over VAWT which makes it favorite and popular among the two primary wind generator designs. Wind generator technology has not come to a halt but is still emerging. We hope to see many more designs which are more powerful and efficient than these existing ones.

Article Source: http://www.energyefficienthomearticles.com

Mario is the owner of Wind generators ebook you can find more information on his blog.

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