Small Home Wind Turbines

Check out our home wind power systems today!

Southwest WindPower

Think there's nothing you can do to decrease your family's environmental impact on the world? Well, think again! Reduce your carbon imprint with these quality wind turbine generators!

Air-X -

Whisper -

Wind Towers

Wind Towers - Installing small wind systems just doesn't get any easier than purchasing on of these wind tower kits.

Inside the Wind Turbine

Anemometer: Back

Measures the wind speed and transmits wind speed data to the controller.

Blades: Back

Most turbines have either two or three blades.

Wind blowing over the blades causes the blades to "lift" and rotate.

Brake: Back

A disc brake, which can be applied mechanically, electrically, or hydraulically to stop the rotor in emergencies.

Controller: Back

The controller starts up the machine at wind speeds of about 8 to 16 miles per hour (mph) and shuts off the machine at about 55 mph.

Turbines do not operate at wind speeds above about 55 mph because they might be damaged by the high winds.

Gear box: Back

Gears connect the low-speed shaft to the high-speed shaft and increase the rotational speeds from about 30 to 60 rotations per minute (rpm) to about 1000 to 1800 rpm, the rotational speed required by most generators to produce electricity.

The gear box is a costly (and heavy) part of the wind turbine and engineers are exploring "direct-drive" generators that operate at lower rotational speeds and don't need gear boxes.

Generator: Back

Usually an off-the-shelf induction generator that produces 60-cycle AC electricity.

High-speed shaft: Back

Drives the generator.

Low-speed shaft: Back

The rotor turns the low-speed shaft at about 30 to 60 rotations per minute.

Nacelle: Back

The nacelle sits atop the tower and contains the gear box, low- and high-speed shafts, generator, controller, and brake.

Some nacelles are large enough for a helicopter to land on.

Pitch: Back

Blades are turned, or pitched, out of the wind to control the rotor speed and keep the rotor from turning in winds that are too high or too low to produce electricity.

Rotor: Back

The blades and the hub together are called the rotor.

Tower: Back

Towers are made from tubular steel (shown here), concrete, or steel lattice.

Because wind speed increases with height, taller towers enable turbines to capture more energy and generate more electricity.

Wind direction: Back

This is an "upwind" turbine, so-called because it operates facing into the wind.

Other turbines are designed to run "downwind," facing away from the wind.

Wind vane: Back

Measures wind direction and communicates with the yaw drive to orient the turbine properly with respect to the wind.

Yaw drive: Back

Upwind turbines face into the wind; the yaw drive is used to keep the rotor facing into the wind as the wind direction changes.