The fundamental idea behind a wind turbine is that 3-4 blades are propelled by wind around a rotor.
A rotor is where the blades and the hub connect.
The rotor is connected to the high speed shaft which spins the generator to create electricity.
Wind turbines can be used to produce electricity for a single home or building but can also be connected to a grid and be used to distribute electricity on a mass scale.
As wind strikes the propellors kinetic energy is created but can only make the large blades move slowly.
A gearbox within a wind turbine can be used to create a higher speed rotary motion.
The gearbox connects the low speed shaft to the high speed shaft and increases rotational speed to about 1000-1800RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) from a regular 30-60RPM.
A disadvantage of the gearbox in a wind turbine is that it is a heavy and not cost effective, however engineers are investigating the use of direct drive generator.
A direct drive generator is a generator that runs at a lower rotational speed but doesn’t require a gearbox.
Another essential part of a wind turbine is the generator.
The generator acts as a Dynamo -- A Dynamo produces direct current using a commutator to produce electricity from mechanical power.
Although a generator is similar to a dynamo ; they are not the same thing.
Generators have many advantages including the use of alternating current and solid state methods for converting AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current) power.
Alternating current is a current which is constantly changing in direction, whereas direct current is only able to flow in one direction.
The generator works by having a coil of copper wire tightly wrapped around and iron core that rotates freely at high speeds instead of a powerful, permanent magnet.
When electricity is passed through the iron rod it becomes somewhat an electromagnet creating a magnetic field to surround it. The temporary magnetic field created by the electromagnet collides with the magnetic field of the permanent magnet and creates the coil to rotate.
There are two different types of turbines.
The typical wind turbine is the horizontal axis turbine as seen below.The other is a vertical axis turbine.

The difference between a vertical axis turbine and a horizontal axis turbine is that the vertical axis turbine is perpendicular to the ground and is always aligned with the wind.
The downside of using a vertical axis turbine is that it can’t start moving by itself -- it needs a “jump start” from an electrical system.
Instead of using a tower like it’s Horizontal counterpart, it uses guy wires for support so the rotor elevation is lower, because the rotor elevation is lower it means that the wind will be slower due to ground interference.
A big issue with vertical wind turbines is that they can’t generate as much energy as a power station.
What is worse is that a vertical axis creates a larger footprint than a horizontal axis because it is located closer to the ground.
This means that it isn’t receiving as large of a wind power because it doesn’t have the high ground.
Although a wind turbine can power 500 electric toasters simultaneously or enough to power to supply 1100 homes it is far from the scale of a power plant or nuclear power station.
You would need 1000-2000 wind turbines to be able to be remotely close to the ability of a power plant of nuclear Power station which can run a million toasters at the same time.
There are many ethical issues with wind turbines including infrasound.
The rapid spinning of the turbines has a huge effect on the surroundings spinning at up to 180mph (Miles per hour).
At high winds the turbines can produce sound and vibrations as well as disruption in air pressure.
The extremely low air pressure around a wind turbine can cause bats to die because a bat’s lungs expand till the point of bursting blood vessels.
Infrasound is the primary issue of caused by wind turbines.
Infrasound is low frequency sound that isn’t heard by humans but continues for thousands of kilometers and is believed to cause breathing and digestion issues.
Other symptoms of this problem include :
- Headaches
Insomnia
Nightmares
Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
Anxiety or irritability
Concentration and memory problems
Issues with the equilibrium and causes of dizziness/nausea