HAWT and VAWT?
The different types of wind turbines available are divided into HAWT (Horizontal Axies Wind Turbine) and VAWT (Vertical Axies Wind Turbine). One has the axis horizontal, the other vertical, that's the difference.HAWT type wind turbines can either have the rotor sheltered, or in wind direction, however, it is most common that it is in wind type. This type of wind turbine also has a higher efficiency than VAWT type wind turbines.
The sprinter
The most common type of wind turbine is the sprinter, which can have from a rotor blade and upwards. The fewer blades, the faster it rotates, but turbines with one or two blades usually have balance problems, so you rarely use less than three blades.The first fast runners came in the 1930s, at the same time as the need for electricity arose in the countryside. In order to achieve sufficient speed for the generator, they utilized their new knowledge of aerodynamics and by letting the rotor blades resemble aircraft wings, they were able to achieve a speed for these that was 5-10 times the wind speed. When the countryside was electrified, these wind turbines disappeared from the farms. Two of the most famous models of these wind turbines were
Windcharger and Excenter.
The wind turbines that are built today, both large and small, are fast runners, usually with three blades. Turbines with more blades have a higher torque than those with fewer blades, but that does not mean that they are more efficient because power is equal to torque times speed. If you are going to produce electricity, then fewer blades are preferable because generators require speed, but if you are pumping water, then it is better with a slow turbine with a high torque.
wind wheel
The wind wheels are recognizable from the American western and they are precisely the ones that are suitable for water pumping. They have many transverse and slightly curved blades and were the result of engineer Thomas Perry's tests of 5,000 different rotor designs. Perry finally got a rotor with twice as high efficiency as previous models and the wind wheel with his construction that we are used to seeing them.It may be thought that the wind wheel is no longer used, but there are probably more than a million wind wheels in operation today. These normally have a rotor diameter of 2.5 meters, but in the 19th century they were significantly larger than that. The steam locomotive needed a lot of water and wind wheels with a diameter of up to 18 meters were therefore built.
