Wind energy is crucial to this day as it is a natural and renewable source of power that helps reduce pollution and need for fossil fuels. Wind turbines are machines that use the force of wind to create electricity. Evolved from a simple tool, wind turbines have become crucial to creating clean-energy.
The earliest windmills were engineered in Persia and China in 500-900 AD, where it was mostly used to grind grain and pump water for farming [1]. These simple designs demonstrated how early machines could replace human labor. Over time, windmills spread to Europe, where Dutch designs focused on improving water management. The later innovation of tower mills proposed a design where the top to rotate with the wind. Eventually, windmill technology advanced to the point where it was able to generate electricity, leading to the modern design of wind turbines.
A windmill has many parts to it, such as the blades that catch the wind, making it spin. The rotor connects the blades to the main shaft such that the wind's kinetic energy can be made into electricity. The shaft then carries this motion through into the machine, where the gears are able to increase the rotational speed allowing a more increased power output and to become as efficient as possible. After this, the generator converts this mechanical energy into electrical energy [2].
The kinetic energy from wind flows across the large turbine blades allowing it to rotate the rotor where this motion creates mechanical energy within the shaft. The shaft spins the rotor within the generator allowing the mechanical energy to be turned to electric currents. Through cables, the electricity is sent to powergrid for the use of the world.
The Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines are the most common type of wind turbines. The blades face the wind, which helps generate electricity through the gearbox. These types of turbines work well in places that have a large amount of wind that face the same direction, such that more energy can be captured [3]. The reason for this is as the windmill can only face one direction, it’s limited to how consistent the wind is facing it to its energy output.
Likewise, an older model of wind turbines is the Vertical Axis Turbine. It is set up such that wind can be captured from all directions by the blades rotating around the turbine, unlike the Horizontal Axis [4]. This type of wind turbine is best for environments where the wind directions change frequently. The reason for the VAWT becoming less common to this day is due to its low efficiency at creating electricity. From a larger range to capture wind, it came at the cost of the speed of the blades becoming lower, causing less output.
The advantages of wind energy is that it is renewable, as it will never run out as long as there's wind. The operation cost is also low aside from the cost of building the wind turbine [5]. These machines are able to create energy throughout the day and night as long as there is wind blowing continuously.
One of the main challenges of wind energy is that it is less efficient and reliable in areas without consistent wind. They also require large amounts of land, especially for wind farms [6]. Moreover, it can also impact the creatures that fly such as birds, however, most newer designs are attempting to reduce this problem by slowing down the windmill with cameras able to detect creatures nearby [7].
Wind energy is important as it uses natural wind to create energy without any pollution to the world. Over time, they evolve and become more efficient to fit the needs of the problems rising, demonstrated through pumping water at first then being able to create electricity. This is a key energy source in the future, as it helps solve many issues globally.