Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Today, we only tend to use one of the two main construction and design methods for vertical axis wind turbines.

The vertical axis turbines generate wind power using the same method as horizontal wind turbines, only through a different design.

When we think of wind turbines, we tend to see an image of the turbines pictured below, yet for a long time, there has been an alternative design to this kind of wind turbine.

The majority of wind turbines across the U.K are of the horizontal design.

Below is information on the alternative turbine design, used across the world in a low proportion to horizontal designs, in an attempt to harness renewable electricity.

A vertical turbine works on the same principle for generating electricity from the winds energy, only the propellers have a different design and are tipped on their axis.

If you imagine a propeller plane in the position of a space shuttle just before launch, then this is what you see, the generator at the base of the shaft and the shaft spins round like the propeller would.

One of the first vertical axis wind turbines was first patented in 1927, making this design one of the first wind energy harnessing technologies available, and it is still in use today.

You may now be wondering, why you haven’t seen a single one of these turbines with your own eyes, but you will have probably seen this method of using the wind before.

Spinning signs outside shops and petrol stations were a common design back in the 1990’s, and they spun on their axis faster and faster with luminous messages on either side.

Those signs use exactly the same principle as the vertical turbines, as they spin on a vertical axis to do their job.