Hey do you know your car's alternator only outputs 7-10% while it's running? - Page 9

 On Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:35:03 -0700, Archimedes' Lever


Depends on the implementation. And the alternator. And whether you
mean engine RPM or alternator RPM.

  On Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:59:15 -0400, clare@snyder.on.ca wrote:


 Wrong.  ALL wind turbines gear up the rotational ratio to the driven
shaft.  ALL of them. The governor is for the blades, NOT the alternator.

 

Got a small wind turbine here... with a straight shaft, blades to armature,
no gearing/belting.
    Nelson

 On Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:37:38 -0700, Archimedes' Lever


Apparently you have never heard of direct drive wind turbines ?

When building variable speed wind turbines, you are going to need some
power electronics to convert the variable frequency power from the
generator to the fixed 50/60 Hz mains frequency. When the power
electronic is needed, why not let the generator operate at a low RPM,
generate very low frequency electricity for the inverter and skip the
failure prone gearbox.

In practice, direct drive wind turbines use permanent magnet
generators, which tend to have a large diameter, often requiring a
large nacelle.

For instance Enercon makes direct drive wind turbines in the 2 MW
category.

Paul

 wrote:


  Permanent magnet.  Would that not then be a generator, not an
alternator?

  Anyway, the show I saw had shots of some pretty big gearbox hardware.
I figured that everyone followed that.  Just shows that no matter what
gets invented, the rest of the world improves on it.

 I think we should us elevated water reservoirs and use the turbines to
pump water up from the water table, and up into the reservoir to be used
with water driven turbines that are much more efficient.

  It would be like going back to the old days with the lever on the back
of the shaft, drawing water up from the well.