1. Introduction to Wind Power Technology
1400 – 1800 years ago
800 – 900 years ago
140 years ago
70 years ago
Present day

2. Many have seen the Dutch windmills
Many have seen the Dutch windmills. Used to grind grains, seeds, pump water, saw lumber…these were fairly sophisticated devices. Used to cover much of New England coastline.

3. Water pumpers were (and still are) a common site on farms in the Midwest and West. These devices pump water into a pond or cistern when it is windy and can be used at any time. Notice the blades on this device and compare them to electrical generating wind turbines are they the same or different?

4. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org
60 ft. Tall
50 ft. Blades
Lasted until 1929
One of the first large electrical turbines. Cleveland, OH
In 1888, Charles F. Brush invented a large wind turbine which created electricity. This enormous windmill produced enough electricity for about 10 homes. Brush’s invention was soon adapted and copied all over the world. Electricity generating wind turbines spread throughout Europe in the early 1900’s, and they soon appeared in the United States as well.
Brush had a large battery bank in his basement that the turbine charged…
KidWind Project |

5. Jacobs Turbine – 1930 - 1960 WinCharger – 1930s – 40s
In the 1930s Marcellus Jacobs producing an affordable small turbine called the Jacobs that provided electricity for homes and farms throughout rural America. However, these small American turbines faded away with the widespread installation of power lines through the end of the 1930s.
Rumor has it when rural electrification spread west, it was required to take down (remove) your Jacobs turbine before they would connect you to the electric grid!

6. Smith-Putnam Turbine Vermont, 1940's 1.2 MW
In response to fuel shortages, Palmer Putman was able to raise enough money to design and build a 1,250 kW wind turbine in Vermont in This was the largest turbine ever built and functioned for more than a year. But a bearing failure and lack of support (due to machinery shortages caused by WWII) caused maintenance to be overlooked. When the turbine was restarted in 1945 this lack of maintenance led to a catastrophic blade failure and the project never recovered.

7. Jacobs 20 KW turbine
1980’s
Hundreds installed in
California in 1980’s

8. Mod 1 2 MW Installed 1978 Decomissioned 1984 Tower height: 140’
Howards Knob, Boone, NC
200’ rotor diameter

9. Modern Wind Power Technology

10. Types of Turbines: The Big

11. Types of Turbines: The Big

12. Types of Turbines: The small

13. Types of Turbines: The midsize
ASU Turbine

14. Types of Turbines: The strange

15. Types of Turbines: The Floating

16. Types of Turbines: The Rooftop

17. Types of Turbines: The Ridiculous

18. Types of Turbines: The building integrated

19. Types of Turbines: The sailing

20. Types of Turbines: The Lego Built

21. Types of Turbines: The kind that work

24. Current Wind Technologies
Intermediate
Village / Farm Power
Community Wind
100 kW - < 1MW
Small
Homes (Grid
connected)
Farms
Remote Applications
(e.g. battery charging, water pumping, telecom sites)
< 100 kW
Large
Wind Farms
Offshore Wind Generation
1 MW – ? (a 10 MW is being designed)