Technology

Traditional wind turbines use large blades to catch the wind, turning rotors that produce electricity. Just as fossil-fuelled plants use steam or combustion gases to turn electricity-producing rotors, wind plants ("farms") use a collection of wind turbines to generate electricity. The turbines are connected to the electric transmission grid. Wind turbines commonly begin to produce power at a wind speed of 10-12 miles per hour. Wind plants produce electricity only when the wind blows. For this reason, wind is called an intermittent resource.

WindSource Wind Turbines

Unlike traditional wind turbines, WindSource turbines turn on a vertical axis and glide on a magnetic cushion of air virtually eliminating any friction and noise. The turbine generates electrical power by induction rather than mechanical movement enabling the turbine to generate electricity with very low wind speeds.

Generating Electricity with Induction

The device uses two induction principals to generate electrical power; electrostatic induction and magnetic induction both of which make a WindSource turbine unique in the industry.

Electrostatic Induction

Electrostatic induction is the production of an unbalanced electric charge on an uncharged metallic body as a result of a charged body being brought near it without touching it. If the charged body is positively charged, electrons in the uncharged body will be attracted toward it; if the opposite end of the body is then grounded, electrons will flow onto it to replace those drawn to the other end, the body thus acquiring a negative charge after the ground connection is broken. A similar procedure can be used to produce a positive charge on the uncharged body when a negatively charged body is brought near it.

Magnetic Induction

Magnetic induction is the production of a magnetic field in a piece of unmagnetized iron or other ferromagnetic substance when a magnet is brought near it. The magnet causes the individual particles of the iron, which act like tiny magnets, to line up so that the sample as a whole becomes magnetized.