Vertical axis turbine works for small business
May 26, 2009 by Paul Dvorak
Filed under Wind Watch
The company says its vertical axis turbines run silently, less than 5 dB above background noise, and it’s safe for birds and bats
Not all wind turbines are megawatt units. Two designs from HelixWind, San Diego, are said to work in low-wind speeds common around residential areas and small commercial businesses. The developer says its Savonius-turbine design (a vertical axis windmill) catches wind from all directions creating smooth torque to spin an electric generator. Mounted up to 35-ft up, the company says the Helix system creates electricity in winds as low as 10 mph to power a home or business.
The S594 is a commercial scale system for applications on medium to large buildings. Long helical blade scoops, 16-ft high by 4-ft diameter, use a single-pole support for the top bearing. A direct-drive permanent-magnet generator reaches rated power at 200 RPM. Power goes through a grid-tie inverter for use onsite and back into the utility grid for net metering. The company says its design life is 30 years. The table lists a few more specs.
Windpower Engineering Editor Paul Dvorak is an experienced mechanical engineer. Paul has seven years of hands on mechanical engineering experience and 23 years of technical writing. Paul is constantly in correspondence with wind turbine manufacturers and wind power researchers. Thanks to this correspondence, he is able to write about wind engineering topics before any other editor in the wind space.
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