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Old 08-09-2012, 09:33 AM   #29
NoBozo
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Todays modern computer controlled wind turbines "Feather" their blades as wind speed increases, and fully feather at about 45 MPH of wind speed. When fully feathered the blades will not spin..only idle this way or that in the gusts. The computer keeps the fan disc/nacelle facing into the wind.

A typical 1.5 MW turbine will have a max rotation of 18-19 RPM. The gearbox will Step Up that RPM at a ratio of 1:100..or 1900 RPM at the generator. Smaller turbines spin faster and larger ones spin slower. A 2.0 MW turbine might spin at 14-15 RPM.

An important factor in RPM is limiting "Tip Speed" of the blades. A 1.5 MW turbine applys about 2000 HP to the generator at max load. NB
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