It takes a certain amount of work getting up a hill. When the girl uses the top gear pedalling is hard work.On the other hand, she does not have to pedal as much before she reaches the top of the hill.Click Miller |
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| Here we have a rotor, a gearbox, and a generator. When the rotor rotates, the load on the main shaft is very heavy. It runs with approx. 22 revolutions per minute. This is equivalent to the girl using the top gear.Click Miller |
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| By changing to the first gear it becomes much easier. But to get up the hill the girl has to pedal a lot. Click Miller |
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| However, the generator has to go a lot faster. And it cannot use all that turning force. That is why the wind turbine has a gear – just like the bicycle.Click Miller |
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| The total amount of work remains the same, no matter which gear the girl chooses. When the load is heavy only slow pedalling is necessary. | When the load is light it takes fast pedalling – but what has that got to do with wind turbines? Click Miller | |||
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| The gearbox changes the 22 revolutions of the rotor to about 1500 revolutions. | The main shaft revolves with about 22 revolutions per minute, whereas the small shaft does 1500 revolutions per minute.Click Miller |
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Wind Turbine Gears