Vertical Axis Windmills Or Horizontal Axis Windmills?

There are many different types of wind turbines that people look at when trying to build their own self-sustaining energy unit. You will have a better understanding of the various types of windmills under the categories of horizontal and vertical axis windmills in this article. There are many differences between horizontal and veritcal axis windmills which you will see.

First, do you know how windmills work? Windmills are a power source that gets its energy by converting kinetic energy from wind into a mechanical energy. Fundamentally, the wind causes the blades to rotate and that energy is then able to be turned into electricity by a generator. Now the generator is located in different places depending on the type of windmill that was constructed. Below will show what horizontal and vertical axis windmills exactly are.

Horizontal axis wind turbines were created so the blades must be facing into the wind to gain any energy from the wind. The wind passing by the blades causes them to rotate and then creating that energy. The energy can cause the blades to spin over 200 mph! With some blades being more than 300 feet long they are rotating at 10-22 revolutions per minute!

But, this only happens when the wind is hitting the blades head on. The main disadvantage of a horizontal axis windmill is the lack of adjustment. In order for the blades to spin, the wind turbine needs to be positioned in the winds path. So you can see where this could be a problem since wind is extremely variable in its direction, which hinders the horizontal axis windmill from rotating its blades on a constant basis.

Vertical axis wind mills are created in a different way as the generator is located on the ground versus horizontal axis windmills of being placed high up in the air. Vertical axis wind mills have a main rotor shaft arranged vertically. This is the main advantage over the horizontal axis windmill as it can produce energy from any wind direction. This is very important because the wind direction is extremely inconsistent.

There are several reasons why I would choose a vertical axis wind turbine over a horizontal axis windmill for my home powered wind mill system.

First - they are mounted lower to the ground making it easy for maintenance if needed.
Second - they start producing electricity at speeds of only 6 mph.
Third - they may be able to be built at locations where taller structures, such as the horizontal axis type, can’t be.