WTC’s wind turbine has only two blades…oriented downwind of the tower in operation. 

Why 2 blades, why downwind?  Our goal is a turbine that produces low cost wind energy.  To significantly reduce cost you must dare to be different!

·         2 blade rotors produce 97% as much energy as a 3 blade rotor of identical length.  Two blades must spin 10-15% faster to do so.  Even spinning faster, there is less rotor plane “solidity” thus less energy capture.  The downside – faster moving blade tips create slightly more noise.  The extent to which more noise might be objectionable depends on who is there to hear it.  The upside – even spinning faster, there is a lower probability that that something – like a bird – passing through the rotor plane will strike or be struck by a moving blade.

·         Downwind rotors capture the same energy as upwind rotors, but do not have to resist parasitic energy in the wind…the energy driving the rotor in the direction of the wind.  Upwind rotor blades require more material to keep the blades from bending too far in the downwind direction.  Keeping rotating blades away from the tower is a paramount concern.

Blades operating on the downwind side of the tower can be allowed to bend downwind; so much less material is needed to resist bending.

Blades on WTC’s turbine are attached to the rotor shaft via hinge-pins.  As the blades rotate about the rotorshaft, the hinges allow the blades to move in and out of the rotating plane, downwind due to wind gusts, upwind due to centrifugal force which returns them into the rotating plane.  This concept dates to an innovative wind turbine built in 1941 – the Smith-Putnam machine.  To control downwind/upwind (out of the rotating plane) blade movement the Smith-Putnam machine relied on what proved to be unreliable mechanical linkages.  In a significant technology advance, WTC patented a hydraulic damping system, which has been proven to work.

Why this is important…

Compared with 3-blade, upwind turbines WTCs’ turbine produces 97% as much energy, but the weight of our nacelle and rotor is half as much as the nacelle/rotor of a 3-blade, upwind turbine.  There are also considerable material savings in the tower, and the foundation.

This huge material weight reduction provides WTC with an anticipated 30-35% manufacturing cost advantage.  We can provide our customers with an installed cost advantage of 25-30% per megawatt.

Our wind turbine will be the low-cost electricity generator – in the absence of subsidies possibly the only one left standing.    

For product specifications see…WTC’s turbines (link)