There are two types of wind machines (turbines) used today based on the direction of the rotating shaft (axis): horizontal-axis wind machines and vertical-axis wind machines. The size of wind machines varies widely.
Small turbines used to power a single home or business may have a capacity of less than 100 kilowatts. Some large commercial sized turbines may have a capacity of 5 million watts (5 megawatts). Larger turbines are often grouped together into wind farms that provide power to the electrical grid.
Horizontal-Axis:
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Most wind machines being used today are the horizontal-axis type. Horizontal-axis wind machines have blades like airplane propellers. A typical horizontal wind machine stands as tall as a 20-story building and has three blades that span 200 feet across. The largest wind machines in the world have blades longer than a football field! Wind machines stand tall and wide to capture more wind.
Vertical-Axis:
Vertical-axis wind machines have blades that go from top to bottom and the most common type (Darrieus wind turbine) looks like a giant two-bladedegg beaters. The type of vertical wind machine typically stands 100 feet tall and 50 feet wide. Vertical-axis wind machines make up only a very small percent of the wind machines used today.
The Wind Amplified Rotor Platform (WARP) is a different kind of wind system that is designed to be more efficient and useless land than wind machines in use today. The WARP does not use large blades; instead, it looks like r stack of wheel rims.
Each module has a pair of small, high capacity turbines mounted to both of its concave wind amplifier module channel surfaces. The concave surfaces channel wind toward the turbines, amplifying wind speeds by 50 per cent or more. Eneco, the company that designed WARP, plans to market the technology to power offshore oil platforms and wireless telecommunications systems.