Windmills have been in use for centuries. The first large windmill to generate electricity in North America was built in 1888 in Cleveland, Ohio, by Charles F. Brush. The Brush windmill had a multi-bladed (picket fence) rotor and included a large tail to turn the rotor into the wind.

Advances in recent years in aerodynamics, composite materials, power generation, and power conversion technologies have made modern electric power generating wind turbines highly efficient machines.

Now, large-scale wind farms are providing electricity for millions of homes and businesses worldwide. A generator’s power output can range from 100 W to 3000 kW, with a single turbine blade from 3 to 100 feet in length.

A Xantrex converter transforms DC electricity from the wind turbine into AC electricity for the utility grid.
 
The first step in producing the DC electricity is the wind turbine blade system. Usually a wind turbine has 2 or 3 blades mounted on a shaft to form a rotor. Wind blowing over the blades causes them to lift and rotate at a speed of up to 60 revolutions per minute. To produce maximum power, the turbines are usually mounted on tall towers where the blades are exposed to faster and less turbulent wind.
 
The rotor shaft is connected to gears that increase the speed of a second, generator-connected shaft to 1600 to 1800 revolutions per minute – a speed required by many generators to produce DC electricity. The Xantrex converter then transforms the DC electricity into AC for the utility grid. 

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Xantrex Wind Converter

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