#silentwind

Energy consumption can be more accurately determined by consulting the product labels of appliances and electronic devices. The information available usually consists of power consumption in watts and perhaps amperage and voltage.

If the labels only display amperage and voltage, you can determine watt consumption by multiplying the two. Watts = amps x volts. 

One can also determine wattage by the use of a meter. They are plugged into electrical outlets, and appliances you want to monitor are plugged into them via a receptacle on the meter. The display on the meter shows wattage consumption of the device.

by Daniel Coelho

Marketing and Sales Coordinator at SILENTWIND

E-mail: [email protected]

Before choosing (and installing) a small wind turbine, you will want to calculate your future consumption of energy.

Energy consumption in a new home can be determined in a number of ways. One way is to base your future consumption on the consumption in your actual home. This could not work thow, if you are planning to build a more efficient home (energy-efficient lighting or appliances).

One other way is to use a load analysis. For this you can use a worksheet where you will list all the appliances and lights you expect to install. Afterwords determine how much electricity each one uses and the number of hours per day they will be operating. This exercise can give you an estimate for energy demand.

For energy consumption of various electrical devices, you can seek for charts available in books and online. See below an example.

by Daniel Coelho

Marketing and Sales Coordinator at SILENTWIND

E-mail: [email protected]

A component found in wind energy systems, either off-grid or on-grid with battery backup is the charge controller. When the charge controller sees that the batteries are fully charged, reaching the full voltage set point, it terminates the flow of electricity to them. This is normally done in one of two  possible ways: dump load or electronic brake of the rotor.

Dump load: the charge controller divertes surplus electricity to a dump load, a resistance that turns electricity into heat.

Electronic brake: the charge controller brakes the spinning of the rotor, through a soft short circuit, in order to stop energy production by the wind turbine. 

by Daniel Coelho

Marketing and Sales Coordinator at SILENTWIND

E-mail: [email protected]

In theory, a ten percent increase in swept area will result in a ten percent increase in electrical production. Doubling the swept area doubles the output. 

When searching for a wind turbine, you can calculate the swept area using the equation A = Pi . r2, where A is the circle of the area. Pi is a constant of 3,14 and r is the radius of the circle (the same as the blade lenght).

by Daniel Coelho

Marketing and Sales Coordinator at SILENTWIND