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Essay / Wind Turbine Essay - 553
A wind turbine converts the mechanical energy of the wind into electrical energy. The first wind turbine intended to generate electricity was built by Charles F. Brush in 1887-88. Later, the Dane Poul La Cour discovered that fast-rotating wind turbines with smaller blades are more efficient than slow-moving wind turbines in producing wind turbines [6]. Wind turbine blades are shaped to produce maximum wind power at minimum cost [8] . The wind turbine blade mainly consists of two components-1. Outer Shell – This is the outer covering of the blade. It further consists of the following elements: 1.1 Solid laminate leading edge: it is made of glass or aramid fibers. It carries part of the torsional load.1.2 A trailing edge – It consists of upper and lower sandwich panels of glass or aramid skin.2. Main sparThe main spar and the outer shell are bonded together by adhesive after being manufactured separately.Fig. 2 Components of a wind turbine blade (Ref - Challenges for large wind turbine blades) AERODYNAMIC OUTER SHELL The outer shell provides the aerodynamic...