Wind Energy?

Question

"950W of power at 45km.hr winds
Delivers 100 Kw / hours a month at an average wind speed of 5.4 m/s
Adjustable voltage (12/24/36/48V)"

Can someone please tell me what that means? And my question is would you be able to indefinitely power a small fridge, a TV and other things on that wind turbine which costs $3 000?

Answer 1

Basically it means you will get about 100 kWh per month from the unit, assuming the wind *averages* 5.4 m/s, or 20 km/hour, with a maximum draw of 950W at any point in time. The adjustable voltage simply lets you select the voltage at which the power is delivered to the batteries (see below).

An average 12 cubic foot refrigerator (medium size), consumes about 300 W when it is on, and accumulates about 50 - 100 kWh per month. So, you could probably power your refrigerator with the unit, and a little more.

The TV probably consumes 200 W when on, and about 10 - 75 kWh per month, depending on your habits.

So at 45 km/hour winds, no problem. At 20 km/hour, you might have trouble running both at once. At 10 km/hour, no way, and in dead calm you're in trouble.

The key here is the average 20 km/hour winds. Winds are notoriously fickle, and rarely around when it's extremely hot, which is when you need your refrigerator to work the most. The solution is that you will need some form of battery backup. When there is wind, it will charge the batteries, and when you need power, the appliances will draw the power from the batteries. This is probably above and beyond your turbine cost.

A system like this can work, but 950W is not a lot of power for a home. The average home will draw anywheres from 5000W - 25000W, depending on the heating/cooling system, thermal shell characteristics, plug load, and family lifestyle.

Answer 2

950W of power - is the output power of the windmill. the question of weather or not it will be able to power all those appliances is a question of the sum of thier wattage (W) requirement.
The power output of the windmill is given for those particular windspeeds (45km/h and 5.8 meters per second [m/s-1]), Kw/h means kilowatt per hour (a kilowatt is 1,000 watts). You should know that the faster the wind velocity the higher the windmill axel RPM and therefore the higher the output, however there is a maximum output that is not crossed bayond a particular wind velocity, in this case you should find out if that 950W of power is the maximum even if wind velocity exceeds 45km/h.
Adjustable voltage means that you can change the output voltage and seeing that the appliances that you have in question to be powered are all 110 volts you might need a small step up transformer to increase the voltage (voltage and wattage are two compleatly different things).
If you kno that you don't live in an area with a constant wind supply it is not advisable that you go out and purchase such a piece of equipment. However if you see that the wattage output greatly exceed the sum of all the appliances requirement that you have in question to be powerd or you know that you wouldn't be using these appliances all the time there will be spare electrical power from the windmill and it can be stored in reachargable battries for use wen you might need it and there is no wind to power the mill. Even if you live ion an area where there is a constant wind supply it is still advisable that youn have rechargable batteries around to store some power just in case there is a lack of wind of decrease in velocity at any point in time and you might need the power to run some of your appliances at that time.

Answer 3

Get a qualified estimate of the average wind speed in your area. In most places, wind power like this is not economical.

Check building and zoning restrictions.

Include the total system cost - turbine, tower, batteries, control circuits, inverters, maintenance, battery replacement every few years, and so on.

On a small scale, photovoltaics are more likely to be economically reasonable than wind power.

Look at power systems and appliances designed for use in an RV (recreational vehicle), and consider propane for the refrigerator.

Answer 4

It means that the turbine delivers 100 kwhours a month (not what you wrote). That comes to about 4 units a day, which is not much. So, recheck the specifications.