Pinnacle wing to reduce tower shadow

Our new pinnacle wing and cowlings are finally in production after many delays. These mouldings give a superb finish to the appearance of the turbine, but they are more than a pretty face….

The cowling reduces wind drag at the hub, giving a free flow of air over the generator to the root of the blades. However, the important tweaking comes from the pinnacle wing.

Normally, downwind turbines suffer from tower shadow – when each blade passes by the tower, there is a brief moment when it gets turbulent wind caused by the tower which is a major obstacle located a few inches from the blade. On our Proven 2.5kw machine at home, the tower is quite wide at the point where the blade tip passes, and this gives the blade “dirty wind” for quite a few degrees of rotation.

Our pinnacle wing is designed to reduce this drag to an absolute minimum. It also helps to ensure that the turbine is steadily facing downwind. And it looks good….

May 11th, 2009 — 2:54am