Wind Generator - Vertical or Horizontal

[beau]

i have been looking at wind generators and most cruisers have told me they are a waste of money.
The airex type (horizontal) are noisy and only "work" in 12-15 knots or more.
I have wondered has anyone tried the vertical wind generators. They are not quite as efficient as horizontal type but they start "working' at a much lower wind speed (5 knots) and they are silent.
There are many types available, this is one of the newer designs putting out 300watts.

[Talbot]

The D400 wind generator starts to work at 5 kts. It is very quiet.

It has a high output.

For more details check http://www.duogen.co.uk/d400/images/D400man.pdf

which includes performance graphs.


Its main disadvantage is that this is much heavier than the lower output machines and needs a much stronger support system.

There are no dimensions provided for your vertical generator, but for an output of 300 watts, I would expect you to need another vessel towed astern to cope with the size requirement.

[bitman]

here Vertical Axis Wind Generators and here http://josephtam.en.ec21.com/product...ct_nm=Vertical you got some info about them

[GordMay]

Aside from the mechanical problems of mounting a VAWT on a sailboat, most Vertical Axis Wind Turbiness (VAWT) produce much less energy than comparable Horizontal Axis Turbines (HAWT).
(about 50 - 75% as efficient).

See:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/gallery...r&imageuser=79

[Zanshin]

I'm surprised at the assertion that most cruisers you've spoken with state that wind generators are a waste of money. Oddly enough, I have yet to meet a cruiser here in the Caribbean that told me as much. I have a D400 unit which, as mentioned earlier in this thread is quite heavy, but I am very happy with it and it produces power silently at very low wind speeds. I wanted a vertical wind generator, but didn't find any models available when I was in the market for one. My preference for the vertical design was for the volume of space it takes and that there are no dangerous rotors flopping around at speed.

Noise comes mainly from turbulent airflow and is a more a matter of blade design, cleanliness, and laminar flow than generator orientation.