Southwest Wind Power Systems

Southwest Wind Power Systems

Southwest Windpower offers a range of small wind turbines for remote and utility-connected homes, sailboats, offshore platforms, telecom towers and more. Learn more about our Skystream 3.7, Air X, Air Breeze and Whisper small wind turbines.

What is a wind generator?
The proper name of a wind generator is actually “Wind Energy Converter” that being a device that converts the potential energy in the wind to another form of energy. This can either be mechanical or electrical.

How does the wind generator work?
When the wind blows, the rotor blade stops a percentage of the wind. That percentage is what is converted into energy. According to physics, the maximum amount of wind energy that can be converted is 59.3%. This is known as the Betz Limit.

I’ve seen lots of different looking designs, which is the best?
The most common designs include:

Skystream 3.7

Horizontal upwind: The generator shaft is positioned horizontally and the wind hits the blade before the tower.
Examples: AIR and Whisper.
Horizontal downwind: The generator shaft is positioned horizontally and the wind hits the tower first then the blade.
Example: Skystream 3.7.
Vertical Axis: The generator shaft is positioned vertically with the blades pointing up with the generator mounted on the
ground or a short tower.

Experimentation has found that the horizontal axis upwind or down wind design to be the best design for overall efficiency and reliability.