Wind Farm Traditional Cache
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West Texas has seen the proliferation of wind turbines in recent years. Many can be found along the road between Sterling City and Robert Lee. Near the cache site there is a wind farm with many turbines in place. They can be seen from long distances and are enormous!
Turbines used in wind farms for commercial production of electric power are usually three-bladed and pointed into the wind by computer-controlled motors. The blades range in length from 65 to 130 feet or more. The tubular steel towers range from about 200 to 300 feet high. The blade acts much like an airplane wing. When the wind blows, a pocket of low-pressure air forms on the downwind side of the blade. The low-pressure air pocket then pulls the blade toward it, causing the rotor to turn. This is called lift. The force of the lift is actually much stronger than the wind's force against the front side of the blade, which is called drag. The combination of lift and drag causes the rotor to spin like a propeller, and the turning shaft spins a generator to make electricity. The blades rotate at 10-22 revolutions per minute. A gear box is commonly used to step up the speed of the generator. Some models operate at constant speed, but more energy can be collected by variable-speed turbines. All turbines are equipped with high wind shut down features to avoid over speed damage. Each turbine produces 1.5 megawatts of electricity.
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