Magnitude Wind Turbine

Calculates the dimensions of a wind turbine. Please enter radius or diameter and hub height or total height. The other values will be calculated.
The hub is at the center of the rotor. Radius is the length of one blade from the tip to the hub. Diameter is twice the radius. The hub height is the height from the ground to the hub. The total height is reached by the wind turbine, if one blade points vertically up. Rotor above ground measures the distance from the ground to the tip of a blade pointing vertically down. The swept area is the area of the circle described by the blades at the rotation.

Example: a wind turbine with a radius of 46 meters has a diameter of 92 meters. At a hub height of 70 meters, the total height is 116 meters and the height of the rotor above the ground is 24 meters. The swept area is 6648 square meters.

In the picture above you can see a smaller wind turbine in agricultural land. It stands on a tiny hill in central Bavaria.

Wind power has long been used to generate energy. First there were windmills - probably for more than 4000 years - that converted the wind into mechanical energy in order to roll the millstone over the milled material. Replacing the mechanical gearbox for the millstone with a generator that converts the rotation of the rotor blades into electricity was obvious; people have been experimenting with it since the end of the 19th century. Since then, wind turbines have become increasingly larger, as the heavier loads associated with larger wind turbines can be handled using better materials. The relevant measure of the performance of wind turbines is the swept area through which the wind drives the rotor blades. Since areas are square units of measurement, a rotor blade twice as long means four times the area, one three times as long means nine times the area, and so on. Therefore, new size records for wind turbines will probably continue to be set for some time to come, as long as the available materials allow it.

Radius:
Diameter:
Hub height:
Total height:
Rotor above ground:
Swept area: