Windmill

A windmill is an engine powered by the energy of wind. It often refers to an engine contained in a large building as in traditional post mills[?], smock mills[?] and tower mills[?]. It also refers to small tower mounted windmills used to pump water on farms and modern wind turbines generating electricity.

In Europe, windmills have been used since the Middle Ages and are especially popular in Netherlands. Windmills were developed from the 12th century, apparently from technology gained by crusaders who came into contact with windmills in the Middle East. Persian sources indicate windmill use as early as the 7th century B.C. Common applications of windmills are grain milling, water pumping, threshing, and saw mills. Over the ages, windmills have evolved into more sophisticated and efficient wind-powered water pumps and power generators.

The development of the American type water-pumping windmill was the major factor in allowing the farming of vast areas of North America, which was otherwise devoid of readily accessible water, and also allowed the extension of rail transport systems, throughout the world, into areas where water could be pumped up from underground to supply the needs of the steam locomotives of those early times. They are still used today for the same purpose in some areas of the world where reticulated electricity is not a realistic option.

See also:

• List of windmills
• watermill
• windpump
• wind generator

Links

Indexes

• Google: Wind (http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/Technology/Energy/Renewable/Wind/), Windmills (http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/Technology/Energy/Renewable/Wind/Windmills/), Business: Wind (http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Energy_and_Environment/Renewable/Wind/)

mixed

• Windmills at Windmill World (http://www.windmillworld.com/)
• Paul Gipe has worked with wind energy since 1976. (http://www.chelseagreen.com/Wind/PaulGipe.htm) His experience with the technology runs the gamut from measuring wind resources to installing residential wind turbines
• DTU: Danish wind turbine manufacturers (http://www.afm.dtu.dk/wind/manufact)
• windmission (http://www.windmission.dk/), Windmission: books (http://www.windmission.dk/workshop/books)
• 2/98 Power from the sky (http://evolution.skf.com/gb/eng-article.asp?pkID=85) Search for: "Power from the sky".

History

• Google: Mills (http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Architecture/History/Building_Types/Mills/)
• windmillworld: history (http://www.windmillworld.com/windmills/history.htm)

Theory

• wind (http://earthsci.org/energy/wind/wind)
• A Wind Turbine for pumping water (http://www.servocomm.freeserve.co.uk/Windpower/toc.htm)

Test and construktion

• Paul Gipe: Testing the Power Curves of Small Wind Turbines (http://www.chelseagreen.com/Wind/articles/PowerCurves.htm)
• Building the brakedrum permanent magnet alternator as originally designed by Hugh Piggott (http://www.ramdesign.on.ca/windmill/)
• Hugh Piggott - Scoraig Wind Electric (http://homepages.enterprise.net/hugh0piggott/), Small wind systems for battery charging (http://homepages.enterprise.net/hugh0piggott/download/)
• Article: C. John Dakin, ss. 56-58, Elektor Electronics, 1996.
• "A low-cost wind generator driven battery charger (January) 1 — (Page) 56" (http://www.elektor-electronics.co.uk/ln/details/e1996u.htm) Look under the topic: "Power Supplies & Battery Chargers". Power output: 10 MPH 1 Watt; 20 MPH 6 Watt; 30 MPH 21 Watt. Propeller design: Scrapyard Windmill Realities - Building Windmills with Recycled Parts by Hugh Piggott. Published by The Centre for Alternative Technology. Machynlleth, Powys. Wales SY20 9AZ. Telephone: (01654) 702400.