New wind power technology: INVELOX

Article By:

Allai, Daryoush SheerWind Inc., Chaska, Minnesota.

Andreopoulos, Yiannis Department of Mechanical Engineering, The City College of the City University of New York, New York, New York.

Sadegh, Ali M. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The City College of the City University of New York, New York, New York.

Last reviewed:2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.YB150640

The use of wind energy to propel boats dates as far back as 5000 BC, and wind-energy conversion systems in the form of windmills have a recorded history from 200 BC. The first horizontal-axis windmill for electricity production was built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1887 by Professor James Blyth of Anderson's College, Glasgow (now Strathclyde University). In 1931 in the United States, George Darrieus invented and patented the first vertical-axis wind turbine, known as the Darrieus turbine. The 1930s became a turning point for the wind power generation industry as several wind turbines with high electric power-generating capacity were built. In 1941 the world's first megawatt wind turbine was built in Vermont, United States, and was connected to the power grid. This turbine had 23-m (75-ft) blades and weighed 220 tonnes (240 tons). It was not until the late 1970s, because of the fossil-fuel energy crisis, that wind turbines started to spread rapidly across the globe, a trend that has continued to the present.

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