offered by Busse-Yachtshop.com
AIR 403 Land Manual Document #0049 REV D
SOUTHWEST WINDPOWER 8/20/2001 22
4. TESTING
4.1 General Discussion of Operation
The available energy in the wind is the cube of the wind speed. This means that each time
you double the wind speed you get eight times the power. The unique design of the AIR 403
is such that it can take full advantage of the power in the wind. The efficiencies of other wind
turbines are usually linear and cannot take advantage of the cube effect of the wind. These
turbines are efficient at only one or two points along the power curve. The AIR 403’s
efficiency curve matches the available energy in the wind making it efficient all along the
curve. This is an important reason why the AIR 403 is able to provide you with such a large
amount of power from a small turbine.
4.1.1 Alternator
The AIR 403 uses a three-phase brushless permanent magnet alternator that internally
rectifies the power to D.C. The rotor is comprised of 12 Neodymium Iron Boron arced
magnets, the most powerful magnet material available. The stator is hand wound for
maximum output.
4.1.2 Regulator
When the battery voltage matches the regulation set point the turbine will “shut off”. The new
403 includes the new Autobreak™ electronics which now “stop” the blades to a slow, silent
spin when the batteries are full.
Normal charging will resume when the battery voltage drops slightly below the fully charged
level. For 12v turbines the turbine will resume charging at 12.6v (25.2 for 24v turbines).
NOTE: Bad connections, undersized wires, and inline diodes will cause the internal
regulator to not work properly. It is very important that the AIR 403 can “sense” the proper
battery voltage.
4.1.3 Blades
The blades consist of an injection-molded high strength all carbon fiber reinforced
engineering thermoplastic that results in strong lightweight blades. The blades are computer
designed to efficiently extract the most power out of the wind. The blade design also
provides “over-speed” protection in high winds. All wind generators need some type of high
wind over-speed protection. The AIR 403’s blades feature aeroelastic twist. In winds moving
above approximately 40-mph (17.9 m/s), the blade tips will “dump” excess wind off and
prevent the turbine from over-speeding. The benefit is that the turbine is able to maintain
output, providing you with the most possible power. It also reduces the number of parts,
resulting in increased reliability. The only disadvantage of this type of governor is that in high
winds the turbine may produce a loud noise. Other turbines have complex mechanisms that
either mechanically break the turbine or turn it out of the wind. This can reduce reliability due
to increased complexity, and reduce output by as much as 90%.
