Aerostar® 6 Meter and 11 Meter Turbines began their design and production history the early 1980s.
If you are seriously considering the purchase of a small wind turbine, it is important to purchase one with a proven track record. Of the handful of 10 kW wind turbines in full production in the US today, only two, the Bergey Excel and the Aerostar 6 Meter, can trace their origins back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. Of the 30 kW turbines being produced today, only one, the Aerostar 11 Meter design was produced in the early 1980s. Small wind turbines are quite difficult to engineer. The successful design of a small wind turbine often requires balancing elements that are in conflict with each other. For example, the turbine must be capable of withstanding high winds, but, at the same time, it must be efficient at low wind speeds. A generator having sufficient capacity to produce high power levels, must also be efficient at low power levels.
Most small wind turbines operate at average wind speeds of 10-14 MPH. However, they must be capable of withstanding winds 10 times these speeds. This is a difficult task, even for a talented engineer. The reality is that even the best engineering design and analysis will only get you part way there when setting out to design a turbine that works and lasts. It takes years of experience and testing to get it right. It takes installing turbines in all sorts of environments to get it right. The Aerostar 6 Meter has the benefit of more than 25 years of experience. That's one reason why we got it right.
Although the turbine is rooted in history, the original design has not remained static. Aerostar has been quick to adapt to changes in technology and to incorporate these advances into the 6 Meter design. For example, turbine components have been completely re-analyzed, using finite element analysis, also called the finite element method (FEM). FEM is a method of computerized structural analysis that breaks a part down into hundreds or thousands of tiny pieces, called a mesh, and arrives at an approximate solution of partial differential equations. This has enabled Aerostar to remove unecessary structural material and add material where it does the most good, thereby optimizing the structure for high strength and low weight.
Stress analysis is not the only advancement incorporated into Aerostar turbines. Aerostar has been quick to adopt high tech materials such as carbon fiber for parts, as in the blade tip area, where achieving low weight and high strength are crucial. We have also taken advantage of advances in electronics, such as the touch screen display for turbine control functions, and an ethernet/web module so you can monitor your turbine performance from any location where you have access to the Internet. We have advanced our rotor blade design by using a series of proprietary airfoils that substantially enhance energy capture at low wind speeds while providing gentle stall characteristics at high wind speeds. Our unique generator excitation control greatly reduces losses at low wind speeds resulting in a material increase in power production.
Original 30 KW circa 1980
The technology forming the basis for these advances was simply not available during the early 1980s when the turbine was first designed. But they are available now and they are incorporated into each turbine we produce. It is important to differentiate these evolutionary and incremental changes from an entirely new turbine design. With a new design, every element is untried and unproven. A new design may incorporate some excellent features, but it has often been said that "the devil is in the details". With any new design, there is a lot to go wrong, and, with wind turbines, if something can go wrong, it probably will - and usually at the most inopportune time. In contrast, the Aerostar design is well established and it has withstood the test of time. To be sure, there have been changes in the design, but these changes have been incremental and well tested prior to being incorporated into the product.
Aerostar strives to continually improve its products by taking advantage of technological advances in materials and methods in order to ensure that, when you purchase one of our turbines, you not only own a piece of history, but you are also investing in the latest technology.