Energy Saving "Rotary encoders in wind turbine designs"

The Electronic Products Energy-Saving Initiative calls upon the design-engineering community to take a leadership role in environment responsibility by developing energy-efficient products. Power efficiency should be a check box in all phases of product design, starting with produced definition. This series of informative articles from leading companies will provide insight into energy-saving Rotary encoders play an important role in the wind industry by providing the high resolution feedback necessary to run the very dynamic control systems of today’s turbines. Selecting the correct encoder will greatly enhance the system’s ability to run at optimum power out, and to maximize return.

According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in 2008 U.S. wind power capacity surged by 51%, with 8,545 MW added and more than $16 billion invested. 7,800 new off-grid turbines were installed and 1,292 on-grid. The average capacity of a turbine is about 1.7 MW. Wind power capacity was up about 46% in the previous year, 2007.