This article compares the types of bladed rotors for wind energy conversion systems to allow the selection of the best type of bladed rotor for any given situation. Note that no overall efficiency can be given; instead this can be determined from the moment of force and the optimum airspeed. To select the best bladed rotor for a location, this info can be combined with the regular windspeed at a height comparable to the one of the wind energy harvester; eg 10m).

bladed rotor type Moment of force Optimum windspeed for BR output/size of device Fabrication requirements Difficulty of production Durability Difficulty of repair Production cost
Savonius bladed rotor (A)[1] medium ? ? kwh for a 10m WECS ? can be made of steel or wood (eg from barrels, ...) medium ? low (?€/kwh)
Panemone bladed rotor (regular, Chinese) (A) low ? ? kwh for a 10m WECS ? can be made from wood or steel and cloth easy ? ?
Cambered plate bladed rotor (B) low[2] ? ? kwh for a 10m WECS ? can be made of steel or wood (eg from barrels, ...) medium ? ?
Cretan bladed rotor (C) low ? ? kwh for a 10m WECS ? can be made of steel or wood and cloth easy ? ?
4 bladed rotor, (Ground sailor bladed rotor, ...) (D) ? ? ? kwh for a 10m WECS ? can be made of steel or wood and cloth easy to hard ? ?
Three bladed rotor, Darrieus bladed rotor (E) ? (three bladed), medium (Darrieus) ? ? kwh for a 10m WECS ? easy to hard (three bladed rotor), hard (Darrieus) ? ?
Two bladed rotor (F) ? ? ? kwh for a 10m WECS ? medium ? ?

References

  1. ↑ FAO wind energy harvesting bladed rotors document
  2. ↑ Practical Action WECS information table
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Keywords Comparisons, Wind power, Wind turbines
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English ()
Related 0 subpages, 5 pages link here
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Created October 1, 2009 by KVDP
Last edit January 8, 2026 by MetadescriptionsBot
Cite as KVDP (2009–2026). "Comparison of bladed rotors for WECS". Appropedia. Retrieved September 28, 2026.
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