Didn't realise that windmill blades are serrated
Didn't realise that windmill blades are serrated
Took the weans a walk away up the back of The Three Towns in Ayrshire where they are installing these big bad boys.
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They disrupt the trailing edge eddies - which is what causes any noise - and so make them quieter. They are often fitted in areas where sound might be a particular issue.
I can't hear the word eddies without thinking Hitchhiker's Guide
"Eddies," said Ford, "in the space-time continuum."
"Ah," nodded Arthur, "is he. Is he."
So why don't my CPU/case fans have serrated edges as well? Because they are too small?
Because they are too small?
Could be. As is said so often: physics doesn't scale. Trailing edge eddies may not be the major source of the noise in this anyway - since these are pushing air not being pushed by it.
Yeah that makes sense I guess.
Some do, e.g. Noctua: https://noctua.at/en/vortex-control-notches
They are surrounding a farm with hunners of cows in multiple fields, so I wonder if the noise is quite scary for them, hence efforts to make them quieter. Or the farmer insisting. Are they usually quite loud?
Trailing edge you say? So not designed to mince up birds, that's a relief.
Oh they’ll still mince birds, just with the blunt side
Most of the bird deaths are not actually physical strikes - it is a result of the massive change of air pressure as the blades pass at speed. Evidently painting one of the blades black - or some contrasting colour - keeps a lot of the birds well away.
do they pass out? does it affect their breathing? this is very interesting to me
I realise that I had mis-remembered this. It is primarily bat deaths that are caused by the air pressure changes around turbines - not birds. This is because bats have a particularly large and thin lung internal membranes which gives them high efficiency. The rapid decompression in the immediate wake of the turbine blades - particularly towards the tips, which are the fastest moving part of course - damages this membrane.
Birds have more compact lungs and hollow bones which aid in their breathing - a different solution to the efficiency problem and one that is not as susceptible to these pressure changes.