Windpumps: An Overview

Wind machines have historically been used to pump water, and pumping water remains an important application of wind energy today in both the developed and the developing worlds. The American farm windmill, known as the Chicago mill in some parts of the world, dependably pumps low volumes of water from shallow wells. These multiblade wind pumps are still extensively used for watering remote stock tanks on North America's Great Plains, Argentina's Pampas, Australia's outback, and South Africa's veldt. There are probably more than a million of these wind pumps still in use worldwide.


Wind pump in Victoria, Australia. ©WWEA e.V.



Researchers at West Texas A & M University's Alternative Energy Institute and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service have made major advances in water-pumping technology, first with wind-assisted irrigation in the 1980s, and then with wind-electric pumping systems in the 1990s. In cooperation with small wind turbine manufacturers, these researchers have developed pumping systems that couple modern electronics to small windchargers that eliminate the need for cumbersome batteries. Under certain conditions, these wind-electric pumping systems will deliver more water at lower cost than the traditional farm windmill.

From pumping water in North America’s southwest to boiling water for tea on the Mongolian steppes, small wind turbines are finding increasing application worldwide.



See also Wind/Solar Pumping System in Mali



Paul Gipe
Califonia, USA
www.wind-works.org



The text has been adapted from the book Wind Power - Renewable Energy for Home, Farm, and Business, Chelsea Green Publishing  (ISBN: 1-931498-14-8), 2004 by Paul Gipe:
http://www.wind-works.org/books/wind_power2004_home.html




Links to Windpumps (water pumping applications)
by WWEA


General and Function



Case Studies/Applications