Yaw System

A yaw system is the part of a wind turbine that turns its rotor to face the wind, connecting the nacelle, which houses the generator and gearbox, to the stationary tower below it so the whole assembly can rotate. Active yaw systems, now standard on modern medium and large wind turbines, use powered electric motors with gearboxes or hydraulic drives to turn the nacelle in response to signals from wind direction sensors, though a full 360 degree turn on a large turbine can take several minutes because of the torque involved. Passive yaw systems instead use the wind itself: small turbines often carry a tail fin that generates a corrective turning force to keep the rotor facing the wind, while a downwind turbine can rely on its own rotor to create the needed yawing moment. A yaw system main parts are the yaw bearing, which is the rotating connection itself, the yaw drives on an active system, and usually a yaw brake that steadies the nacelle and reduces wear once it has reached the right orientation. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/