Evolution, Functioning and Capacity of the Mediterranean Windmills

The Mediterranean windmill is a mechanism constructed by using only local materials like stone, timber and wrought iron. It is an ingenious, unfaultable and robust machine, with a sophisticated control system, very easy to manage and repair, wasting nothing, and using only renewable wind power. In this paper, taking into consideration the existing wind power capacity of the west Anatolian coast, the functioning and the capacity of the typical Mediterranean windmill is discussed in detail. There exist two kind of windmill: the eastern type with vertical and the western type with horizontal sail shaft. In the Mediterranean windmill with horizontal sail shaft, the top of the tower and the main gear can manually be directed to the prevailing wind direction. The sail area, the speed of the rotating stone and the grinding power can be regulated approximately each time by the miller at the beginning of the operation. The upper stone distance is manually or automatically controlled by an arm balanced by a counterweight. Using mathematical calculations, we show that the maximum windmill power is approximately one third of the theoretical wind power. One Mediterranean windmill can easily meet the annual flour need for small settlements of about 50 houses.