A windmill produces AC voltage, with increasing voltage as the turbine spins faster. If you know the max safe RPM, you could find the associated max safe voltage (V_safe). Additionally, when the leads of a turbine are shorted with each other, it induces a braking effect.

If you place a Zener diode with a V_safe breakdown voltage (maybe slightly lower for a safety margin), wouldn’t the AC voltage above V_safe go towards braking the turbine? I’m interested because of two reasons:

1. Preventing the turbine from spinning itself apart
2. The V_safe I’m interested in would actually be the max value of a switch mode buck converter

A windmill produces AC voltage, with increasing voltage as the turbine spins faster. If you know the max safe RPM, you could find the associated max safe voltage (V_safe). Additionally, when the leads of a turbine are shorted with each other, it induces a braking effect.

If you place a Zener diode with a V_safe breakdown voltage (maybe slightly lower for a safety margin), wouldn’t the AC voltage above V_safe go towards braking the turbine? I’m interested because of two reasons:

1. Preventing the turbine from spinning itself apart.
2. The V_safe I’m interested in would actually be the max value of a switch mode buck converter.