Images By Request.... Update June 2008

Update on progress at http://www.spinpower.org March 2011

LAST NOTE FROM JUNE 2008 -

Hi everyone! Thank you for your interest in my project. I have met a commercial manufacturer and we are going to make these for distribution to third world areas as well as bringing them to areas looking to go green. Hopefully we will be able to sell you a kit for less than you can buy all the respective components, that is the plan, although nothing is done yet. Prototyping for mass production is just getting started.

All components that I have shared will be gone over and those that do not conflict with any patents we are able to get will be posted again in the near future. However, I may be re-posting this as a how to build the kit and or make use of the kit. The bottom line is, I will be re-posting some good solid and useful information for you here again soon.

I have a website dedicated to the new endeavor: www.spinpower.org you can watch there for updates.

- Brad

Back to the information about these attached photos -

These are my first batteries, and I will add as the system becomes established. My first inverter dedicated to the wind, not quite powerful enough to take over a complete circuit in the house unless it were all CF bulbs. The preliminary rectifier circuit with diode for charging without a regulator, I know it looks messy, but it is as simple as the diagram in the PDF. And lastly the multimeter showing volts in about 8MPH of wind down the side of my house with the gate at one end closed. The second mov file shows about 8MPH steady wind and the unit making close to 16VDC. Also included is an mov file of the multimeter in a little less wind, maybe 6MPH. You can see the needle dance a little, my alternator has a wobble in it that I am trying to balance. When I hold the top of the unit steady, the voltage stays closer to peak and doesnt bounce as much. I think the solution is its permanent home on my back hill with guy wires.

The local weather service is reporting the wind at 4MPH, but Im sure it is closer to 6MPH or 8MPH when there is a slight gust. If Im wrong, that just makes the unit even more efficient than I think. : )

Comments

[admin]

This project looks awesome but there isn't enough documentation of you actually making it to be a full Instructable. There are two things which you could do. 1) If you happen to have images of you making your project you can create some more steps, add those additional photos into your Instructable and then republish your Instructable. 2) If you don't have any more pictures of you working on your project, that's ok too. That just means that your project is better suited to be submitted as a slideshow. Your images are already in your library, and you can use the same text that you have already written for your Instructable so it should only take a few minutes to create your slideshow and show the world what you made! Thanks for your submission and let me know if you have any questions along the way.

[admin]

This project looks awesome but there isn't enough documentation of you actually making it to be a full Instructable. There are two things which you could do. 1) If you happen to have images of you making your project you can create some more steps, add those additional photos into your Instructable and then republish your Instructable. 2) If you don't have any more pictures of you working on your project, that's ok too. That just means that your project is better suited to be submitted as a slideshow. Your images are already in your library, and you can use the same text that you have already written for your Instructable so it should only take a few minutes to create your slideshow and show the world what you made! Thanks for your submission and let me know if you have any questions along the way.

[macpeku]

Hi ! Thanks Peku

[seanc]

HELP ANYONE, I need someone really sharp. I'll pay to have my problem resolved. $600+ light bill is B.S. Looking to solve with wind & solar, inexpensively. No time to do the work myself, even though 30+ yrs in electronics. [e-mail]

[bhunter736]

I am in the process of taking these to market, hopefully for less than you can buy the materials to build it. check out www.spinpower.org - my website where I am starting to get this all together.

[snowman46919]

I see one problem with this you say you have 16 volts DC although your meter is set to ACV. Now this may not mean anything with your meter but mine is from the stone ages and very picky about this sort of thing. Just wondering whats going on in that picture.

[bhunter736]

Hi, the meter is sampling the AC directly from the windmill. It runs through the rectifier and becomes DC. This photo was because there were a lot of requests to see the rest of the setup. I use the AC reading to know exactly what the windmill is doing in case something goes wrong with my circuit I will know at least there is power going in. So I mention the 16VDC because that is the side of the rectifier that will feed the battery bank. I have several basic multi meters, a needle style always plugged directly to the windmill and the digital ones I use to probe the battery, rectifier, diodes, and anything else I play with plugging in to the setup.

[snowman46919]

Cheers to you then that makes perfect sense now. One of these days maybe fluke meters will rain from the skies and all our woes will be cast by the way side.

[bhunter736]

Yah, that would be great. Too bad the bills keep coming, if I didnt have to pay them I could just buy a Fluke meter. : )

[crippledeath]

i love your idea very cheap why to generate wind energy check out my site thank you here is a link to it DIY Solar

[crimity46]

I was wondering if AWG 26 wiring would work for this project?

[bhunter736]

AWG 26 will work. Your total Amps that can flow through it will be less. That is OK until you get high speed wind gusts. This may not be an issue for your situation. The difference between 24 and 26 is going to be very minimal anyway. So the short answer is "yes". : )

[csb]

Alright, this is a great project, thank you!

I'm seriously trying to wrap my head around the math of this... 6+6 = 24??? That 1" circle in the center looks like it can only fit 12 times... How is that disc 24" diameter?

[fieldman]

Write the equations down. Pi cancels. I haven't been to the site yet but I know what he is talking about.

[bhunter736]

A 6 inch circle spread open to a half circle is 1/2 of a 12 inch circle. Did that work?

[csb]

Thanks for the reply ... but wow, I'm really struggling to wrap my head around this. Half of a 6" diameter circle is still half of a 6" diameter circle... two halves placed side-by-side would cover 12" as you've described, but how does it magically cover the 24" diameter of the pine disc?

[bhunter736]

One more time.... When you have a 6" diameter circle that is split down one side, which is how stove pipe comes, you spread it open instead of closing it into the 6" circle it is meant to become. Did that get it? : )

[csb]

Ahhhhh Got it. Thank you! Apparently the fault was in my lack of familiarity with stovepipes. I thought you had split a single pipe in half.

[HunterBishop]

Sarcasticassclown

[bhunter736]

Ya! : ) Glad to help. Im sure you are not the only one out there who thinks my math is goofy for one reason or another.

[samcrut]

About the coil... You say in the other Instructable that putting a metal object in the middle of the coil is more efficient in some ways but not here. Were you just saying "This is the simplest way (most efficient) to do this little demonstration." or was there another actual power efficiency reason?

I can't help thinking that a bolt with the wire coiled tight and neat would be more clean looking and possibly more effective for the VAWT. Since the bolt would be purposefully channeling the flux, you could bolt it with an L bracket on the far end and not have to deal with the plexiglass. I've been searching around to find an answer to: Is a flat, hollow solenoid more efficient than a long solenoid with a metal core of equal wire length?

I can see where the magnets might attract to the bolts in the solenoids causing additional drag and requiring more wind to generate the additional torque but if it really focuses the flux, you could expand the air gap a little and maybe still get better power. Additionally, since the bolt solenoids would be about 1/3 the width of the ones you're using now, you could put in more of them.

I have lots of neodymium magnets around here, but they're all small. I'd have to scale it down to a spinning 2 liter bottle. =)

[bhunter736]

Hi, about the bolt. If your coil is wound in the shape of the ferrous center, then the ferrous center will pull the flux through in a manner that is a benefit. By winding the coils in a relatively flat and rectangular shape like the magnet and the natural field created by the magnet, you capture most of the flux that is available. This is all about trade off. Do you want to eek out every ounce of power but have to wait for 10MPH or higher winds before it starts up, or do you back off a little and collect a trickle from even a soft breeze of 4MPH? The nice thing about the coils and this design is that you can play with them. You can make a single coil in an experimental shape, length and awg and present it to the spinning turbine. Take a measurement on your multimeter, consider any difficulties mounting the coil, re-think it, try again until you have come up with what works best for your situation. Just make sure you have a baseline of the RPM so you are comparing designs fairly. I worked at figuring out the thickest wire that I could get 1v at 30 RPMs. It is that simple, I needed a starting point and that was it. I want to charge 12volt batteries for an inverter and 12 to 13 volts is perfect, more amps are welcome. To gain flux from ferrous material, consider a complete circle of iron around the back of the coils. Because there are no points of magnetic draw, there is no added cogging affect. However, getting the size and alignment just right would be difficult. This would be good though, even pull from the metal ring all the way around, drawing the flux through the coils and increasing amps. This has been on my try list from the beginning. I have just build a revised unit with much tougher materials and better tolerances. This unit is my quest to get maximum power and reduce maintenance too. Im not done yet, but will post a new instructable soon.

[conntaxman]

bhunter,What size wire and how many turns did you end up useing to have a cut in speed of 30 RPM, to charge your 12 VDC battary. Im just now startign to build my alt. TKS Johnny

[bhunter736]

65ft of 24 AWG. You should check out my revised project before you start. I covered all of this in more of a How To fashion. There is a link to the revised project right above the photo on this page. - Brad

[john j]

http://www.energy.ca.gov/2005publications/CEC-500-2005-084/CEC-500-2005-084.PDF

Have a problem with this report. They say that zero overlap is the most efficient, but the image they show seems to be the 48% overlap. Is it me that is wrong?
If its me wrong, then how would 48% overlap look? Cheers, John

[bhunter736]

Hi, in my research, I chose to go with info that was supported by more than one resource. About 20 percent overlap was found to have the best trade off of RPM to Torque. The fact is, if you want a high torque machine that you will gear up, then you want less overlap. If you want to gain RPMs and give up some torque, increase the overlap.

The other problem is that these tests were done in a controlled environment. This means there were no random cross winds in the measurements. We know a Savonius will eat cross winds like a kid does candy, but at what efficiency? This is a question I did not see answered anywhere. I know I have attained a result that I am very happy with and have shared my projects here as a reference for other builders.

Dont forget to look at my revised version of this project too.

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Home-Power-Plant---Wind-Power-Generator-Revised/

[john j]

Hi, fellow builders, just came across a set of profiles and test results for savonius: http://www.energy.ca.gov/2005publications/CEC-500-2005-084/CEC-500-2005-084.PDF
Hope Im not getting problems for showing this? Legally I mean.
Anyways, happy building, John from Denmark.

[bhunter736]

Information is always welcome here! : ) Thank you. I have actually already read it and have a copy in my original research notes. They even reference a Benesh Airfoil. Everyone should definitely take a look at this before building if you are going to make your own modifications. - Brad

[Frank_the_Bunny]

Ok, I am very new at this so I will not pretend to know anything...but what are your thoughts on wind funnels to assist in the use of wind turbines?

[bhunter736]

Its a catch 22 in most cases. There may be a situation where it is beneficial, however in most cases not. When you direct the wind, you increase torque and stress, meaning mechanical enhancements to the rotor etc. Also the funnel is a project of its own, although much simpler. So in most cases it is more beneficial to just build the original project a bit bigger and skip the funnels. If you consider slight aerodynamic modifications to surrounding structures to be funnels, you may want to "engineer" the environment to better suit the windmill. Things like air foils at the edge of a building etc...

Check out the Faroun Savonius project. He says his deflectors increase the power he gets considerably. Im not sure the logistics of his statement, but he has a heck of a quality build going. Heres the link:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Faroun-Savonius-Wind-Turbine/

[winspnr]

Please refer to the book "Mechanical Engineering" Volume 53, May 1931, No.5 pg 333. This may help in designing a more efficient Savonius Rotor. (Note: I will try to send a picture of the one I built.)

[bhunter736]

I'm not sure where we are going here, but I think 1000 watts from the unit in a 20MPH wind with only 9 of a possible 32 coils in operation is a pretty good start for a home brew project. If we start flexing intellectual muscle here, we lose everyone including the point of making this attainable as a couple of weekends project. In the mean time I will try to find the article you mentioned. P.S. My approach was to not follow what had been done, but learn from what was learned and create new so as not to re-enact the same failure they did on the Altamont pass which has badly tarnished the Savonius and Darrius designs.

[winspnr]

This is the photo I attempted to send some months ago.

[bhunter736]

Where is the generator? I see a wheel or a pully maybe on the bottom, is it hooked to a PM motor or generator of some type?

[bhunter736]

Wow! Great shot. What a build. Thank you for sharing and especially for not forgetting about us. : )

[bhunter736]

Also, again, bare in mind that design is about what you want to accomplish, so better is as suggestive as horsepower to a car. Some argue more horses is always better, but if you want to tow a load, you need torque! And with stereo equipment, the best amplifiers in the world put out around 12 watts! But to the average joe, anything less than 1000 watts is not any good. So what is the goal? My goal is real power in low wind where direction is always changing and a HAWT would fail.

[conntaxman]

Magnets and their spaces Useing 12 magnets and 9 coils,It seems that a 12 dia. peice of steel would be large enought.What would the largest Dia. steel disc that would work for magnets . 1 inch wide 2 inches long 1/2 inch thick. their the neo 50. they have 80 lbs pull. Thank you. Johnny

[bhunter736]

Larger diameter disk would require larger sails. This is limited by your ability to work with, acquire, and otherwise handle the build. Keep in mind that some weight is good for the flywheel affect, but too much means it will not start easy and may never get to full speed potential. If you are using N50s, which I have never seen, I would guess that you need a min of 3.5 inches apart to prevent eddy currents between magnets, although losses would be minimal until you are about 2 inches apart. This is just a guess though as I have never seen higher than an N43 rated magnet. Make sure to peek at my revised project before you start building I have learned even more since I did this original project. The link is above the photo at the top.

[conntaxman]

Just thought of another way to place the magnets and it would increase the size of the rotor plate.Put the magnets length ways around the outer edge,that would be 2 inches for each one and the rotor plate should increase to 24 inches in Dia. Would the coils work the same? Has anyone done it this way for a Vawt? I seen on the web were the guy only used one Rotor and one stator plate. Isn't it as long as the magnets go over the feilds just on top>? That way I could use 24 magnets length ways and with only 1 RPM it would make ele. Any ideas . Tks Johnny

[conntaxman]

Almost done with the 3 sails.Next is to finish the main shaft,and also do alittle more on the Frame. Still have to make the alt. 2 rotors with 12 magnets each and stator with 9 coils.