Camping Wind Turbine

Step 7: Test it Out!

Fold it out, stake it down, and test it out!

Using a leafblower as my controllable "wind" source, I tested out the wind turbine to make sure everything worked nicely. The camera isnt quite able to keep up with the spinning blades, but in case you're wondering, they're going REALLY fast (over 1000 rpm, and generating over 1.6 Volts in the process). 

This wind turbine isn't exactly for charging your phone, however, it works perfectly for charging rechargeable batteries and such. It's portable nature makes it easy to carry around and it's lightweight design makes it an option even for backpackers. The motor and blade setup weighs only 5 ounces and can be very easily detached from the stand and attached to a hiking pole. In short, there's a lot of flexibility with this design and I can't wait to use it on my next backpacking trip! 

Comments

[Paracord Ninja16]

You could hook up a really high voltage rechargeable battery to it and tape the turbine to the top of your car and then go drive on the interstate to your camping destination and when you get their you will have lots of free energy!

[fmasi]

Some random thoughts:
1) that motor is made for spinning a lot faster
2) even that small, a 1000 rpm rotor is far from being the safest thing ever (also difficult to balance perfectly)
3) the ground drags the wind down a lot

In my point of view, a 2.0 version would be:
- 3 ft tall (hub height), the pole could be in 3 pieces
- blades would be 2 or 3 times longer (hub axle should should point a few degrees upwards, or bending blades could hit the pole) this would cut the rotor speed to half or 1/3rd (more manageable) while making it 2 or 3 times more powerful
- a small, simple, gearbox would keep the motor in a range of rpm higher than actual while the rotor spins slower, taking real advantage of the increased rotor power.

Cheers!

[JermsG]

Agreed. Version 2.0 with these alterations would be good to see. Even just the gearbox should increase efficiency a worthwhile amount without any downside.

Also, for my part, I'd prefer to utilise existing camping gear in order to minimise extra weight / clutter as much as possible. (My favourite campsite is accessible only via a 1/2 hour walk down a cliff track - or presumably a 30-second terminal plummet. So I don't like to carry too much.)
If (when) I make this I'd use a tentpole instead of a stand, or a clamp to attach it to a handy treebranch or something. And would probably make the blades and tail fold up (semi-flexible plastic perhaps?) rather than detach - nothing worse than fishing around in the bottom of the backpack for one missing component.

Well written 'ible. Very clear and easy to follow. =8-)

[sfirdaus]

Nice work...i've done this before with bigger blades and motor ......manage to get 40volt with 025mAmp...

mind to share how much voltage & ampere you get since the motor is small ?

[raviolikid]

How interesting! You broke the steps down very nicely. Well done.

[jobard]

Now you just have to wait for a hurricane to charge your Ipod.
Nice work!