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Several years ago I bought some remote property in Arizona. I am an astronomer and wanted a place to practice my hobby far away from the terrible light pollution found near cities of any real size. I found a great piece of property. The problem is, it's so remote that there is no electric service available. That's not really a problem. No electricity equals no light pollution. However, it would be nice to have at least a little electricity, since so much of life in the 21st century is dependent on it.
One thing I noticed right away about my property is that most of the time, the wind is blowing. Almost from the moment I bought it, I had the idea of putting up a wind turbine and making some electricity, and later adding some solar panels. This is the story of how I did it. Not with an expensive, store-bought turbine, but with a home-built one that cost hardly anything. If you have some fabricating skills and some electronic know-how, you can build one too.
More details on this project and my other alternative energy projects including my home-built solar panels, and my home-built biomass gasifier can be found on my web site.
One thing I noticed right away about my property is that most of the time, the wind is blowing. Almost from the moment I bought it, I had the idea of putting up a wind turbine and making some electricity, and later adding some solar panels. This is the story of how I did it. Not with an expensive, store-bought turbine, but with a home-built one that cost hardly anything. If you have some fabricating skills and some electronic know-how, you can build one too.
More details on this project and my other alternative energy projects including my home-built solar panels, and my home-built biomass gasifier can be found on my web site.
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Signing UpStep 1Acquiring a generator
I started by Googling for information on home-built wind turbines. There are a lot of them out there in an amazing variety of designs and complexities. All of them had five things in common though:
1. A generator
2. Blades
3. A mounting that keeps it turned into the wind
4. A tower to get it up into the wind
5. Batteries and an electronic control system
I reduced the project to just five little systems. If attacked one at a time, the project didn't seem too terribly difficult. I decided to start with the generator. My online research showed that a lot of people were building their own generators. That seemed a bit too complicated, at least for a first effort. Others were using surplus permanent magnet DC motors as generators in their projects. This looked like a simpler way to go. So I began looking into what motors were best for the job.
A lot of people seemed to like to use old computer tape drive motors (surplus relics from the days when computers had big reel to reel tape drives). The best apparently are a couple of models of motor made by Ametek. The best motor made by Ametek is a 99 volt DC motor that works great as a generator. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to locate these days. There are a lot of other Ametek motors around though. A couple of their other models make decent generators and can still be found on places like Ebay. This web site talks about the virtues and vices of various Ametek motors when used as generators. http://www.tlgwindpower.com/ametek.htm
I managed to score one of the good 30 volt Ametek motors off of Ebay for only $26. They don't go that cheap these days. People are catching on to the fact that they make great wind generators. Other brands will work, so don't fret about the price Ameteks are going for. Shop wisely. Anyway, The motor I got was in good shape and worked great. Even just giving the shaft a quick turn with my fingers would light a 12 volt bulb quite brightly. I gave it a real test by chucking it up in my drill press and connecting it to a dummy load. It works great as a generator, putting out easily a couple hundred Watts with this setup. I knew then that if I could make a decent set of blades to drive it, it would produce plenty of power.
There is more information on how to choose a motor for use as a generator on my web site at http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/
1. A generator
2. Blades
3. A mounting that keeps it turned into the wind
4. A tower to get it up into the wind
5. Batteries and an electronic control system
I reduced the project to just five little systems. If attacked one at a time, the project didn't seem too terribly difficult. I decided to start with the generator. My online research showed that a lot of people were building their own generators. That seemed a bit too complicated, at least for a first effort. Others were using surplus permanent magnet DC motors as generators in their projects. This looked like a simpler way to go. So I began looking into what motors were best for the job.
A lot of people seemed to like to use old computer tape drive motors (surplus relics from the days when computers had big reel to reel tape drives). The best apparently are a couple of models of motor made by Ametek. The best motor made by Ametek is a 99 volt DC motor that works great as a generator. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to locate these days. There are a lot of other Ametek motors around though. A couple of their other models make decent generators and can still be found on places like Ebay. This web site talks about the virtues and vices of various Ametek motors when used as generators. http://www.tlgwindpower.com/ametek.htm
I managed to score one of the good 30 volt Ametek motors off of Ebay for only $26. They don't go that cheap these days. People are catching on to the fact that they make great wind generators. Other brands will work, so don't fret about the price Ameteks are going for. Shop wisely. Anyway, The motor I got was in good shape and worked great. Even just giving the shaft a quick turn with my fingers would light a 12 volt bulb quite brightly. I gave it a real test by chucking it up in my drill press and connecting it to a dummy load. It works great as a generator, putting out easily a couple hundred Watts with this setup. I knew then that if I could make a decent set of blades to drive it, it would produce plenty of power.
There is more information on how to choose a motor for use as a generator on my web site at http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/
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so 1420 divided by 240 =5.92 rpm - per volt
would this be a good motor/generator for a wind turbine?
thanks.
If you look closely at the captions in the photo of the charge controller, there is a blocking diode to prevent the battery from back-feeding the motor. There are also rectifier diodes in the schematic of the charge controller.
Although, a little idea popped into my head, if you could make turbines with inbuilt solar panels, would that increase the power available.
Her`s a great `ible for DIY scrap solar panels.
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Solar-Panel/
I used a diode to prevent the battery from driving the blade. Because of the inaccesability to reach it on the boat, I bypassed it to start the blade turning in light breezes and it would then continue to generate. When at anchor on a boat the boat usually heads into the wind unless you have strong tides.
Finding a solution for blade propellers that's both durable and efficient amounts to a fascinating engineering challenge. From my research, PVC blades (while cheap and easy to make) do not have the basic strength necessary to survive high wind speeds. (As Mdavis discovered).
Curiously, commericially made blades (for HAWT turbines) do feature connecting "tabs" that are placed centrally, rather than at the sides. Two main differences are apparent:
1. Carbon fibre is favoured over PVC as the blade material
2. A lamination process is used during blade manufacture (possibly strengthening the finished blade propellers and tabs).
Aerodynamically, the blades need to bulge at one side, then taper at the other. (A basic aerofoil). This reduces drag, as does a cambered blade. Since lift is produced once your aerofoil blade is in operation, this must be a contributory factor leading to blade failure (because the turbine is literally trying to "take off"!)
Personally, I think this "take off" factor amounts to a design flaw in HAWT turbines, since the primary objective is to capture wind energy and transfer it to the DC motor. I'd like to do testing on VAWT systems (Savonius) to see if the "lift" problem is minimized.
It's unlikely any comparison data (between HAWT propeller and VAWT savonius efficiency) exists. But you never know, the Internet is a big place... Any feedback welcomed.
NB
http://www.mdpub.com/555Controller
He also has kits and assembled units available (see link on his website).
I know the rpm is really high but I was wondering if the high Voltage would make up for it.
Thanks for the help
I have not thoroughly inspected the current setup on this generator and do not know if it is a DC or AC generator although it has ports for accessing DC along with the AC outlets.
How hard would it be to utilize everything already included in the parts on this generator?
great job on the generator.
Have you or would you please have a look at the Henry Moray website and the Tesla website. Both these guys were pioneers in the energy field and a Tesla generator offers FREE electricity! Apparently from the 'cosmic' energy field!
I'd love one of the members to get one of the kits offered, build it and then give us all the heads up as to it's reality!
Keep it up. Great post too.
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-1000-watt-wind-turbine/
It's not as hard as it looks and you dont need all that resin to hold everything in place, especially if you get the counter sunk neodymium magnets that you and screw onto a piece of wood, obviously your not trying to power your house but this instructable will tell you how it works and how to build one from scratch. hope this helps
Great Project
Thanks
Diogo Monteiro
From: Sassoeiros, Portugal
I have an old DC motor out of an electric airsoft gun hook it up to a rectifier and nothing happens, on the other hand i took an old 80mm computer fan hooked it up to the rectifier gave it a nice spin and it lights an LED, so why isn't the bigger DC motor producing any electricity?