How I built an electricity producing wind turbine

Step 5: Build the tower base

For the tower base, I started by cutting a 2 foot diameter disk out of plywood. I made a U shaped assembly out of 1 inch pipe fittings. In the middle of that assembly I put a 1 1/4 inch Tee. The Tee is free to turn around the 1 inch pipe and forms a hinge that allows me to raise and lower the tower. I then added a close nipple, a 1 1/4 to 1 reducing fitting, and a 12 inch nipple. Later I added a 1 inch Tee between the reducer and the 12 inch nipple so there would be a place for the wires to exit the pipe. This is shown in a photo further down the page. I also later drilled holes in the wooden disk to allow me to use steel stakes to lock it in place on the ground.

The second photo shows the head and base together. You can begin to see how it will go together. Imagine a 10 foot long piece of steel conduit connecting the two pieces. Since I was building this thing in Florida, but was going to use it in Arizona, I decided to hold off on purchasing the 10 foot piece of conduit until I got to Arizona. That meant the wind turbine would never be fully assembled and not get a proper test until I was ready to put it up in the field. That was a little scary because I wouldn't know if the thing actually worked until I tried it in Arizona.

Comments

[wcsdoors]

A slip ring is just an electrical connection used for rotation (like some self retracting extension cords have). I'm sure you've figured it out by now but here you go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip_ring . I still liike your idea of mounting the motor in the pole.

[tubajoey1]

i just thought of a way you could mount the generator to the blades, without ever having the wires kink up...but im not sure it would be practical. have the motor face shaft up from the mounting pole, and attach a long spring to it. then feed it through the bottom of the spinning assembly on the top of the pole, and then to the shaft of the blade assembly. im not sure how much of that was undersandable, so i tried to make a picture... while making the picture, i also thought that a series of gears would work well too, just as long as the motor is mounted inside the tube that holds up the main turbine structure. but again, im not too sure of how well the power transfer would be from the blades to the motor at that point. i might give it a try and see how well it works.

[Mig Welder]

this is similar to a weed eater where the drive shaft is actually a flexible rod (stiff spring)

[jonbell78]

With this setup if a load is placed on the generator it would create a yaw in the blades and decrease the efficiency of the blades. You could make a slip ring connection for this very easily and you wouldn't need the gears or the spring (which eat energy).

[tubajoey1]

how might one go about making this slip ring? im really into this stuff, and im good at making things, but im undereducated on part names...lol