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Pringles Wind Turbine (Pleech) - Version One

Pringles Wind Turbine (Pleech) - Version One
The Pringles Wind Turbine (a.k.a. Power Leech or Pleech) is an attempt to turn simple items found at the hardware store and elsewhere into a working low-voltage power supply. The Pleech is designed to take wind or other air currents (such as from A/C ducts, dryer vents, etc.) and convert that energy into electrical energy using magnets and copper coils.

It was created as part of my final project for the Design and Technology Major Studio class at Parsons The New School for Design.
 
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Step 1Collect Materials

Collect Materials
You will need:
Pringles Can
Two CDs
Paper towel holder (preferably metal)
12 Aluminum bobbins (NOT steel)
Magnet Wire (lots of it, the thinner the gauge the better -- try for 36 gauge)
8 strong magnets (rare earth preferred)
a wine cork
hot glue
and these electronics:
  • 6 schottky diodes (1N5822)
  • Large capacitor, pref, super cap
  • wire
  • solder
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274 comments
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Apr 18, 2011. 4:41 AMeshan.arora23 says:
hi again, i just wanted to say that i would really like to get the response as soon as possible, cause i have to submit this project in college.

and i would upload the images of my project as soon as possible so that u r able understand the problems i am facing.

thank you.
Dec 20, 2011. 4:33 AMpp21 says:
read the instrubable, it shows and tells everything
Aug 29, 2011. 6:23 PMsuper knex builder says:
how much energy does this put out? And can you store any of the energy?
Jul 10, 2011. 12:19 PMnerdyH says:
A solvent like wd-40 might be good for flushing away metal dust (say, from aluminum nails). But, I wonder if needle bearings like a little bit of grease, the way so many other types of bearings do?
Apr 18, 2011. 4:35 AMeshan.arora23 says:
hi there, i have to say that this project is a nice one but i am facing some problems such as
1- how many rounds of coil winding are used in this project.
2- i am not able to understand, on which part of the project is the CD with magnets attached is supported i.e. the CD with magnets is too heavy and needs a very good support. would appreciate if u upload pics of the supporting parts.
3- i would be very happy if u could provide me the link for the video of the making of this project.
4- i wasnt able to find the paper towel holder, therefore i made a wooden holder just like the paper holder.
5- a question- can we use LEDs to show the energy produced, and use a rechargeble battery for storing purpose.
Feb 1, 2011. 9:57 AMbykerboi76 says:
Also, one of the requirements of the project was that if the wind blew, the project wouldn't blow away. It needed to be stable and supported somehow in the ground of our university field, which is just grass. So I added string, tent stakes to the milk crate which were shoved in the ground and specifically placed at the joints of the milk crate. Worked perfectly for the strong winds whipping through our university. Keep it simple.
Feb 1, 2011. 9:49 AMbykerboi76 says:
Great project to do. Easy, and can actually double your amount of energy by putting magnets on the top cd as well. Used a milk crate vs the towel holder. Can fit magnets in the 'diamonds'. Worked wonderfully. Had professors in Physics class asking to reproduce for the school and their own houses. Produced 12 depending on wind speed. Also used pyrex so you could see how it worked. Good stuff free. Everything available online.
Nov 9, 2008. 4:25 PMWesley666 says:
I have a bunch of hard drive magnets and I was wondering if they would work for the magnets. Also This project is alot like something I've built. I built a big fan and welded it to an alternator and that works wonders for generating power because alternators are so easy to turn. Another question is did you ever test the current and voltage of AC this produced before adding the DC converter/Bridge rectifier?
Dec 2, 2010. 6:40 AMchrwei says:
there's a wind turbine project I've seen that uses HDD magnets. they are polarized different then most magnets so they didn't work well at first. The project was made to work by cutting the magnets in half and attaching the halves back with one flipped to get the polarity to the wanted configuration.
Jan 8, 2011. 7:41 PMWesley666 says:
cutting a magnet doesn't affect how it is magnetized. The end you didn't break is still either north or south, but the break still becomes the opposite for both halves. You can't break a magnet apart and one half is north and the other half is south. If you did somehow, you have broken laws of Physics. Magnetized objects always have to poles, they can never have a single pole. So breaking it in half just makes the same magnet but smaller.
Jan 9, 2011. 5:20 PMchrwei says:
right, but HDD magnets are polarized on the faces, not the ends. so a coil passing over a face won't pass through the strong points of north and south. cutting in half and flipping one side over makes a north and south on the same face, so then the coil would.
Dec 6, 2010. 9:13 AMpragmatic jim says:
All the wires should be connected like this.
Make sure that they are wound in the same direction, as shown in this photo.
Dec 4, 2010. 9:23 AMG14diat0r says:
hey, I'm making a generator for a project, and I'm making a small scale model, and I was wondering if there was an equation that I could use to calculate the voltage/amp output of it at different rpms, and with different numbers of magnets.
Jul 26, 2007. 8:42 AMGiveItSomeThought says:
Cool project and great explanations! A question and a suggested improvement: Is your three phase "Y" (wye) rectifier circuit connected half wave? I think so. If it is, rewiring to a full wave circuit could supply even greater voltage or current. Pages 23 and 24 of http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/alt_bwoh.pdf show full wave, three phase rectifier circuits, wye-connected and delta-connected, respectively.
Dec 3, 2010. 9:05 AMmathieulj says:
I can confirm that the circuit is a full bridge rectifier. In you link, I believe the reference to 8 diodes includes the field coil diodes on some alternators. In car alternators for example, you have no permanent magnets, instead they use a much more powerful electromagnet. To start power generation, the battery must power the field coil but when the alternator is up to speed, it feeds it's own field coil on top of recharging the battery.
Dec 3, 2010. 6:29 AMemerson.john says:
If it were connected half wave he would have used three diodes.
Feb 12, 2010. 4:50 PMelectronic spark says:
It doesn't explain the 8 diodes, what would you do with the 2 extra ones?  It is already a full wave.
May 17, 2010. 3:55 PMMaXoR says:
Darn I'm so confused!!!

ok, I was wondering what the values were on those diodes? I have some that say 10U, and 20U, and 5U (However the 10's are smaller than the 20's, but the 5's are HUGE!

There is a "IN" before the 5U as well, don't have a clue what that means either.

I just got all the parts together, somewhat. Now I need to know that the diodes that I got, are going to at least work for me.

Any help would be great. Also if you have pictures you can send to me, or whatever... I'm just looking for as much reference material as possible, so I can have redundant pieces of info that can help me get this done.


thnx!
Dec 3, 2010. 4:30 AMjuiceman74 says:
MaXor,


The size of the resistor depends on it's current flow limit (the small one are usually 1/8amp and the larger are 1/4 of an amp).
Dec 2, 2010. 9:08 AMchuckbeyea says:
1N is a designation meaning it is a diode (one gate so to speak)
Diodes start with 1N,, transistors start with 2N, etc
Nov 4, 2010. 6:15 PMriley jenson says:
i did this in fourth grade and got nothing on it because it was a " collage level project" but i had fun and my favorite part was the eating of the pringles!
Dec 2, 2010. 9:07 PMtrmn111 says:
what is 'collage' level' ??
Oct 28, 2010. 6:20 AMjj.inc says:
I really haven't gotten the whole three phase thing yet, so do you just take 1 wire from each coil and not use it, then link up the others and hook them to the rectifier. I know not all together, but in their individual phases
Oct 12, 2010. 10:32 AMRimwulf says:
I've seen propeller turbines use this magnate method rather than curved magnets around it. What I'm coming to is could one make multiple platforms? I would imagine it would have to be done in a way where there no interference from the others. Any ideas?
Jun 10, 2010. 11:20 AMdellmang187 says:
i wanna do this one but im really not to good with circuits
Jun 16, 2009. 8:52 AMkmahalanabis says:
PL NOTE IT HAS TO BE "CLEAR CD"
May 18, 2010. 1:44 AMKintaro Oe says:

The "CLEAR CD"   comes in bulk from 50 or 100 CD / DVD as protection. It is not made.

May 17, 2010. 3:21 PMear0wax says:
What about using the main motor assembly for the coils and magnets
May 16, 2010. 11:28 AMjohn henry says:
do you think hard drive magnets would work there strong and have N and S pols on one side and there in a half circular shape so you can make a ring of them.

May 16, 2010. 11:43 AMbombmaker2 says:
Yes they would because they are rare earth magnets.
May 16, 2010. 6:26 PMjohn henry says:
sweet thanks!! i will post pictures when get it to work.
May 17, 2010. 2:23 PMbombmaker2 says:
Your Welcome
May 16, 2010. 9:17 PMAT says:
Great project!  I did something similar a couple years back with spare parts.  I called it a miniature wind turbine.  I used a motor from a hard drive as my generator and a pop mounted to a CD can to drive it.  Snagged some diodes from various sources to create my rectifier so it would output DC.  Was able to generate 1.37V when I put it in front of the exhaust from the Shop-Vac.

geekweekend.schwiegers.com/images/2009/IMG_0508.JPG
Jul 11, 2009. 11:25 AMhlumbard says:
Here's my attempt. I used card board instead of CDs though.

May 16, 2010. 6:32 PMRajvanshi says:
Can you tell me what was the benifit of your creativity???????????????
May 16, 2010. 9:22 AMjhd04 says:
 www.mouser.com

If it bleeps, bloops, blinks, or conducts, they're the source.  If they don't have it, it's probably not made anywhere.  Just gotta know EXACTLY what you're looking for.
Jun 25, 2009. 4:18 PMemdarcher says:
Would plastic bobbins break in the coil winding process if I used a drill on them? And how should I make the cut on the pringles can straight?
May 13, 2010. 7:32 AMgeoslim13 says:
They shouldn't break.  I believe this because One String Willie used plastic ones in the article for his electromagnetic pickup in Make: Vol. 22 Remote Control Everything.  But he used a sewing machine's bobbin wrapper to make his coils.  I would recommend you do that instead of using a drill because it would give you a better coil and automatically lays the wire out evenly.  For the cutting of the Pringles can, I recommend using another trick from Make:.  This trick was used in Episode 7 of Make: Television, Urban Projections & Wind Power Generator, to cut turbine blades, PDF of Project, Video of Project, and a link to the Make: Television Episode Guide with links to each episode and PDFs of all the projects.  But for the can I would use a piece of cardboard or heavy paper folded at a 45-degree angle to draw the cut lines.  Hope I helped.
Mar 17, 2010. 6:11 AMzachspringer says:
This is a great project. Last quarter I taught a class called Alternative Energy Design/Build at Portland State University, and one of my students used this instructable as the groundwork for his project. 

After the class was over he decided to continue the project by creating a website for it. Check it out: windpowerproject.atspace.com/main.html
Nov 9, 2008. 2:40 PMsew1 says:
Hi Mike, you seem to be the brains behind this outfit!! I have collected most of the bits needed but am having problems finding a SUPER CAP. What is the British name for this. I'm assuming its an American term as most electrical people keep telling me to get the ratings and power etc. Could you help, cheers fella.
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Author:mikejedw
I am an MFA student in Parsons Design and Technology department. I specialize in physical computing, games, mobile applications, and weird little toys.