Old PC Fan ----> Wind Turbine in 10 Minutes

I looked at some old PC Fans I have and thought that they can be used as Small Wind Turbines.

Backyard Wind Turbines: Harness wind power with simple and fun projects

It has been my dream for a long time to make a wind turbine generator even to light an LED.

The PC Fan is Brushless DC ( BLDC) Motor. It can be converted to a generator in 5 Minutes.

This is my website:

AeroArduino

I also found this little great tool on eBay for only $36 from here

Stuff you need:

PC fan : old or new from Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Amazon ES, Amazon IT or eBay

Amazon Egypt (Souq), Jumia Egypt , Aliexpress

Crocodile Clips from Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Amazon ES, Amazon IT or eBay

Amazon Egypt (Souq) , Aliexpress

Soldering Iron from Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Amazon ES, Amazon IT or eBay

Amazon Egypt (Souq) , Aliexpress

You can read this article in Arabic in my blog arabic-embedded-egypt.blogspot.com

يمكنك قراءة هذه المقالة باللغة العربية

http://arabic-embedded-egypt.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-post.html

يمكنك قراءة هذه المقالة باللغة الإنجليزية

You can read this article in English on my blog embedded-egypt.blogspot.com

http://embedded-egypt.blogspot.com/2013/07/pc-fan-wind-turbine.html

Further and future work :

I want to try these ideas

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wind_Turbine/Howard_Community_College/Spring2012/p1502sid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_wind_acceleration_turbine

made-a-wind-turbine-from-pc.mp4
Download

Step 1: Concept

The concept is simple. You can skip this part and start directly with the conversion.

The BLDC motor used here has a stator winding and a Permanent Magnet Rotor. The motor is supplied by 12V DC. But the magnetic field rotation is generated by electronics ( Electronic Commutator ) . As the name implies , the electronics components convert DC into AC which makes the magnetic filed in the stator rotate.

The electronic commutation is achieved by a small IC.

To get the induced current from the motor used as a generator , you must remove this IC .

Step 2: Disassemble

This is what I 'll show you how.

First remove sticker on the back of the fan.

Then you 'll find a small piece of plastic lock that holds Fan shaft secured , Don't brake it. Remove it with a crocodile clip...

This crocodile clip is very useful in this job. Many people have been asking how would they remove this plastic lock and I've answered them that they can easily use the crocodile clip to do it without breaking it.

Amazon Deutch

Aliexpress

PC Fan at Jumia Egypt , eBay

Step 3: Winding Soldering

You can see 4 poles of winding connected in series and have only 2 terminals. To get the induced current , connect supply wires to those terminals and let the fanrotate.

With a solder iron , gently remove solder under IC pins and then remove the IC.

Remove any surface mount resistors or transistors.

Remove the supply wires form there place to put them in the holes of the removed IC.

Connect the supply wires in the winding terminals .

Make sure that you connect the terminals ( from which you will get the generated Voltage ) in a way that makes the two sets of winding connected in series.

PC Fan at Jumia Egypt , Aliexpress , eBay