Introduction: VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbine)

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A VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbine) is a turbine that catches wind and produces electricity. The materials you will need are an alternator, 6' of PVC pipe, 10 L shaped brackets, wiring harness for the alternator, a rubber belt, an old bike tire, 4 small sheets of plywood, and 6 4' two by fours.

Step 1: Assembling

To start off, you need 2 sheets of plywood. Make a circle with a 1 foot diameter. Cut the circle with any saw that will be easy to cut a circle with. Do this with the other piece of plywood. That way, you have 2 circles. Now take your PVC pipe and cut it in 2 foot sections. We used a table saw for this but a hacksaw will work fine too. Cut the PVC pipe in half, down the long way. you will need 5 PVC slices only.

Step 2: Attachments

Place the PVC pipe onto the plywood standing straight up. Make the end of the PVC pipe align with the edge of the circle. Space the PVC pipes evenly. Now use the L brackets and screw the PVC pipes in. Once done, attach the PVC pipes to the other circle.

Step 3: Round and Round

Now you need the bicycle tire. Just one. Take the tire off and then the actual tire off so you just have a rim. Cut a hole in the middle of the bottom of the VAWT and insert the end of the rim into it. Make sure to put barrings on both ends of the bicycle rim. This will make it spin faster.

Step 4: Mounting

Now we build the mounts. That way, the alternator sits leveled with the VAWT. So we need 2 mounts one for the alternator and one for the VAWT. Keep in mind that the VAWT still has to spin. Now we need to build a mount for the VAWT and alternator. We need to build a table that is 2' long and 1' 1/2 feet wide. Use the 6 two-by-fours and cut them to 2' each. Then evenly space them across the table and screw them in. Make sure the table is sturdy.

Step 5: More Assembling

Now cut a hole into the table and fit the end of the bicycle tire into it. Next, place the belt around the rim and the alternator and see how far they can stretch apart. Once you have them a distance apart, drill a hole for the end of your alternator to fit into (the alternator we are using has an end on it so we had to do this). Use glue to fill in spaces so the alternator does not move.

Step 6: Connecting the Battery

Connect the wiring harness on the alternator. Then connect the other ends of the harness to the battery. We are using a 12 Volt alternator so we have to use a 12 V battery. in order to charge our battery, our alternator would have to spin roughly 1100 times.

Step 7: Enjoy!

Use your new VAWT for good purposes now!