Wind energy to electric energy - Electronic Circuits Projects Diagrams Free

Vaibhav Birit · 13th December 2004, 07:10 AM

i want to use non conventional energy source such as Wind energy to charge my Ni-Cad batteries.
Can anyone provide me with an elegant circuit with good explanation for doing the same

williB · 13th December 2004, 04:02 PM

If you can get the correct Shape of Propeller..
hooking it to a small dc motor should give you plenty of current to charge your NiCd batteries..

TillEulenspiegel · 13th December 2004, 06:54 PM

Actually It would help to know the voltage and amp hour rating for the batteries . As far as a propeller , use the fan blades from a window or bax fan. It's premade and el cheep-o

williB · 13th December 2004, 07:00 PM

i found this on a website..i have just seen some Really cool generator blades ..

Quote:

Wind Power Equation

To predict how much power is available from the wind, you can use the equation below.
Power in watts = (collection area in sq. ft.) (Wind speed in MPH)3 (0.0054)

To illustrate how this equation works, imagine that you have a wind turbine with a diameter of 10 feet (area of 79 sq. ft) that is spinning in a steady 30 mph wind.

According to the equation above, if the generator were 100% efficient, it would produce about 11,500 watts of electricity.

Of course, perfect machine does not exists that can extract all of the available energy.
A more realistic efficiency figure is 30%.
So, using our example above, we could expect our generator, in a 30 mph wind to produce about 3,500 watts of electricity.
Now, if the wind were to increase to 60 mph, according to the equation, the power produced would increase by a factor of eight or 28,000 watts.

williB · 13th December 2004, 09:52 PM

http://www.re-energy.ca/pdf/cp1.pdf
http://www.awea.org/faq/vawt.html

Vaibhav Birit · 14th December 2004, 03:14 AM

Thanks WilliB for the excellent pdf suggested. Also thankyou TillEulenspiegel for the info.

I will start building one...

Juglenaut · 14th December 2004, 05:18 AM

How many batteries are we talking about in series that you want to charge?

Using a 540 DC motor or better bearing motors, best would be a brushless motor that is rectified. Motors must be ratio'ed to a gear box or driven directly by a large spur gear and a small pinion gear to be efficient the load form the motor must be as reduced as possible but allow adaquet current and free flowing of the empellers.

Just remember that the energy produced by the generator must be higher than that of the unit being charged, other wise it will just be a fan.

Most DC motors I play around with need to spin way to fast to be pratical for generators with wind to charge a 7.2 volt battery, individual cell is a different case.

I made one out a box fan with a gear the matched to the hub with 4 DC motors, two series in parallel bank with the other two series and some other stuff to make it happen. I found that if closely matched motors work very good for this. This generator produced about 8 volts at 3 amps with a steady 25 Mph wind, it is also good as a DC fan.

williB · 14th December 2004, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vaibhav Birit

Thanks WilliB for the excellent pdf suggested. Also thankyou TillEulenspiegel for the info.

I will start building one...

youre welcome.. i built one last night .. cant wait to try it out..
did you know that the Savonius wind generators are stackable !!..

TheOne · 14th December 2004, 04:15 PM

I can still remember many years ago, when I had some interest in this subject, reading about the "Darius eggbeater" and other turbines were fascinating stuff.

http://www.nrel.gov/data/pix/Jpegs/00182.jpg

Quote:

"The Darius windmill was named after its French inventor. It is also known as catenary because of its profile when operating. The mill consists of slim aerofoil section blades taking up an oval or rugby ball shape when spinning due to the centrifugal forces exerted. The design gives a high output for the mass of the structure at relatively low cost. Darius units will often not start to turn by themselves and need either an electric start or use a small Savonius unit attached to the top. As the blades revolve they lose some energy as the head into the wind reducing the output."

williB · 14th December 2004, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheOne

I can still remember many years ago, when I had some interest in this subject, reading about the "Darius eggbeater" and other turbines were fascinating stuff.

Quote:

"The Darius windmill was named after its French inventor. It is also known as catenary because of its profile when operating. The mill consists of slim aerofoil section blades taking up an oval or rugby ball shape when spinning due to the centrifugal forces exerted. The design gives a high output for the mass of the structure at relatively low cost. Darius units will often not start to turn by themselves and need either an electric start or use a small Savonius unit attached to the top. As the blades revolve they lose some energy as the head into the wind reducing the output."

I KNOW it Really IS..!!
the pictures of the 'eggbeater' are awesome.!!
and 500-kW is a lot of power..

williB · 14th December 2004, 11:18 PM

these Savonius wind generators have a lot of torque , for their size..
the one in this pdf.
http://www.re-energy.ca/pdf/cp1.pdf
currently i have one attached to a small motor/generator..
mounted directly to the motor shaft.
problem is it doesnt spin fast enough..i may have to gear it..
i am getting 1.1 Volts out of it .. when it is in front of a fan..
if i use gears i can increase the speed of the generator although this really complicates the design ..

williB · 15th December 2004, 05:23 AM

unfortunatly i have no experience with gears..
How should i do it??
i think i want the drive gear ( from the Savonius ) to drive a large gear then drive a gear smaller than the drive .?? does this sound right..???

DirtyLude · 15th December 2004, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by williB

unfortunatly i have no experience with gears..
How should i do it??
i think i want the drive gear ( from the Savonius ) to drive a large gear then drive a gear smaller than the drive .?? does this sound right..???

You'd have to show us a picture of the design. It doesn't sound like you made one exactly like the PDF shows. The easiest thing to do would be to use a pulley and belt. Make a larger wheel on the fan and a smaller on the motor. Run a rubber 'belt' between them. That's the easiest way, but it's prone to failure in the long run. I don't know what lifespan you want, but belts tend to slip and get loose, and don't like being exposed to the elements very much.

If you want some decent gears, I got a bunch from All Electronics. http://www.allelectronics.com Go to 'gears' from the main menu, and 'SET OF 5 GEARS AND BUSHINGS'. 5 sets of the assorted gears or $10.00, and they come with adapters.

Anybody making a bigger one of these, I saw a 'How it's Made' show on commercial wind generaters and they were using modified car alternators, which are more efficient then a generator. I would think you could get a smaller version out of a motorcycle or scooter for a smaller turbine. It would still have to be much larger than the project one shown in the PDF.

williB · 15th December 2004, 05:25 PM

Mark you're right i didnt use their design exactly..
below are pics of what i did..
this one is the Savonius wind collector part..

williB · 15th December 2004, 05:40 PM

this one is a close up of how i connected the motor /generator to the Savonius wind collector..that plate (with the screw at either end) above the motor is galvanized sheet metal..what you cant see is the connection of the plate to the nylon pulley connected to the motor shaft..
i had to drill and tap two small screws to hold the plate ..

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13th December 2004, 07:10 AM	(permalink)
Vaibhav Birit	Wind energy to electric energy i want to use non conventional energy source such as Wind energy to charge my Ni-Cad batteries. Can anyone provide me with an elegant circuit with good explanation for doing the same __________________ www.vaibhavbirit.bravehost.com

13th December 2004, 04:02 PM	(permalink)
williB	If you can get the correct Shape of Propeller.. hooking it to a small dc motor should give you plenty of current to charge your NiCd batteries..

13th December 2004, 06:54 PM	(permalink)
TillEulenspiegel	Actually It would help to know the voltage and amp hour rating for the batteries . As far as a propeller , use the fan blades from a window or bax fan. It's premade and el cheep-o

13th December 2004, 09:52 PM	(permalink)
williB	http://www.re-energy.ca/pdf/cp1.pdf http://www.awea.org/faq/vawt.html

14th December 2004, 03:14 AM	(permalink)
Vaibhav Birit	Thanks WilliB for the excellent pdf suggested. Also thankyou TillEulenspiegel for the info. I will start building one... __________________ www.vaibhavbirit.bravehost.com

14th December 2004, 05:18 AM	(permalink)
Juglenaut	How many batteries are we talking about in series that you want to charge? Using a 540 DC motor or better bearing motors, best would be a brushless motor that is rectified. Motors must be ratio'ed to a gear box or driven directly by a large spur gear and a small pinion gear to be efficient the load form the motor must be as reduced as possible but allow adaquet current and free flowing of the empellers. Just remember that the energy produced by the generator must be higher than that of the unit being charged, other wise it will just be a fan. Most DC motors I play around with need to spin way to fast to be pratical for generators with wind to charge a 7.2 volt battery, individual cell is a different case. I made one out a box fan with a gear the matched to the hub with 4 DC motors, two series in parallel bank with the other two series and some other stuff to make it happen. I found that if closely matched motors work very good for this. This generator produced about 8 volts at 3 amps with a steady 25 Mph wind, it is also good as a DC fan. __________________ Your website has been blocked

14th December 2004, 11:18 PM	(permalink)
williB	these Savonius wind generators have a lot of torque , for their size.. the one in this pdf. http://www.re-energy.ca/pdf/cp1.pdf currently i have one attached to a small motor/generator.. mounted directly to the motor shaft. problem is it doesnt spin fast enough..i may have to gear it.. i am getting 1.1 Volts out of it .. when it is in front of a fan.. if i use gears i can increase the speed of the generator although this really complicates the design ..

15th December 2004, 05:23 AM	(permalink)
williB	unfortunatly i have no experience with gears.. How should i do it?? i think i want the drive gear ( from the Savonius ) to drive a large gear then drive a gear smaller than the drive .?? does this sound right..???