Wind energy to electric energy

[williB]

These are some pics of today.

 

[williB]

More pics..
The dial indicator came in handy to level out the height of the arms.
But still the one in the back is touching a little bit , GRRRRR ..

 

[williB]

Ok i'm getting at least 30 V p-p no load .
the wave looks similiar to the one above .. just bigger..
hmmm , not really sinusoidal .. i had a nice sine wave before..
oh well .. :roll:
late last night i put the sanonius wind turbine on top of the permenent magnet generator .. and discovered ..I need a BIGGER wind collector..lol
my 2 gal bucket isnt cuttin it..
the reason is , when i put a load on the generator it slows down too much
on the bright side i was able to light a mini mag light bulb with wind power from a fan .. :!:
i hooked it up right to the raw output of the generator it was really cool the way it was frickering ..

 

[williB]

Got some data here
Spinning the generator by hand ( with a pen stuck in one of the holes )
and four 1N 4001 diodes in a bridge rectifer setup..

with no load V = 13-14 V..
with 12 ohms load V= 1.23 v , A = 0.24 A
with 3.3 ohms load V= 0.62v , A = 0.36 A
with 1.3 ohms load V= 0.37v , A = 0.502 A ( just the meter)
spinning it as fast as i could with just the meter i got 0.6 A ..

 

[williB]

I think i am finally able to answer the origional question..
Yes ..
the generator will indeed charge Rechargeable Batteries ( with not too much effort either !!
just hooked two NiMH batteries in series , and as soon as it started turning it started charging them..
Rest voltage on the two batteries = 2.61 V
i was able to get the voltage up to 2.82 V @ 200 mA ..
so yes it can be done..just need a larger wind turbine.

 

[Vaibhav Birit]

Well done,
Nice work, now just do some thinking into how it will spin by natural wind. That will be marvellous.

 

[williB]

Vaibhav glad to see you .. i thought at first that you got hit by the tsunami but after looking at map i saw that you were on the west coast....
i believe that it WILL charge , by natural wind , because as soon as it started spinning , it started charging ..so even at very slow speed it will charge.. ..maybe you (or i ) would be better off with the propeller type ..
although i really dont have the room for a 8 to 10 foot dia. propeller blade..

 

[williB]

things that i would like to try next ..
1) make the armatures smaller , i origionally designed them for the much larger Home Depot Magnets .. i figure a little bit thinner , and not as wide , about as wide as the magnets 1/2 " would be better.. and i can shave 1/2 " off the length.. this will give me more area for the flux to cut through.. also i found a chunk of laminate that i can use to check to see if it would work better than no laminate..
2) although the saw blade works very well it unfortunatly does flex a little bit , a few thousandths of an inch , if the 10" diameter one is thicker that would be a better choice..

 

[williB]

i found this interresting concept, while looking around ..

http://www.speakerfactory.net/wind.htm
http://www.speakerfactory.net/wind954c.jpg

Doug produces these in much larger versions up to 6 KW , Wow !!

This caption is under the picture.
"The car headlight at Doug's feet is 50 watts The rotor size is only fourteen inches! Wind speed in the 20's mph (more rotors produce more power)"

 

[williB]

The 5 gallon bucket i tried actually works :lol: ..
It is charging two 1.2 V NiMH Batteries at this moment..

I have also been experimenting with a savonius shroud which funnels the incomming wind into the cup part of the collector and blocks the wind from the convex part of the collector..

 

[williB]

well here it is with the used 5 gal bucket.. You might not be able to see but i have the armatures connected with alligater clips , i suppose i should solder them..
the bucket is connected to the plexiglass with a screw ,as seen in the second picture , i still have to put a bead of hot glue around the bottom of the bucket..
the 5 gal. bucket is connected to the home depot saw blade..
under the blade is the magnets , then the armatures , then the base..

 

[williB]

It seems to have a maximum speed of 128 RPMs .. because i have a three speed fan and the speed of it doesnt change much from low to high under no load conditions..If i gear it down by half , of course i would have to change alot.. but if i do gear it down by half then i could maybe get 64 RPMs out of it.. i guess i just need more power , if i had a lot more power then i could gear it up instead of down..
Also i've had to lower the armatures on the base , away from the magnets because the rotor flexes at high speed.. maybe if i use an automobile brake rotor then i could keep the magnets as close to the armatures as i want .. then i could put another set of magnets on top and another set of armetures on top of that...if i only had more torque.

 

[Vaibhav Birit]

i found this interresting concept, while looking around ..

http://www.speakerfactory.net/wind.htm

Doug produces these in much larger versions up to 6 KW , Wow !!

This caption is under the picture.
"The car headlight at Doug's feet is 50 watts The rotor size is only fourteen inches! Wind speed in the 20's mph (more rotors produce more power)"

This is also very interesting. Here all the propellors are driving one common shaft. and power output is wholesome.

 

[williB]

ya its awesome too :wink: tommorrow i am going to finish hooking the generator to a bicycle sprocket set to find out how much power it can produce .
i've allready lit an 1157 auto taillight bulb with it..!
it wasnt at full brightness yet , but it was glowing pretty good, which was amazing for something that I built..
As you can see i have not put a handle on it yet , nor have i mounted the larger sprocket..
but i figure with the 2:1 ratio i should be able to get a lot more power from it, maybe even light the bulb to full brightness..
spinning it by hand is fairly easy even when powering the light bulb , in fact i cant physically spin it any faster, not because of the torque required but it gets to a point where you just cant spin it any faster.. Hence the 2:1 sprocket setup..

 

[williB]

All i can say is WOW !!
here are the stats
peak no load voltage was 35 V , i couldent get the whole peak to peak wave on the scope !! my max is 5V per division..therefore i was getting 70 V peak to peak AC ..
i noticed that once the bulb started to light it got easier to crank, as i would expect..because as it heats up the resistance goes up therefore making it easier to turn..
loaded voltage & current :
through the 1157 bulb .. 15 v Peak @ 337mA .. I guess it wasnt at full brightness , but it got pretty bright..

 

[williB]

I just increased the current by adding a laminated steel ring around the inside ..I wish the rotor/saw blade didnt bend , but it does , very dissapointing.. i have a auto brake rotor :wink: around here somewhere ?? that is what they use on the otherpower site ..
i just got over 340 mA without the gearing a nice improvement..tomorrow i will test it , with the gears..

 

[williB]

ok i just connected the generator directly to an Ammeter with 0.7 ohms resistance..
Said meter was reading 1200mA max !! Yes over an Amp !! wow

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

ok i just connected the generator directly to an Ammeter with 0.7 ohms resistance..
Said meter was reading 1200mA max !! Yes over an Amp !! wow

You will get maximum voltage with no load, and maximum current directly into a meter (like you just have).

The trick now is to find the optimum point that provides maximum POWER, which will be the most efficient use of the generator.

BTW, interesting thread - I know there's not many replies to it (nor any needed), but I enjoy reading how you are getting on!.

 

[williB]

thanks !!

i forgot to add that i it was 0.61 V at 1100 mA ..
hmm only 0.671 Watts .. the amount of energy i was putting into it , i was hoping that it was more.. i could only keep it over an amp for about 30 seconds..

 

[williB]

great suggestion Nigel !!
stats ::

ohms      Volts  Amps   Power
1         1.26  1.22     1.533 W
6         5.4   0.92     4.97  W
10        7.7   0.7      5.39   W
11        8.03  0.799    6.42  W