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Wind energy to electric energy

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that ring under the armatures is the laminated steel strips i was talking about , seperated by paper.
Does anyone know if it would work better if i segmented them , one for each armeture?
oh i was testing the generator with a 31 ohm resistor , i think the chain came off and pulled one of the rotor mounts out of the wood base.. or the mount came out of the base then the chain came off..
but its fixed now :)..
that hole to the left of the arms is where i mounted the larger sprocket.. i would have loved to put some steel strips in the center of each arm , but that puts too much stress on the rotor blade and pulls the magnets into the arms..
 

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Looks pretty interesting. If I didnt have so many other projects that I'm working on, I'd think about giving that a try.

Like Nigel said, it's pretty interesting to see your progress. :)



oh yeah and congrats on your 100'th post in this thread :D
 
this time i measured the test resistance , including the ammeter..
according to the graph , somewhere between 13 & 14.7 ohms is where i will get maximum power ..

Although i am not sure why ??
Maybe somone familiar with power generation can answer..??
i would have thought that a resistance equal the source's internal resistance would yeald maximum power ..
the resistance of all the armatures together is 1.9 to 2.0 ohms...
All eight arms are connected in series , since each magnet pair, passes over an armeture at the same time..
it must have something to do with the diode bridge ..

the second pic is the current setup with a door knob mounted for easier turning..
 

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williB said:
this time i measured the test resistance , including the ammeter..
according to the graph , somewhere between 13 & 14.7 ohms is where i will get maximum power ..

Although i am not sure why ??
Maybe somone familiar with power generation can answer..??
i would have thought that a resistance equal the source's internal resistance would yeald maximum power ..
the resistance of all the armatures together is 1.9 to 2.0 ohms...

The generator outputs AC, so it's probably it's impedance which is about 14 ohms (impedance of a coil will be higher than it's DC resistance).
 
thats nice !..
it must have a feromagnetic core inside each armature..
 

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I have been thinking about the savonius again lately..
let me run this by you..
say you live in a building where you dont really have a lawn on which to install your wind generator .. i live upstairs in a two story condo.anyway, i think the savonius would be perfect, because it is designed to spin horizontally to the ground ..what if you attach it to the side of your building as in the picture..or out your window.. this way whichever way the wind is going past your generator it will turn..
Barring any building codes or any bs like that ,this is just hypothetical..
i made an anemometer last night with an attached wind direction indicator the wind is generally from the north at the moment but sometimes it comes from the ground, like the arrows indicate ..
with bearings on the top of the savonius , it just might work..
 

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The motor that is shown above looks to me like the stepper motor off a fisher paykel washing machine. Now in the current issue of siliconchip there is an article showing how to modify this motor for use as a wind generator. I'm looking in all the salvage yards around town looking for 1 but no luck so far :(

Cheers Bryan1 :D
 
williB said:
I have been thinking about the savonius again lately..
let me run this by you..
say you live in a building where you dont really have a lawn on which to install your wind generator .. i live upstairs in a two story condo.anyway, i think the savonius would be perfect, because it is designed to spin horizontally to the ground ..what if you attach it to the side of your building as in the picture..or out your window.. this way whichever way the wind is going past your generator it will turn..
Barring any building codes or any bs like that ,this is just hypothetical..
i made an anemometer last night with an attached wind direction indicator the wind is generally from the north at the moment but sometimes it comes from the ground, like the arrows indicate ..
with bearings on the top of the savonius , it just might work..

I thought it was designed to spin vertically?, so it doesn't require steering into the wind?. Mounting it on a wall like that will severely restrict the wind direction it can pickup.
 
It is usually mounted vertically , and usually spins horizontally , BUT since a wall is vertical the way the wind passes by a wall , if the savoniusis mounted on the wall it will be just like it is mounted on the ground..
 
williB said:
It is usually mounted vertically , and usually spins horizontally , BUT since a wall is vertical the way the wind passes by a wall , if the savoniusis mounted on the wall it will be just like it is mounted on the ground..

Only when the wind is in the right direction!, I meant mounted vertically in my previous reply - when it can receive wind from any direction.

If you mount it horizontally on a wall it can only receive wind from two directions, severely restricting it's operational range.
 
Whichever way the wind is blowing , up , down , right , left , it will spin..
If it is mounted like the picture..
 
williB said:
Whichever way the wind is blowing , up , down , right , left , it will spin..
If it is mounted like the picture..

But wind doesn't come from UP and DOWN, it comes from North, South, East or West (or anywhere in between).

With it mounted horizontally it will only collect wind from two opposing angles - the whole idea of this type of wind collector is that it collects wind from any direction - which requires it mounting vertically.
 
yes it does come from , up ,down when you live on the second floor, granted the strongest gusts today , are comming from the north , all i am saying is that when the wind hits the side a building it is likely to
A) travel parallel to the ground..
B) move up the building ..
C) move down the building..
 
williB said:
yes it does come from , up ,down when you live on the second floor, granted the strongest gusts today , are comming from the north , all i am saying is that when the wind hits the side a building it is likely to
A) travel parallel to the ground..
B) move up the building ..
C) move down the building..

I don't think it's going to collect anywhere near as much as with it mounted vertically, as designed.
 
You cant see it but i have a hall effect switch attached to the base , and a magnet attached to the inside of central can..
essentially it a tuna can anemometer with a cheap radio shack motor (rotor) as the main shaft , sticking out the top and the plastic " bearing " as the bearing..
total cost $ 0.0 .. LOL
 

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