| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Del |
Posted - 11/03/2008 : 23:41:27
Evening all,
A few weeks ago I bought a generator from a Rutland wind turbine. It has the product code of WG910 on it which I assume is from the FM910 or 910-3 Furlmatic.
See http://www.marlec.co.uk/products/products.htm
Anyway, it has a four wire output; two thick red wires and two thin yellow wires. I've wired it up to a four bridge rectifier set-up and all works fine as I would expect. Disconnecting the yellow wires seems to do nothing, so is the charge coming from only two wires (phases?)? And if so what are the two thin yellow wires for?
I'm quite looking forward to getting it up in the garden at the weekend. It's producing 13v at around 200rpm.
Cheers
Del. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Del |
Posted - 24/03/2008 : 10:32:12
Yeah you're absolutely right Ghurd, I don't think three blades will transmit the torque required at such low rpm's. I think I was talking crap yesterday. I thought about it an hour later and slapped myself!
Yes it was windy to get the 8A with the other turbine but it needs about 380rpm to cut in and rarely get that much blow in my back garden.
Cheers
Del. |
| ghurd |
Posted - 24/03/2008 : 02:52:06
I don't think 3 blades will do it with 200 RPM cutin.
6 blades will give it more torque for low wind.
Not sure which will be better, I'm just saying try it both ways.
8A with 55mm blades is impressive (and very windy?). I'd keep that one!
G- |
| Del |
Posted - 22/03/2008 : 10:14:55
Thanks Ghurd,
I think I'll have to get back up onto my windy hill with a selection of blade configurations and see what works. I'm actually away from home now for a few days so it'll have to be in a week or so.
My other turbine that I tested at the same time hit 8 amps (probably it's max) within five seconds of putting it into the wind and that had three 50 to 60mm pvc blades cut from 90 degree section. I was very pleased with it's output. So three small/medium blades can transmit that much current.
Ta
Del. |
| ghurd |
Posted - 21/03/2008 : 01:27:46
Might consider making 8 blades (2 extra) at the same time.
I have a feeling 6 blades will do better than 3.
G-
|
| Del |
Posted - 20/03/2008 : 18:28:51
Hi MattM,
I did think about that actually but I thought the flat area would just create a bubble that would divert the air around - like a house I suppose. The wind doesn't really hit your house it flows over it.
Anyway, as we've got some decent wind today I thought I'd take both my little turbines up to an exposed area on a small hill about a mile from where I live where you can see for miles and miles. The Rutland is a 60W unit so 5 amps was the expected output. On the hill it seems happy to put out 1 to 2 amps and when it blew really hard up to four. I tested it for about a minute and we did see 5 amps once, but even though the wind was pretty strong it seems difficult to get it above 2 amps. Ghurd - I think you may have been spot on with your prediction.
My other little turbine (DC motor unit) I'd bench tested and knew it cut in at about 380 rpm and had a max shorted amp output of 9.5 amps. Immediately I put the turbine up on the hill it was constantly putting out between 5 and 8 amps. I was extremely pleased with that but it's still going on ebay tonight as the Rutland will be a better unit for my sheltered back garden with its low cut in.
I think with the Rutland I'm going to get rid of the six blades and bolt on three longer ones (they will fit on my hub design without any modification).
Cheers all.
Del. |
| MattM |
Posted - 20/03/2008 : 03:35:21
You have a nice flat frontal area. I'd recommend extending the blades to the center as close to the middle as possible. This not only give you more blade surface it also moves air off the face whereas now it creates a bubble of slow moving air. The shape of the blade, where you farm airflow on the leading edges of the blade, has a bonus effect when the backside of the next blade hits the airflow and purges it forcibly out around the hub. The faster that air flows through the middle the less air overall that has to move around the turbine.
Go Huskers! |
| super windy |
Posted - 19/03/2008 : 21:49:34
good work there del, I like the look of the unit, keep us informed of the output.
cherrio, and well donne
super windy |
| ghurd |
Posted - 19/03/2008 : 18:24:42
200 RPM is crazy-slow, even for 6 blades at 1 meter dia.
Maybe the resistance will keep it from stalling too bad?
Anyway, I find it bloody interesting.
I am bilingual. I speak broken-English, and American.
G- |
| Del |
Posted - 19/03/2008 : 16:53:12
Ok Ghurd,
Will keep you posted as to the performance data when I get some wind. It's a difficult unit to bench test as it's the unit that spins and not the shaft. I don't think it will stall due to having the six blades, but we'll see.
PS. Jolly impressed you speak metric !!
Cheers
Del. |
| ghurd |
Posted - 19/03/2008 : 16:46:33
Quick math, I think it needs to be about a meter diameter.
G- |
| ghurd |
Posted - 19/03/2008 : 16:33:26
Neat. Reminds me of a ceiling fan conversion, except for not cogging.
If it stalls, make some longer blades. I expect it will stall.
No, I don't know how much longer. I make a lot of blades until one size stands out above the others.
That's why the belt sander gets such a workout.
G- |
| Del |
Posted - 19/03/2008 : 16:24:17
Hi All,
well the Rutland is done and i thought I'd show you what it looks like. I'm quite pleased with it as it's very compact and shold be fine as a small turbine in my back garden.
I've gone for a six blade set up but the blades are only 280mm in length (that's 11 inches for our North American viewers) and cut from 72 degree section of 110mm soil pipe.
The chassis as you can see is very simple and just the top part of a car axle stand with a steel tube welded to it. The Rutland generator slides into the tube section and is retained by three bolts bolted through captive nuts onto 'flats' on the generator shaft. It's just 820mm from front to back and the whole unit slips into the top of a scaffold pole.
I've yet to test it as we have zero wind at the moment, but I'm expecting about a 200rpm cut-in and probabaly no more than 4 amps into a 12v battery. There's no cogging whatsoever so I'm hoping that it will be giving a trickle charge quite a lot of the time in even a light breeze. The unit is also quite heavy so acts like a flywheel so I should hopefully see my ammeter act in a more steady fashion rather than spiking up and down with the gusts, well, that's the theory.
Cheers
Del. |
| daveb |
Posted - 13/03/2008 : 23:00:39
Sorry about that Del what it was i e-mailed a company asking if one of the rutland charge controllers would work with another turbine[ Ametec ]and he gave me that link, your right Marlec are the maufactures theres one thing you now know where to get wind turbine purpose built charge controllers.
Daveb |
| Del |
Posted - 13/03/2008 : 21:09:16
Ghurd - It must just let the unit overspeed as I can't think of any other way it would reduce the power output without shorting the output wires which would stall it and the Rutland manual says it just limits the output to 2 amps via the choke.
Ben - Yes probabaly 910mm in diameter. The unit is similar to the Futurenergy design in that the whole unit spins and is secured by a shaft. The six blades slot into six circular holes (approx 25/30mm diameter and the same in depth) and I think were secured by two screws (one in the front and one in the back. The only way i have of securing the blades is to utilise these holes so I'm making up a little frame and will mount six short pvc blades to the unit. It hits cut-in at 200 rpm so it should be ok for a little garden genny.
Should have it done by sunday so I'll post some pics when it's up.
Cheers all
Del. |
| gotwind |
Posted - 13/03/2008 : 20:15:50
Glad you sorted that out Del,
I thought they might have been sensor wires of some kind, as they were thinner than the main current handling wires.
I suspect the original Rutland 910's relatively short blades, 910mm diameter? were matched to the alternator by Marlec, so I think you will have to make a similar sized prop or buy replacment blades from Marlec directly.
Maybe a DIY 3 Ft PVC 3 blader - pretty easy to make in a day or so, just for testing.
Will be interesting to see the results.
The Futures Green - Getwind of it. |
