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Sundowner
Starting Member
Ireland
45 Posts |
Posted - 21/02/2008 : 12:32:13
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Hello to all the members of gotwind.....I've been reading a while and am impressed with all the knowledge.
I built my first turbine with a sturmey dynamo 28 years ago, but could never figure out why it always blew the bulbs in moderate wind.
I've never lost the fascination I had for wind turbines and the current interest in turbines has me enthralled.
My electronics knowledge is limited but I'm eager to learn more.
I have made contact with a company that makes permanent magnet motors to order the first one may be expensive but if its designed to order and other people can avail of the same thing it would be worth the initial investment.
My question to those of you in the know is what kind of spec should I be looking for... RPM Voltage amps etc etc and what is the best shaft size.
Looking forward to some helpful imput.
Sundowner
Sundowner |
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Del
Junior Member
United Kingdom
361 Posts |
Posted - 21/02/2008 : 16:27:41
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Hi Sundowner,
Welcome to the forum.
I think you need to decide first what you want to use the output for. To charge a small battery to power a light in your shed or to power your whole house? Then look that what kind of wind you have in terms of it being clean wind (not turbulant from nearby buildings and trees etc) and the windspeed. Once you have these defined you can being to look at potential generators or having one built. General advice is the most volts and amps for the least rpm but you have to match your circumstances: are you going to grid tie? Do you only want to spend £100? What's your battery bank like? Will you be using an inverter? Will you be having solar pv inpuits? Would something available off the shelf be suitable for you? Lots to consider. As regards shaft size - some generators are mounted on their threaded shaft and the generator spins (Futurenergy type) with the blades attached to the generator. Hope this helps.
Cheers
Del. |
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Sundowner
Starting Member
Ireland
45 Posts |
Posted - 21/02/2008 : 18:07:37
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Hi Del,
Thanks for the response.
I have a 8 acre site in a mountain location.
The site is off grid and it would cost me in the region of 7 to 10 thousand euro to bring electricity to the location.
What I'm looking to do is firstly set up a test location.
I intend putting a mobile home on the site before I build.
I would like to run the mobile home off grid and generate enough power to run lights, tv, fridge dvd player etc etc( not all at the same time).
I know I'm looking at a battery bank situation which isn't a problem as I reckon I can get a couple of forklift or large track machine batteries for free.
I guess my basic question was what would be the best type of permanent magnet motor for me to source to build my own generator.
I'm not interested in building from scratch just yet as I don't have a proper workshop.
I have made contact with a motor manafacturer and they say they will custom build a motor for me if I can supply them with the spec I need.
I could provide them with the data from an amtek motor but I figured that most of you guys on here have tried and tested various motors over the past few years.
The supplier assures me that if he builds the motor(or modifies an existing design) that he will make the motor available to other end users.
I don't see cost of the motor as being a factor as whatever I do its going to be far cheaper than paying for a grid connection.
I could buy a ready built turbine from the various suppliers, but where would be the fun and personal satisfaction in that.
still looking for advice and input.
Sundowner.
Sundowner....huh.........thats what they call us.......Sundowners |
Edited by - Sundowner on 21/02/2008 18:12:56 |
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Del
Junior Member
United Kingdom
361 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2008 : 17:07:52
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Hi Sundowner,
Sorry not to have replied until now. Sounds like a great location you have there. I think your next step is to calculate the power you'll need from multiplying the wattage consumption by the hours each unit will be used for. This should be fine for lights, tv, dvd etc but you'll probabaly have to use a plug in power meter to calculate the power requirement of your fridge. Once you know how much power you're going to need you can work out what kind of output you're going to need from your turbine. Obviously your turbine is not going to be running at full chat all day so bear that in mind and I'd supplement your wind power with solar perhaps and maybe a small generator as a standby measure. You're also going to to need an inverter. Most of the things you mention don't take much power but the fridge may need a glut of power on startup so a small inverter may not do what you need. Modified sine inverters are more efficient and certainly cheaper but do give a bit of buzz and interferance on some audio visual items of equipment, so some people opt for a pure sine inverter to use with such equipment. If you need anything more it may be best to ask via a normal forum thread rather than this 'sticky' FAQ page.
Cheers
Del. |
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FAQ page - help please
