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agrifabs
New Member
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
 Posted - 17/12/2007 : 21:56:07
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today i came home from work and started my ametek 38 wind turbine!!! it only took me just under 5 hours! i used a castor from an old industrial fridge (same as tesco trolley one) has anyone else tried one of these?
if i have enough time tomorow then i will try and get it up onto my barn roof to see if she will spin, i made 3no 18" blades, do you think these will be enough?
when my camera comes back from repair then i will take some pictures and post them on, (thats if you want to see it!!!)
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Del
Junior Member
United Kingdom
369 Posts |
Posted - 18/12/2007 : 10:11:16
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Hi agifabs,
Yes I used a castor bearing as a yaw bearing and Ben mentioned that it may not be up to the job. I disputed it at the time but, gulp, in hindsight he may have been right.
It was absolutely fine to start with and very strong and tight but it's worn and I now have some play in the bearing and there's no form of adjustment so I need to build something better.
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agrifabs
New Member
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
Posted - 18/12/2007 : 16:15:37
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| well i was wondering about whether it would be up to it, and if you think about it all those tesco trolley wheels dont come off do they, well i will see how it goes, i have a lathe so perhaps i might design something that uses a bearing, perhaps jonny could start producing them then because he's handy on the lathe |
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gotwind
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
875 Posts |
Posted - 18/12/2007 : 16:21:06
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I think you could maybe drill out the central rivet? and use a bolt and nyloc nut to adjust the bearing play periodically.
Just a thought.
Ben. |
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fungus
Moderator
294 Posts |
Posted - 18/12/2007 : 18:36:40
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| Pipe-over-pipe is more than adequate for swivelling around - you dont want it to be too free turning.If you want to you could machine a bit of nylon or ptfe as a washer. |
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Victor
Junior Member
United Kingdom
392 Posts |
Posted - 18/12/2007 : 21:39:19
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Castor bearing as a yaw bearing looks to me an excellent idea. I was a mobile dj for over 10 years and had a lot of equipment that used these epecially bass bin speakers..
They come in all types of sizes and shapes. They also can take some amount of weight on top of them. However I`d reckon bigger ones would take the strain of a wind turbine. Possible an aluminium tube with a not an bolt would be a good idea and cut down weight. Not sure how heavy the ametek motors are,but I reckon using bigger type of castor from the junk yard will work.
Maybe some constructive testing on this can be done to see how much weight these things can take!!
For the ultimate!! A few shopping trolleys might have the best and biggest ones. :-) |
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Victor
Junior Member
United Kingdom
392 Posts |
Posted - 18/12/2007 : 21:48:12
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Checked your picture again.It seems to work better the way you have it on your photo example.... Mate sayes these typs of wheels are made to take abuse and are robust. I went into my back room and had a look at 6 foot bass bin speakers that are around 20 years old. The speakers use castors and none of them are in bad condition and still work....
My verdict...... large and strong castors can be used for wind turbines.. |
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Del
Junior Member
United Kingdom
369 Posts |
Posted - 19/12/2007 : 10:40:41
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Hi all,
Ben - I was thinking the same thing about drilling out the rivet and replacing with a bolt so the bearing can be kept tight.
Fungus - I think for my next project (the futurenergy one) I will go the pipe over pipe route. Did someone mention using an old plastic mastic tube (the ones you use with the trigger guns) as a slip over bearing of sorts? I think that would work very well if you could get the correct diameter tubes. Very very strong, very simple, easily demountable, and cheap too.
Victor & Agrifabs - The difference with shopping trolleys and the like is that the casters are never subject to any lateral loads only directly vertical. With a wind turbine (even perfectly balanced end to end) the bearing is having to deal with constant loads back and forth and the cups have probabaly bent slightly under the strain. I reckon they would be ok for smaller turbines (the one I had on my first stepper motor turbine was fine) but they are going to need adjustment periodically to take up the slack.
Cheers
Del. |
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agrifabs
New Member
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
Posted - 24/12/2007 : 10:07:32
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good morning all, put my wind turbine up last thursday and the wind has blown about twice in three days - ive been prett disapointed because its normaly so windy up on the small holding, anyways i havent connected me wind turbine to any batteries yet, i just conected it via an old 110v cable straight to a 12v flouresent light,
went up there thismorning and the windis back!!! i cant believe it! that little turbine hasnt stopped all morning!! one thing ive noticed about that light i hooked upto it is that even though the turbine is going for gold the bulb gets to a certain 'brightness' and stays at that - could there bee some kind of 'blocking' diode or something stopping more power than the light needs?
ive got 4 no 6volt 130ah batteries from a scissor lift to hook my turbine up to, but is it safe just to wire it all up? or have i got to have a charge controller? dump load? blocking diode?
i found this on ebay? do i need this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320196694654&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011
i have bought one of these diode things
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120196965612&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=002
i need as much info as possible now to get my ametek charging batteries! theres so many of these controllers and gadgets available i dont know where to start!
i also have a 'bp 13w 12v self regulating solar panel'
can i just hook this up to the same battery bank as my turbine?
merry christmas all of you, and let the wind blow
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ghurd
Junior Member
USA
309 Posts |
Posted - 27/12/2007 : 07:07:28
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By now the flouresent light probably looks and smells like burnt plastic toast.
There are cheaper kits and (IMHO) better controllers. That is an Oatley kit, maybe a K240, though it seems assembled.
Interesting why he found it necessary to photoshop the “Oatley” out of the 'Oatleyelectronics(dot)com' in the photo. Seems a bit "not exactly honest"? Maybe the uncanny similarities are purely coincidental.
http://secure.oatleyelectronics.com//popup_image.php?pID=175&osCsid=d4b30bb178ffc91098246a4c90045e14
That diode is nice, and yes it is needed. Otherwise you have a giant fan blowing air around until the battery is dead.
Connect pins #1 and #3 together, and they go to the windmills positive output (do not use the colors of the motor wires, because it depends on which way the blades spin in the wind). The center pin goes to the battery positive.
The other motor/windmill wire goes straight to the battery negative.
Put it on a nice fat heat sink too. It will get hot.
The "self regulating" panel can be connected straight to the battery bank. It's not large enough to do much to 260AH battery bank, and it won't do much in winter in the UK.
A dump load controller will take care of both at the same time.
G-
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agrifabs
New Member
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
Posted - 28/12/2007 : 20:36:37
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hello ghurd, you where right, the strip light used has blown!! do you think i could use a 24v bulb from a lorry? it would prob light up dim at 12v but at least it will not blow when the wind really blows,
is that charge controller any good for me?
i really need to start charging my batteries, i cant just connect the turbine to the batteries can i?
i have just bought two of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280186854111&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=018
just wondering, these diodes are rated at 30amp, is this based on what the generator will push out or at how much the battery bank is worth (in amps) |
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ghurd
Junior Member
USA
309 Posts |
Posted - 29/12/2007 : 02:55:11
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24V lorry bulb will act like a brake (very hard to get the windmill started turning). If it does manage to get turning in a strong wind, the bulb will pop, then the windmill will overspeed causing who-knows-what problems.
I honestly do not like that controller. Not even a little tiny bit.
I believe it would be very hard on a brushless 3-phase machine.
I think it would be brutal to a brushed single phase (ie: Ametek).
I am not sure of your options for a controller. C40 or a TriStar seems like overkill.
Possibly a young fellow handy with a soldering iron in the UK could be commisioned to assemble one? (a hint to "he knows who he is")
You must have a diode.
Figure out which wire is positive when the windmill is blowing in the wind. It might not be the wire you expect.
The positive wire from the windmill goes to the top of that diode you show. Marked "A" in the diagram. (they are made the other direction too)
The bolt end wire goes to the battery positive.
The negative wire on the windmill goes directly to the battery negative.
Then you will be charging batteries.
30A is the max current it can take. Amps come from the windmill. The battery doesn't matter.
Why the bolt? Because the sucker will get HOT. It MUST be mounted on a heat sink. A big fat piece of aluminum with a hole in the center. You won't have to get rid of too much heat, but you still need a place for it to go. Maybe a 6" Al skillet, or 24" Al level from the $1 store? (Pardon my American) Long thick piece of Al from a broken lawn chair?
G-
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agrifabs
New Member
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
Posted - 29/12/2007 : 19:15:50
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thanks ghurd for your reply, i hope this 'young fellow with a soldering iron would get in touch!!
i understood the wiring part of the diode but i didnt know if i had to match the turbines amp output or the battery 'holding' amperage, i know now thanks to you!!
if i am unable to get hold of a charge controller from this mystery person - is there any wiring diagrams available for a charge controller? i am pretty handy with my hands and am willing to give it ago making one myself,
thanks again
agrifabs |
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ghurd
Junior Member
USA
309 Posts |
Posted - 30/12/2007 : 03:08:33
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There are quite a few DIY plans around. 1,000's.
Some are great, but overkill for a small system. Some are expensive and complex, but not so great. Some are simple but don't work very well.
'Bioelectrifier' (defunct?) had a circuit that was popular over a decade ago. Then Homepower published a circuit that seemed to be a bit hard to work with if there was a problem.
I like mine a lot better for small systems. LOL. Simple. Cheap. Etc. So I mass produced PCBs and bought bits in volume and sell kits. US$12.50 per kit, US$3 S&H per order, even to the UK. It still needs a box, wire, dump load, etc.
Do not expect more than photos... Low priority... And I'm not able to do more myself.
http://ghurd.info/dc.html
Ben, This feels a bit 'wierd'. Zap it if you like. |
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finaly got around to doing my project!!!
