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richardson167
Starting Member
United Kingdom
3 Posts |
 Posted - 16/01/2008 : 16:12:52
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Hi All,
A little while ago there was a link in the electronics section of this site to a company who had designed an 'intelligent' wind turbine rectifier that could wait for the turbine to reach a preset voltage before connecting the load. I tried to get hold of one of these, but failed and the link has since been removed.
Does anyone have a simple circuit that could be used for for this? I am only dealing with a 5W device so there are not any high current demands.
Cheers All,
Richardson167
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gotwind
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
936 Posts |
Posted - 16/01/2008 : 16:21:24
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A guy named Graham did propose some control boards for me, but I haven't heard anything from him recently.
http://www.coastelect.com/html/green_power.html
I think the more simple solution is just to connect your turbine to a battery (via a blocking diode if neccesary),it won't draw any current from your turbine until the cut in speed is reached, around 12 volts.
The Futures Green - Getwind of it. |
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ghurd
Junior Member
USA
313 Posts |
Posted - 16/01/2008 : 19:13:38
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Yikes!
Ben,
Did you read his bullet points?
A complete load of bunk, except for people wanting to do it cheap, and that a windmill might not be able to make as much as the user draws. Those fall under the "No Kidding?" section of my files.
The second one even says the the opposite of what you (correctly) stated above!
Richard,
My controller circuit would do what you are asking, however it would need protection from overvoltage if the windmill made 10W when the device only used 5W. Couple easy ways to do that.
A battery would be a very nice way to take care of the problem, like Ben said. Plus if the load took 5W and the windmill was making 10W, the extra 5W would be stored in the battery for use as the wind slowed down.
It is hard to give a decent answer when you don't say what you are trying to do, or what you have to do it with.
G- |
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gotwind
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
936 Posts |
Posted - 16/01/2008 : 20:06:23
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Yes Ghurd.
Agreed, I have learnt a bit more in the past 12 months, this is why I deleted the page and link.
I think he meant well, wind power is just a different field of electronics to what he is used to - gas analysis systems.
The Futures Green - Getwind of it. |
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richardson167
Starting Member
United Kingdom
3 Posts |
Posted - 17/01/2008 : 08:21:13
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Thanks Ben & Ghurd,
I will explain a bit more. I built the small turbine from Ben's plans using a Sturmey Archer dynohub. The position I have sited the turbine in is not great, so I wanted to see if the turbine worked better with a circuit that only connected the load (in this cased a battery) once certain revs had built up. I know from spinning a bike wheel with a dynohub that there is significant drag when the light is on and not when it is turned off (as you would expect).
Given Ben's answer, I think that my circuit must already be doing what I want as the battery won't start to take charge until the volts are higher than the battery voltage.
Thanks for the advice.
R. |
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DENNIS A
Starting Member
United Kingdom
16 Posts |
Posted - 21/01/2008 : 21:14:50
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Hi Richard
How are you doing with your attempt to get over 12 V from your SA generator.
I tested mine in the Lathe using a 2.4 V filament bulb up to 1000 rpm. The maximum voltage achieved was only 7.5.
I do not know how Ben lit up his 12V lamp with its rating of 11 watts and wonder if this was just a very short burst of light.
Dennis |
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ghurd
Junior Member
USA
313 Posts |
Posted - 22/01/2008 : 05:15:50
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A light bulb drains the amps faster as the voltage tries to build.
Try it again, connected to a 5W or 7W 220V night light bulb.
The volts will be a lot higher.
G- |
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richardson167
Starting Member
United Kingdom
3 Posts |
Posted - 23/01/2008 : 14:20:14
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Hi Dennis,
You are quite right, from my experience the voltage does not exceed 12V and is therefore insufficient to charge a battery effectively. To combat this I connected two 100 microFarad capacitors on to the rectifier circuit which has the effect of doubling up the voltage. This works fine for me & is cheap & easy. It would be interesting to see others views on this. I can attach the circuit diagram if required.
L. |
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Topic |
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Intelligent Load Turbine Rectifier Circuit
