Wind Turbine Project

25/12/2011

I suspect I may be getting bombarded with questions regarding this project & I will try & answer your questions as soon as I can but if I get swamped this may not be possible.

12 Comments

Bob

2/4/2012 01:26:16 am

Looking at your Stirling engine will it drive a small alternator?

Ian link

2/4/2012 02:01:25 am

Hi Bob
Yes, it can drive something small as long as the alternator doesn't slow it down, I suspect it would be better to glue magnets on the circumference of the fly wheel ( change the fly wheel from an old tin lid to a larger 4mm MDF one). Then position a copper coil fixed to the ground so that the magnets will pass very close to it. This should provide a few volts and it would be a nice little project for the weekend.

Bob

2/4/2012 03:10:43 am

Cool Ill look forward to seeing it on your website..next week?

Ian link

2/4/2012 03:19:13 am

Ha Ha, by next week you may see it added to the Future Projects page!
Yes it is something I would like to do but it will need some research into what size magnets, how many, and what do I have handy that I can remove a coil from.
All these projects take a lot of research time but I'll see what I can do.
How hard can it be!!

Bob

2/4/2012 03:37:37 am

In the meantime are you going to do some endurance tests to see how long it will last for?

ian link

2/4/2012 03:44:42 am

I sure am, in the next few hours hopefully, I'm currently writing the build instructions and I have just got to the part where I need to write about testing it so it's back down to the workshop to fire it up and write about the best way to start it.
I only made this 1.5 days ago and I have spent most of that time updating the website with the information on how to build it. I've actually only started it twice so I'm still very excited to get back down to tinkering with it. Check the website later today for more info.

Bob

2/4/2012 03:54:01 am

I was having a look at your future projects have you looked at a water powered car? I would bee keen on seeing one of those in operation.

Ian link

2/4/2012 05:11:54 am

I've just added a sterling Engine results page.
What do you have in mind regarding the water powered car? I actually sell some stuff on the website and what tends to happen is that I have to spend half my time making items to replenish what gets sold, especially after spending a few days on that Sterling Engine. So I'm going to get back to some of the boring stuff for the rest of the week. After that I may be able to think about something new, my next project will be the evacuated tube solar water project, I've just picked up some of the galvanised box section so I can start making the tube support frame.

Ray

2/4/2012 07:28:56 am

Yeah water powered car sounds sweet as but would it work? I can give you a 2 stroke engine to try it on?

Mark H

26/4/2012 12:06:00 pm

Hi, thanks for putting the build log for your wind turbine online. Your use of scrap and other bits and pieces is great!

There is something I can't work out about the turbine mount at the top of the pole. How have you prevented it from coming off while still allowing it to turn?

Ian link

26/4/2012 01:26:41 pm

Hi Mark H
Thanks for your comments.
I'm glad you're finding the information helpful, have you started building yet?
It's a great project to get your teeth into.
As for the scaffold pole mount at the top, the weight of the turbine assembly keeps it firmly sat on top. The assembly is extremely heavy, it is a struggle with 2 people to lift it off the top so it will never come off even in extreme weather. Plus it has to be lifted straight up for it to come off which the weather can not do. However if you mount the pole so that the turbine assembly is well balanced on top then it turns around with surprising ease. It actually turned far easier than I had originally thought so I ended up reducing the size of the wind vane to stop it constantly moving.
Good luck with this, mine turbine is still working fine and I haven't come across anything that I would want to change so I would urge you to follow the plans as it is a tried and tested working design.

Mark H

26/4/2012 02:05:39 pm

No haven't started yet. Have washing machine in pieces, been exploring options for the rest of it. The simplicity of as well as the availability and cost of materials certainly makes your design attractive.

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Wind Turbine Project

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