To date...

[makenzie71]

Well it started with this one:




10ft prop spun on a hawk GT axle.  Turned a whopping 100rpm in 45mph wind if there was zero load on her...

That one saw about 3 different blade varieties...including a set of PVC blades, which seemed to work the best, but weight 9lbs a piece.

Then the "big'un" idea was scrapped and I built this:


(probably one of my neatest pictures, too...)

http://www.photoartclub.net/turbine/turbine.mpg

This thing saw a total of 3.1vdc before it was scrapped.  The blades were AMAZING for start-up...a rabbit could fart in it's general direction and start her...but it stalled about 250rpm.  So the blades came off and the wood carving began...

Next he begat:

http://www.photoartclub.net/turbine/turbine2.mpg

Instead of 32" flat aluminum blades we've got 24" carved wood with airfoils.  This thing was great...she wouldn't start up near as easy as the first one, but she never stalled.  As long as the wind was blowing she was producing 1.5~2vdc, and anytime there were gusts voltage would run up to 4~5vdc.  6vdc came in 20+mph gusts.  She was brought down early friday morning because I needed the test bed for another generator.  The night before we saw 40mph gusts and the datalogger registered a top speed of 1150 rpm and 17 some-odd vdc.  At that point my diode blew and all recording stopped.

When I pulled her down I put this bastard up:





When I was designing this thing I thought it would be a great idea...turns out, simply put, that carving good blades for a 10ft rotor out of 2X6's sucks.  They're heavy and the air foils suck ass...and they're not wide enough.  This was the best I saw out of her:

http://www.photoartclub.net/turbine/turbine2.mpg.MPG

Datalogger says that over the weekend she opened up to 10vdc and 101rpm...about 3 hours after I left.  Recordings flat-line about 3 hours after that...chain jumped and bound up, braking the machine.  Took me forever to get the chain unwedged from the sprocket assemblies and I didn' get to see her start again.  I put the other generator back up instead...but with new blades...

What's on her now look a lot like this, but scaled down:



The blades are 36" long, 4" at their widest, and narrow to almost a 1.75" tip.  They start up really easily but I'm not sure about the rpm...they seem to stall at around 300rpm but I may have one loose or something.  The hub they're on sucks ass, too...the shaft isn't centered and you can see it in the pole when the things starts really moving.

The blades pictured above are 48".  Makes for a 106" prop when they're put together and they're going on a permanent magnet alternator I made from a 1/10hp induction motor and some neodymium magnets.  The generator cogs like a bastard but it doesn't interfere with start-up with the 48" blades.  Holding it chest-high in some 20mph wind the thing kicked up to 173~176rpm before I cootered out and turned the blades out of the wind...there's only so much you can do when a 106" prop starts spinning 200+rpm in your hands...mostly pray...

More pics tomorrow.

[CirclesCenter]

Mak you are such a nutter. 

If I'm ever around your neck of the woods i need to see your shop.

[makenzie71]

meh...my shop's not that impressive...I use everyone else's...

[CirclesCenter]

Any man who will hold a 106" turbine in the wind waiting for a blade to come around at 200+ rpms and behead him is alright by me.

[makenzie71]

nah...tips were only moving 50~60mph...

[Jake D]

Have you rigged up a blinky light yet?

[Dr. Love]

Oh, rig up arrays of led's, and make it a huge wind powered POV (persistence of vision) device!  Would look supercool 

[makenzie71]

I've only lit up LED's so far...but nothing too dramatic.

[makenzie71]

36" blades (78" rotor) in the background, 48" blades (103" rotor) in the foreground.

http://www.photoartclub.net/turbine/turbine3.mpg

Sorry for the crappy video quality.  You're looking at 20~25mph gusts...both generators are unloaded.

[Chilly Willy]

Mackenzie,

I don't know if these turbines are for your research, job, or the sheer delightful insanity of it all, but I salute you! 

[CirclesCenter]

Dude, just watch, Mak does some crazy shaZam!. 

He can build f%$king anything. ANYTHING.

[Chilly Willy]

I believe it.  Those photos are amazing.

[makenzie71]

I build nothing...what I do is simply find and assemble the right parts to achieve a specific goal.  People who "build things" are artists and usually homosexual.

[makenzie71]

I've now assembled a 3-phase AC generator.  I'll be lucky if it'll produce more than 12~14v but hey, it works.

[Jake D]

What is your "specific goal" with this one?  You know, don't you, that someone already started using the windmill as an alternate fuel source?

[The Buddha]

You do know that the world is never going to run out of oil right ...
We'll pollute the living daylights out of the warth, but we'll have oil. This is what will happen ... we'll conserve, conserve conserve cos oil costs are high, and hence we'll drill and hit oil where we thought it was un economical to drill, then the opec will get an oil shock in reverse cos oil demand is low (refer back to conservation) and tons of new oil has come online (refer back to striking oil), and they will cut production. That will artifically boost their profits at the same time it will cut into their gross. Of course we'll repeat the cycle.
Essentially we get canada oil on line by 2010 and more gulf of mexico oil in 2015 I think and OPEC is history and petroleum literally will turn into a non fluctuating commodity. China and India are going to start consuming more and drive up demand but I doubt it will affect us because we are not buying middle east oil in that great an amount anyway.
Cool.
Srinath.

[makenzie71]

You do know that the world is never going to run out of oil right ...
We'll pollute the living daylights out of the warth, but we'll have oil. This is what will happen ... we'll conserve, conserve conserve cos oil costs are high, and hence we'll drill and hit oil where we thought it was un economical to drill, then the opec will get an oil shock in reverse cos oil demand is low (refer back to conservation) and tons of new oil has come online (refer back to striking oil), and they will cut production. That will artifically boost their profits at the same time it will cut into their gross. Of course we'll repeat the cycle.
Essentially we get canada oil on line by 2010 and more gulf of mexico oil in 2015 I think and OPEC is history and petroleum literally will turn into a non fluctuating commodity. China and India are going to start consuming more and drive up demand but I doubt it will affect us because we are not buying middle east oil in that great an amount anyway.
Cool.
Srinath.

You have a point, right?

Anyway...the latest concoctions:



This is the smalll induction generator I've built to date.  This thing puts out single phase AC electricity...approximately 18v and 4 amps at 1000rpm.



This is the alrger induction generator I've built...still not big by any standards.  This one puts out 22v and 7 amps at 1000rpm.



Here they are finnished up ready to run.

[makenzie71]

Now I have one that makes 28v at 1000rpm...which means it'll easily make 14v at 500rpm...and it doesn't cog when loaded so there's almost no resistance.  Doesn't produce the kind of amperage I was hoping for, though...

[CirclesCenter]

Sometimes building something is its' own goal.

[yamahonkawazuki]

I've now assembled a 3-phase AC generator.  I'll be lucky if it'll produce more than 12~14v but hey, it works.

perhaps an air powered mc battery charger?