Turbine Testing Results

Although I did not hook up my volt meter when I did these tests I can tell you what it took to spin the thing. Ok since I couldn't get good winds here in Ohio we decided the best thing to do is to mount the turbine to the car and see what it took to turn it. So she drove and I hung out the window holding the turbine with one hand and holding myself in the car with the other. We reached 40 mph and the damn thing didn't move; there was a lot of resistance but the turbine didn't spin even a little. I think the blades being so short with the resistance of the gear box had something to do with this. So I added a beer can scoop on the end of each blade hoping this would create a kind of rocket thrust effect. Each can is at an estimated 30 deg. from parallel. I cut the top and bottom off and then cut them in half. Along each side I bent down 1/4 inch of the can to add to its strength. Miss Michael suggested that the cans not sit flat on the blades but rather rolled in just a little so that it would catch more wind. So after making these changes we went back out and at 15 mph the blades were spinning she hit 20 mph and I hollered for her to stop as I felt a bit worried for my face hitting those blades which wer now spinning good and fast. So we now have a working wind turbine and hope to work out a better design as we progress. Hopefully we can have a working wind farm on our ranch to help with our energy needs when we are done.

Wind Turbine

Home made wind turbine construction and testing.

Very simple construction, used 6" PVC pipe cut to 3" at hub end and 1" at tip. Sanded it smooth and attached to hub which is nothing more than a coffee can lid. I think I may need something a little stiffer but we will see when we get back to the valley in Aug. The motor is a 18 volt cordless drill with a permanent magnet motor the body of which I will be redoing to use as a protective cover, but i need to seal up the various holes and build a fin for it so it turns into the wind. It is better looking so far than I thought it would be so hopefully the trend continues.

Voltage testing is as follows: Hand cranking the motor produced at most but with little effort 8.36 volts and around 5.76 amps with a resulting 48 watts. Using another drill to turn the motor I was able to produce 18.7 volts at 14 amps giving me 261 watts max.

We haven't got enough wind to test this blade configuration for performace but it turns easily with no resistance so hopefully it works really well.

I have a 40 amp blocking diode to install in the positive line and I am thinking I can run a second turbine through this one diode. I am however unsure of this so if someone knows please leave a comment or email me.

I hope this has been helpful ... Blessed Be

Advertising

I've tagged the truck and ordered a couple of simple items we plan to make available for sale along with the regular output of the farm. Shirts and hats but we can also do many other items and are working on a more complex design as I have a bird for the logo but currently I need to freehand the art because what I have on digital file becomes to blurry as it it gets bigger.

I am considering doing some green construction ie... solar heaters , wind turbines and basic house upgrades including green houses and such for use as heating and cooling. Generally anything to help the community and make a buck. If your interested in a shirt or hat email me and I can offer a couple of designs and let you know how much. of course you could just come visit the ranch after Aug 1st of this year but we are not looking to get ostriches until next spring.

Wind verses Solar

I have acquired the parts to build a small wind turbine to help with our power needs. Don't be fooled into thinking you have to spend a couple of thousand dollars, fact is if your willing to build it yourself its fairly cheap. I haven't built mine yet as I don't have time and I would like to be in the valley to test the blade design against the winds in the valley.
I currently have a 15 volt brushless DC motor from a cordless grinder and a 40 amp blocking diode. Yes that's it for the electronics.
I will need to build or aquire a large gear wheel to use as a reducer so I get proper rpm's and then a windmill. I am thinking of using a canister style blade so it will better handle the valleys' high winds. I am concerned that on a small unit regular blades could snap off. I prob wont get around to working on this until at least a month or so after we arrive in the valley as there is alot of stuff to do. Fortunately we have solar panels to get us through but using the wind will make life alot easier, once its built of course.

Blessed Be

Solar Heater

Well my heater is mostly built I still want to frame it and make it look nice. I used a 2 mil plastic drop to cover the unit instead of plexiglass because its cheaper and it does not seem to affect its performance. Honestly I was worried a bit while I was building it that it would not perform well but praise be. THE THING WORKS. These temps are from a 3 min test; thats it just 3 min, unreal. I don't know why these things aren't all over the place. If anyone has any questions about the unit feel free to email me at michaeltimestwo@yahoo and I will be happy to answer them.