brake system

[Scott Eggers]

Hello, another newbie here. Been looking around here for some time and I enjoy the site.
I'm working on building my first wind turbine but am still crunching numbers on how big to go. But I had a question on a braking system I was thinking about. I have a hub off of an old Amc Rambler I'm using for my bearing for my rotor and was wondering if I could leave the rotor and caliber on it and rig up a hand pump to operate the caliper to stop the turbine when needed and during periods of high winds. Would this be worth it or am I wasting my time with this idea. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Scott,

Welcome to Green Power Talk!
You're not wasting your time at all: There are several commercial turbine designs that use automotive type brakes for stopping and 'parking'. That should work fine. From what you write I gather this is a hydraulic setup (as opposed to a drum brake where you could use the parking-brake cable)? If so, take a look at a (used) motorbike hand brake lever/pump. Might do the job quite nicely.

-RoB-

[Roger Storre]

Scott most disc brakes have some residual drag associated with them. Even with the brake released, one side of the caliper will still be slightly in contact with the brake disc. Jack up your car and try to spin the tire. You will hear the disc dragging. There is no return spring on a disc brake like there are on older style drum brakes. I think it would cost you some efficiency. Roger