Jeff Birkle
24th May 2009, 15:17
Hi all.
Here is a wind turbine that I built and installed last week at a friend’s off-grid cottage.
The turbine rotor is 11’6” in diameter.
The tower is currently 60 feet tall. 3-20’ 2.5” sch 40 water pipe. 2 pipe couplers with 4- 3/16” guy wires, and 1 top stabilizer coupler with 4-1/4” guy wires.
The jin pole is 42 feet. 2-21’ 2.5” sch 40 water pipe.
The 4 guy anchors are 45' from the base.
The alternator is an axial flux design. It has 2 steel magnet rotors on which 12 neo magnets ( 2”X1”X.500”) are installed per rotor, for a total of 24 magnets. The stator has 9 coils wired in star for 3-phase output.
The main body of this design is made of steel, and the total weigh is about 92 pounds all together. This turbine goes up very easily on this currently 60 foot tower with a 42 foot jin pole, however I will be adding a 21 foot section to the tower making it 81 feet high. The extra tower height with a 42 foot jin pole and a 92 pound turbine does not go up so easily (The jin pole flex’s to a point where it may bend). All future turbine parts except the rotors will be made from aluminum and should reduce the weight down to 65 pounds. That may not sound that much, but at the end of such a long main pole, the weight exponentially increases on the jin pole and lifting device.
The blades where ordered from the US. Although they where cheap in price, they did not come with any UV protection, so they have to be sanded with 240 grit paper and spray painted with some sort of enamel. I am also not sure on their performance, as my wood blades seem to have more output. In the coming weeks I will be installing 2 identical turbines side by side, and do some blade testing. I have visited a large local fiberglass production shop, and they are willing to work with me on making my own blades (if need be). They have indicated that the product would be of higher quality, lighter and much better without the leading edge parting seams. With the better quality and performance the price would also be much higher than the ones from the US. I am also looking at making the blades from aluminum. They would be more environmentally friendly (it’s recyclable material), as opposed to fiberglass (which is not).
This installation site is very rocky with different anchor level heights. It also has some obstructing trees for the tower erection process that I do not want to remove (I feel that we are doing alternative-renewable energy to preserve the environment, not destroy it, and will take extra steps to do just that). Some of the side guy wires have 2 different anchor points. The 1st for the erection process, then they must be removed and installed in the 2nd final anchor point, one by one.
As things go, the wind dropped off as soon as the turbine went up. But the next 2 days had some good light winds and the turbine output was peaking at around 460 watts, with an average of about 150 watts.
I will be installing some testing equipment and a watt-hour meter over the next few weeks and will update the post as I acquire some more data.
Hope some of this info is useful.
Have a good one :)
Jeff
Here is a wind turbine that I built and installed last week at a friend’s off-grid cottage.
The turbine rotor is 11’6” in diameter.
The tower is currently 60 feet tall. 3-20’ 2.5” sch 40 water pipe. 2 pipe couplers with 4- 3/16” guy wires, and 1 top stabilizer coupler with 4-1/4” guy wires.
The jin pole is 42 feet. 2-21’ 2.5” sch 40 water pipe.
The 4 guy anchors are 45' from the base.
The alternator is an axial flux design. It has 2 steel magnet rotors on which 12 neo magnets ( 2”X1”X.500”) are installed per rotor, for a total of 24 magnets. The stator has 9 coils wired in star for 3-phase output.
The main body of this design is made of steel, and the total weigh is about 92 pounds all together. This turbine goes up very easily on this currently 60 foot tower with a 42 foot jin pole, however I will be adding a 21 foot section to the tower making it 81 feet high. The extra tower height with a 42 foot jin pole and a 92 pound turbine does not go up so easily (The jin pole flex’s to a point where it may bend). All future turbine parts except the rotors will be made from aluminum and should reduce the weight down to 65 pounds. That may not sound that much, but at the end of such a long main pole, the weight exponentially increases on the jin pole and lifting device.
The blades where ordered from the US. Although they where cheap in price, they did not come with any UV protection, so they have to be sanded with 240 grit paper and spray painted with some sort of enamel. I am also not sure on their performance, as my wood blades seem to have more output. In the coming weeks I will be installing 2 identical turbines side by side, and do some blade testing. I have visited a large local fiberglass production shop, and they are willing to work with me on making my own blades (if need be). They have indicated that the product would be of higher quality, lighter and much better without the leading edge parting seams. With the better quality and performance the price would also be much higher than the ones from the US. I am also looking at making the blades from aluminum. They would be more environmentally friendly (it’s recyclable material), as opposed to fiberglass (which is not).
This installation site is very rocky with different anchor level heights. It also has some obstructing trees for the tower erection process that I do not want to remove (I feel that we are doing alternative-renewable energy to preserve the environment, not destroy it, and will take extra steps to do just that). Some of the side guy wires have 2 different anchor points. The 1st for the erection process, then they must be removed and installed in the 2nd final anchor point, one by one.
As things go, the wind dropped off as soon as the turbine went up. But the next 2 days had some good light winds and the turbine output was peaking at around 460 watts, with an average of about 150 watts.
I will be installing some testing equipment and a watt-hour meter over the next few weeks and will update the post as I acquire some more data.
Hope some of this info is useful.
Have a good one :)
Jeff