Tuesday, October 13, 2009

How I built an electricity producing wind turbine

How I built an electricity producing wind turbine
Several years ago I bought some remote property in Arizona. I am an astronomer and wanted a place to practice my hobby far away from the terrible light pollution found near cities of any real size. I found a great piece of property. The problem is, it's so remote that there is no electric service available. That's not really a problem. No electricity equals no light pollution. However, it would be nice to have at least a little electricity, since so much of life in the 21st century is dependent on it.

One thing I noticed right away about my property is that most of the time, the wind is blowing. Almost from the moment I bought it, I had the idea of putting up a wind turbine and making some electricity, and later adding some solar panels. This is the story of how I did it. Not with an expensive, store-bought turbine, but with a home-built one that cost hardly anything. If you have some fabricating skills and some electronic know-how, you can build one too. More details on this and my other projects can be found on my web site at http://www.mdpub.com

step 1Acquiring a generator
I started by Googling for information on home-built wind turbines. There are a lot of them out there in an amazing variety of designs and complexities. All of them had five…


step 2Making the blades
Blades and a hub to connect them to were the next order of business. More online research ensued. A lot of people made their own blades by carving them out of wood. That lo…


step 3Building the hub
Next I needed a hub to bolt the blades to and attach to the motor. Rummaging around in my workshop, I found a toothed pulley that fit on the motor shaft, but was a little t…


step 4Building the turbine mounting
Next I needed a mounting for the turbine. Keeping it simple, I opted to just strap the motor to a piece of 2 X 4 wood. The correct length of the wood was computed by the hi…


step 5Build the tower base
For the tower base, I started by cutting a 2 foot diameter disk out of plywood. I made a U shaped assembly out of 1 inch pipe fittings. In the middle of that assembly I put…


step 6Paint all the wood parts
Next, I painted all the wooden parts with a couple of coats of white latex paint I had leftover from another project. I wanted to protect the wood from the weather. This ph…


step 7The finished head of the wind turbine
This photo shows the finished head unit with the blades attached. Is that a thing of beauty or what? It almost looks like I know what I'm doing. I never got a chance to pr…


step 8Build the charge controller
Now That I had all the mechanical parts sorted out, it was time to turn toward the electronic end of the project. A wind power system consists of the wind turbine, one or m…


step 9Erect the tower
At last, all parts of the project were complete. It was all done only a week before my vacation arrived. That was cutting it close. I disassembled the turbine and carefully…


step 10Erect the wind turbine
The first photo shows the turbine head installed on top of the tower. I greased up the pipe on the bottom of the head and slid it into the top of the conduit. It made a gre…


step 11Connect the electronics
The first photo below shows the electronics setup. The battery, inverter, meter and prototype charge controller are all sitting on a plywood board on top of a blue plastic …


step 12Enjoy having power in the middle of nowhere
How sweet it is! I have electricity! Here I have my laptop computer set up and plugged into the power provided by the inverter, which in turn is powered by the wind turbine…


step 13How much did it cost?
So how much did all this cost to build? Well, I saved all the receipts for everything I bought related to this project.Part Origin …


step 14Update
I have completed the rebuild of the charge controller. It is now in a semi-weatherproof enclosure and I have also added a built in voltage meter. Both were bought cheap on …


step 15Update 2
Once again I stayed on my remote property during my recent vacation in Arizona. This time I had both my home-built wind turbine and my home-built solar panel with me. Worki…


164 comments Add Comment

1-50 of 164



Jan 24, 2009. 9:08 AMfatboy106 says:
would a washing machine motor possibly work?

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Jan 25, 2009. 6:04 AMmdavis19 (author) says:
Most washing machines use AC motors, which really don't work as generators. There is an Australian model of washing machine made by Fisher & Paykel that uses a motor that can be converted to a generator, but they are hard to find here in the States.

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Oct 9, 2009. 12:59 PMscorcher says:
what about a motor from a big electric scooter? Heres a pic. The can is just for size comparison. When I slightly turn it with my thumb it generates 2-3 volts. And when at full speed is able to generate 15 volts. But I want the opinion of someone who has done it before. Just to make sure.


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Sep 2, 2009. 4:46 AMkentaro_kung says:
There are some turbines that uses this motor for wind turbines which works quite well.
BTW Fisher & Paykel is New Zealand's

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Sep 4, 2009. 7:18 PMexpidition says:
can a dish washer motor be used?
please reply

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Jun 21, 2009. 9:55 AMgettnerman says:
Could you use a motor from an car window?

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Sep 1, 2009. 3:43 PMjuanvi says:
I have never seen one, but you can use any type of electric motor

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Aug 16, 2009. 11:43 AMgreatscotmagic says:
Would the blades from an electric fan work for the turbine?
Could I reverse engineer an electric fan into a small wind turbine?
Thanks.

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Sep 1, 2009. 3:40 PMjuanvi says:
I dont really know about aeronautics involver, I study mechanics engeneering, and I love planes since I'm 3 years old.
When I was little I realized that the blades used in boats are not the same as the blades used in planes.
he blades of an electric fan are "boat type" blades, and ? think they are designed to move a large quantity of air(large area). On the other hand, thin blades move less air, so they oppose less force to the engine (turbine, motor, whatever that makes them spin).

I think its in a sense like the relation between small and big gears, and their velocity/force relation.

So, "boat" blades need lots of air to move, while thin ones need less air.

If you want the air to move the turbine, use thin ones, as the planes.
If your turbine is small, there was somewhere in the internet a tutorial for doing your own blades, depending on the angle of attack you want them to have and all of that..

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Sep 1, 2009. 2:30 PMmac11irl says:
Im currently building my first turbine. Its only small, using as 30Watt motor from an old washing machine. i have also used some drain pipe for my blades, and housed the the unit snugly inside inside plastic piping.
I have a major aerodynamic problem tho... everytime the wind blows, my turbine rotates so that it is faced out of the wind! i have attached 3 tail fins, and tried turning the blades around, but nothing seems to work! when i hold it into the wind, it will spin wonderfully, giving out about 15volts, but when left to its own it turns out.
Any advice??? please ?
btw, love your set up in this instructable!!

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Sep 1, 2009. 3:22 PMjuanvi says:
maybe the problem is that the part that holds the turbine with the tail is too small. Or maybe that the tail fins are small, look at the one used in this instructable, its pretty big, considering the size of the whole thing.

I don't really know, but i'll think about it

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Jun 4, 2009. 1:05 PMkrish17 says:
will a 3500rpm , 180 V treadmill motor work ??

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Aug 18, 2009. 8:55 PM0087adam says:
If it has a fixed magnet it will

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Aug 11, 2009. 2:59 AMRaydoom says:
i would think so,i am currently in the prosses of using a drill motor +gearing system hopefuly it will work .

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Jan 2, 2009. 11:40 PMAndruha1123 says:
why would u dump electricity? just connect a bulb and have a light or something.

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Aug 18, 2009. 5:17 PMaplavins says:
over charging batteries ruins them, although there could be a better use for the excess.

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Aug 10, 2009. 7:46 AMpoppintool says:
I agree with cornchild! It's been impossible to find plans as thoughtfully and thoroughly laid out as these. Thanks for taking the time to share it with all of us!

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Jul 17, 2009. 7:00 AMhelvetica says:
Hi, would this pulley be something like a lathe hub? I imagine the hub could be quite heavy, but maybe that doesn't matter when rotating?

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May 26, 2009. 5:50 AMwildman29 says:
what about an automotive alternator it can put out up to 100 amp's on the average vechicle . might simplify charge controlling. you would just have to convert voltage . note the alt needs voltage to entice its charge circuit . im gonna build one of these i'll let ya's know how it goes !!

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Jun 28, 2009. 10:06 PMtammasus says:
Have you tried using your alternator already? i also heard about their current output. But when i opened the hood in my car, the alternator has to go fast to output that kind of current and voltage.

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Jun 15, 2009. 1:21 PMpropertydoctor says:
Very nice 'able! One question comes to mind though. Have you had any problem with the wire in the tower chafing on the metal of the tower or twisting up?

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Jun 10, 2009. 5:35 PMjrsy85 says:
I have a motor out of an 18v cordless drill, will that work enough to charge a phone?

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Jun 10, 2009. 5:53 AMrooboy1 says:
just wondering if a german Kaeser compressor motor would work? 980 RPM, 1.1kw or any high voltage compressor motor?

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Jun 2, 2009. 8:32 AMjamer123 says:
it would of been easyer to use a ball bearing to move it around to face the wind

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May 24, 2009. 4:32 AMhelloworld1 says:
hey, if the wind keeps changing direction wont the power cable twist and break? or did i mes read the 'ible

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May 3, 2009. 2:29 PMmaclinfuehr says:
would this motor work?
http://www.drillspot.com/products/45258/Ametek_Rotron_118155-54_Universal_AC_DC_Power_Nozzle_Motor
tell me no is it dose not


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May 22, 2009. 3:25 PMhellow123 says:
No! OK So I try to find a motor with a low RPM and a high voltage. I figure out if it is a good generator by finding the voltage per revolution. To find this dividing the voltage of the motor by the RPM of the motor. This motor has .006 V per RPM. The motor that this guy used is .092 V per RPM which is pretty good.

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May 20, 2009. 12:10 AMakinich says:
hey nice inscrutable 5 out of 5 stars

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May 14, 2009. 7:15 AMchaydgb says:
I love the idea of using poly-pipe for the blades. the amount of time i've spent trying to carve airfoils out of wood (unsuccessfully), this will be much easier.

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May 13, 2009. 3:06 PMcornchild says:
MY HAT OFF TO YOU. IN SEARCHING THE INTERNET FOR PLANS TO BUILD SUCH A DEVICE THERE ARE MANY SCAMS AND PEOPLE WHO WANT YOUR MONEY. I WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD BE WILLING TO HELP OTHERS LIKE YOUR EXAMPLE. I HAVE FOUND THAT BATTERIES FROM ELECTRIC FORK LIFTS LAST FAR LONGER THAN NORMAL LEAD ACID AND SEALED LEAD ACID CAN BE FOUND THAT WILL LAST FOR MANY YEARS. I HAVE A 12 VOLT ONE AND IT HOLDS A CHARGE FOR 2 MONTHS OR MORE WITHOUT RECHARGING AND IT IS AT LEAST 10 YRS OLD

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May 4, 2009. 8:41 PMmaclinfuehr says:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260405113522
any one whant it ?


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May 2, 2009. 9:01 PMmaclinfuehr says:
would this motor work?
http://www.drillspot.com/products/46250/Ametek_Rotron_118154-54_Universal_AC_DC_Power_Nozzle_Motor


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Apr 14, 2009. 10:17 PMrazzor111 says:
where can I get plans to build a inverter and how do I keep the voltage down to 14.5 VDC my generator will put out 35VDC at low RPM

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Apr 17, 2009. 5:52 PMhellow123 says:
What type of generator do you have?
Maybe You could use a massive voltage regulator

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Apr 27, 2009. 9:35 PMrazzor111 says:
Im useing a 99 vt dc 650 rpm motor

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Apr 29, 2009. 6:37 PMhellow123 says:
where did you find that motor!

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May 1, 2009. 12:55 PMrazzor111 says:
on e-bay

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Apr 27, 2009. 8:33 AMDzynGuy says:
HaHaHaHa...That sounds like something I would have done!
Wish I could have been there to see it.

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Apr 18, 2009. 5:39 PMKilsmer says:
i just finished building mine today, its a bit smaller than yours and used a much lower voltage generator. i only had a 6V motor on hand which is quite high rpm so this is more of a prototype for future builds. spinning in about 10-15 mph winds it only produces 1V at 3A :( hopefully my next one will produce more :) thanks for all the help your instructable gave me.
p.s. the same happened to me, the day i put it up, not a breath of wind, and i live in Scotland, usually pretty windy!


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Apr 17, 2009. 5:54 PMhellow123 says:
Does anyone have a charge controller in a pcb program?

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Apr 14, 2009. 6:57 PMspurgco says:
Is there any reason a Volkswagon generator couldn't be used?
The air-cooled 1600 engines had a 12v30A generator.

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Sep 22, 2008. 8:08 PMtitsanonymous says:
what if you use a car alternator

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Sep 27, 2008. 5:10 PMniv says:
Well, with a few alterations you can. See the following YouTube videos for instructions on how. I'm in the process right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=897MdT0E88U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHB4zxWd3Ls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0YxYDnmaO0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s75-lCKKK8g


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Apr 12, 2009. 9:30 PMgetknown says:
Car alternators have a high cut in speed before they start producing electricity. However, you can lower the cut in speed by rewiring the status with thinner wire and it will lower the cut in speed. When I built my generator in high school, the turbine could spin fast enough to power up. Using bicycle gears we had a ratio of 2:1 or something. I guess in low wind it just wont tick over at all. But once it cuts in it really produces alot of power. We chose it over a generator which will start producing once it moves but we wanted to go for max power gen, so the car alternator was the way to go. An auto electrician helped me with rewiring the alternator and even gave me an old alternator free. I think I made it for about $20.

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Sep 27, 2008. 6:14 AMmdavis19 (author) says:
Car alternators need to be turned at pretty high RPMs to produce a useful amount of power. Most wind turbines just don't spin fast enough.

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Sep 23, 2008. 11:54 PMJuCo says:
An alternator's magnet is an electromagnet, so, you'd have to power it for it to generate power. (I'm pretty sure, at least.)

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Sep 25, 2008. 6:56 PMaskjerry says:
Actually not.

The difference between a DC motor (or DC generator) and an alternator is a commutator. An alternator will produce a rising pulse as the motor is turned through 180 degrees, then it will produce a negative pulse through the next 180 degrees... the pulse ALTERNATES (hence the name) each 180 degrees.

A commutator is a set of leads that reverses every 180 degrees... so the output is a series of positive only pulses. If you take an alternator and run the outputs through a full wave bridge rectifier you will accomplish the same thing... only at a 1.4 vdc loss typical. (Diodes have a 0.7 voltage drop... and there are always two in the path of the bridge.)

Jerry

(Yeah... I know... other diodes only have a 0.3 v drop... that's another lesson!)


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Sep 27, 2008. 1:51 AMstatic says:
Actually yes :) like an automotive generator, an automotive Alternator uses an electromagnetic field, that requires power. As others mention the drawback of an automotive alternator is it require a high speed to work well.

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Sep 27, 2008. 6:05 AMaskjerry says:
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternator

I'll give you that an alternator can have power applied until it gets up to rotational speed, but it is not required if you use a relay to switch the load once it has enough output. The current then will come from the alternator it's self.

Quote: Modern automotive alternators have a voltage regulator built into them. The voltage regulator operates by modulating the small field current in order to produce a constant voltage at the stator output. The field current is much smaller than the output current of the alternator; for example, a 70-amp alternator may need only 2 amps of field current. The field current is supplied to the rotor windings by slip rings and brushes. The low current and relatively smooth slip rings ensure greater reliability and longer life than that obtained by a DC generator with its commutator and higher current being passed through its brushes.

This is covered here...

Quote: The field windings are initially supplied via the ignition switch and charge warning light, which is why the light glows when the ignition is on but the engine is not running. Once the engine is running and the alternator is generating, a diode feeds the field current from the alternator main output, thus equalizing the voltage across the warning light which goes out. The wire supplying the field current is often referred to as the "exciter" wire. The drawback of this arrangement is that if the warning light fails or the "exciter" wire is disconnected, no excitation current reaches the alternator field windings and so the alternator, due to low residual magnetism in the rotor will not generate any power. However, some alternators will self-excite when the engine is revved to a certain speed. The driver may check for a faulty exciter-circuit by ensuring that the warning light is glowing with the engine stopped.

I hope this clarifies it a bit.
Jerry


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Sep 26, 2008. 12:24 AMJuCo says:
nice. so, with the right gearing, an alternator could be hooked to a turbine as a generator?

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