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Forum Index : Windmills : Newbie in need of suggestions...
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rustybucket Newbie  Joined: 24/05/2008 Location: United StatesPosts: 4 |
Hello All!! Been snooping around for a little while now finally figured I'd stop for a while and chat. My name's rusty and I'm from the Southeastern United States, Southern Georgia to be exact, lots of farm fields and swampland 
Anyways,.... so I've been working on my DIY windmill now for a couple of weeks. I came up with a pretty neat idea for a vertical axis windmill so I've been pursuing that idea. Now before everybody jumps the gun and tells me how much better horizontal is than vertical please know that I understand this. However in my area (in the city) gusty winds are much more prevalent than steady directional winds. Plus I like to tinker outside the box when I do projects such as this. So, I've built my first vertical propeller, or whatever you would call it in vertical and have mounted it sans motor in my girlfriends backyard supported simply on a bearing. In average gusty conditions I'm getting roughly 60-120 rpms but the torque is pretty impressive. With a good gust I can't manually stop the shaft with hand. So that being said I know I'm probably going to need to gear up the motor. One issue that I'm facing is how to do this and how much to do it by.... I believe I've developed a nice testing method employing (for testing only) the sprocket gearing system on a 10 speed bicycle. I took the ziz wheel to the bike last night extracting the parts I needed! So with this I should be able to test various ratios and find what works best in my area with little to no expense. Once the ratio is determined I will invest in a gear box.
Ok, so now onto the motor/generator. I purchased a Ametek 38 on ebay to 'play' with. It will be my 'experiment/test' motor ;). But as I'm sure most of you are aware this stuff is pretty addictive..... and I'm ready to pull the trigger on the motor for my next larger windmill. I'd really like to get somewhere in the 1kw range if possible. From my research it really seems like the 99v Ametek would be the best fit for my application but not only are they almost impossible to find, they fetch a premium price when they are sold. My second look is at the Fisher & Paykel motors but I haven't really been able to put my hands/eyes on any specs for these.... anybody have any spec links/info they would like to share? I'm also open to any suggestions for generators/motors in the 1kw range. Any advice or guidance will be GREATLY appreciated. I hope to snap some photos this weekend of the project to share here and get some input! My first prototype is 3' tall and 2' wide and is all aluminum construction. |
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| KiwiJohn Guru  Joined: 01/12/2005 Location: New ZealandPosts: 691 |
Welcome to the forum Mr Bucket. I think all you need to know about the F&Ps is available right here on this site! The bike chain is a good way to go if you want to do some experimenting and besides you can even change the ratios while it is running!  Bits are cheap too especially if you get them from the dump!
As a general principle every stage of gearing consumes power so a generator that runs as close as possible to your rotor RPM has to be a favourite for investigation. If you want 1Kw or so at 1-200 RPM I doubt you could do better than doubled up F&Ps! |
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| rustybucket Newbie Joined: 24/05/2008 Location: United StatesPosts: 4 |
Doubled up F&P's..... wow! never thought of that!! Just to be sure I'm understanding... you're suggesting two F&P's for one propeller? |
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| KiwiJohn Guru Joined: 01/12/2005 Location: New ZealandPosts: 691 |
Yes, that was what came to mind for me, two F&Ps on one propeller. You will find an example or two on this site. I hope someone else comes along with some advice as I really dont have much experience (except reading this site  )! |
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Gill Senior Member  Joined: 11/11/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 669 |
G'day rustybucket, (where the hell did you get that name??) Good to meet you. 1kw is starting to get a bit serious, though I'm wondering if a 3' x 2' VAWT is up to it? For 1kw you'd need as kiwijohn suggests, duel F&P's. Perhaps the best site for F&P specs is the ecoinnovation site here. Another popular generator around that capacity and up(and very popular in the US) is the Axial Flux generator. Perhaps the site most suitable for this one is Hugh Piggot here or Otherpower/Windstuffnow at this one. Check those out and see what you think.  was working fine... til the smoke got out. Cheers Gill _Cairns, FNQ |
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| rustybucket Newbie Joined: 24/05/2008 Location: United StatesPosts: 4 |
Gill, rustybucket... hmmm... well, my name's Rusty, not sure where the bucket came from....
The 3'x2' VAWT is definitely not going up to the 1kw range, it's just a little prototype that was mainly for R&D purposes, I'll be hooking the Ametek up to it in the next few weeks to 'play' with . The 1kw version will most likely be closer to 9' x 4' from my calculations and estimates.
I like the Axial Flux generator... will definitely have to look into that in greater detail... hmmm... interesting.. I like the fact that I can DIY them. Are the only detailed plans available in Hugh's book, or are they available online somewhere? |
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| Gill Senior Member Joined: 11/11/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 669 |
OK rusty, Seems like I left one out. Perhaps the one you need. Otherpower.com and it's forum Fieldlines are top value for DIY Axial Flux wind generators.Otherpower, Fieldlines Have fun. was working fine... til the smoke got out. Cheers Gill _Cairns, FNQ |
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| rustybucket Newbie Joined: 24/05/2008 Location: United StatesPosts: 4 |
Great links Gill. Just ordered Hugh's book! The more I look into it the more the Axial Flux looks like the best route for me. |
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