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Forum Index : Windmills : promised pics of the windmills here
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oztules Guru  Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
Well, I finally had to return to the windmills down at the other end of the island. These are the two induction grid tie ones. I finally remembered the camera, and so here they are: First from up the top of the hill: 
The site is about 800 feet up above the surrounding countryside, and the prevailing westerlies. No real attempt has been made to get them very high up, as they don't need any more elevation..... as seen here: 
Here is a telephoto of the bigger one.. it is around 55 feet diameter... I'm not sure as the owner is not sure either... and he built it.... and I ain't gonna measure it either.: 
Another shot of it. The blue tips are the tip flaps that go at right angles in an over speed condition.... very useful adjunct. The walking platform can be clearly seen. 
Here is the little one. it is only 30 odd feet diam. I was fixing this one today. It was in the auto return cable twist electronics. ... fixed. Even in mild winds in which it wouldn't start, if you kick start it with the main contactor, it putted along at 2-8 KW... not bad... thats in about 4-6m/sec messy wind... not coming from the west, but along the ridge top and into it.... not good, or usual wind. 
Here is the control system for one of these things. It is like auto electrical work... you know it's simple, you just can't find where all the wires go because someone used all the same colors.. 
Looks better when it's closed though (means it's fixed) 
There's the owner installing the direction sensor I have just rebuilt. 
and last but not least, here is a very bad pic of a flypast (in our honor of course)... you can just see the 6 planes and the sky trail they are leaving behind. 
Hope that covers it pretty well. ..........oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5119 |
Excellent post Oz, thanks very much. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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SparWeb Senior Member  Joined: 17/04/2008 Location: CanadaPosts: 196 |
Sure looks like you were having fun! Steven T. Fahey |
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| Janne Senior Member Joined: 20/06/2008 Location: FinlandPosts: 121 |
Wow nice pictures, thanks a lot for sharing. Gotta give respect to the guy that built the 55 footer.. It's no small or easy diy project. If at first you don't succeed, try again. My projects |
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| oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
Janne, He is a Danish gentleman. He was interested in windmills in Denmark.... a country which after the oil crisis of the seventies,appears to have became interested in windpower in a big way. So some 25-30 years ago, he decided it was the way of the future, and imported the danish made blades and a control system from that era. He is an engineer, and built the rest from scratch. I suspect he had the first grid tie induction machine in this country decades ago. The little one has been flying for over a quarter of a century now. The odd thing is he knows very little about the aerodynamics/ generator relationships, and not much idea at all about the electrical/electronic bits either, but he managed to build the machines none the less, and build the second switchboard and control systems from the original control circuits he imported.....The Danes must have had good instructions, and he must be a good methodical learner. The reason he does not really know how big the blade diam is... is it seemed unimportant at the time... you buy 60kw blades or whatever, you stick em on a big motor shaft... and you bang it up in the air.....whats to know???? He really was a solo pioneer in this stuff in this country. .....oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
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DaViD Senior Member Joined: 14/01/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 120 |
Really good photos Oz. Your a lucky fellow to get to work on the big machines! Do they generally wire the same or pretty close to the same? If your not living on the edge your taking up to much space! |
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| oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
David, The sky is the limit as to how you wire these things. They essentially all need to have the same basic attributes, but an almost limitless list of possible adjuncts can be added. You need to know the windspeed, direction, power condition (freq, voltage and are all three phases present), shaft RPM... and your good to go. You then need the systems to pull on the brake (under a variety of shut down errors), rotate the yaw, control the twist condition. All of those electromatic modules you see in the picture control a single aspect of it's operation independently. They all have adjustable time constants where applicable and set their internal relays accordingly. Simply series the outputs you need for a particular condition and it's done. In truth, a simple plc controller could do most of it ... but this was done before they were hip.
I probably would not do it this way, but having said that, this thing runs 24/7 for the last 25 years or so...pretty hard to argue with that technology I guess. They are not what I would call big machines, but they mimic the systems of the big ones pretty well as I understand it (different electronics obviously) . ............oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
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fillm Guru Joined: 10/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 730 |
Hi Oz Good to see what someone has independantly done on quite a grand scale and years before any large scale turbines were built in this country , my hat is off to him , one could only guess the amount of power these two have feed out over their life so far.. Do they feed back into the main land grid or just for Flinders Is ? If you get any shots of inside the heads would be interesting .. Phill PhillM ...Oz Wind Engineering..Wind Turbine Kits 500W - 5000W ~ F&P Dual Kits ~ GOE222Blades- Voltage Control Parts ------- Tower kits |
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| oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
Over 400 million watt hrs annually into the island grid ... average of about 50 kwh 24/7 edit if I pluck up the courage I will take some pics up top. I haven't bothered to go up as yet......sooky I know Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
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| Robb Senior Member Joined: 01/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 221 |
I thought you were working on them for the power authoritys. Thats amazing. How have they held up mechanically? Ever thrown blades etc? |
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| oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
Rob, Mechanically they have held up very very well... in fact they have held up very well all round. Recently he replaced the yaw bearing in the little one, and rebalanced the blades on the little one. (they had sticky flap brakes, so he pulled em off and fixed them up... had to re-balance them. Other than that no physical problems at all. This is good as they are in a fierce wind environment down here. Not too shabby for a beginner I must say. ..........oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
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| SparWeb Senior Member Joined: 17/04/2008 Location: CanadaPosts: 196 |
[quote]...he pulled em off and fixed them up... had to re-balance them.[/quote] Considering my technique of blade balancing involves haning the whole thing from the ceiling of my garage and spinning it slowly round and round... How does one go about re-balancing a 30-foot rotor? ...or the 55 foot diameter rotor?? Steven T. Fahey |
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GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127 |
Hi sparweb, it is all about making each blade weigh the same, with the same centre of mass on each blade, and finally making sure the tip to tip distance is the same, if it is possible. This is how I balance my blades. I use 2pak instead of lead to distribute the weight appropriately, as the deficit mass is made up. Hope this helps. Gordon. become more energy aware |
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| oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
I don't know how he did it Stephen. It was done over an extended period, as I know he dropped one when he was re-attaching it,and had to fix it again. He is up at Lightning Ridge on the mainland (few thousand k's away from here) for the next few months, so if I remember when he comes back I shall broach the subject with him. I'm hoping that any problem in the interim.. is electrical/electronic... or I may have to learn to climb. ........oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
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