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Forum Index : Windmills : Blade Design
| Author | Message | ||||
| Alphi Newbie  Joined: 10/04/2007 Location: Posts: 1 |
hey guys i'm new to wind turbine design. ive been reading up on blade designs and the most robust/common design seems to tbe the standard 3 prong with tilted blades.. my question is this.. do you all remember those little hand held windmills you used to get at the fairground/fete/showground that were made from little curled bits of plastic.. children would blow on them for hours watching them spin. from memory they were made from 4 flat peaces of plastic and then curled/folded into little conical shapes to capture the wind and make them spin faster. for some reason I cant remember what they were called.. anyway.. has anyone ever tried to make a wind turbine using this concept.. from memory you had to blow on them from the side to get the maxmimum effect... so im wondering what would happen if instead of blades on one side and a tail on the other.. you had 2 of these little wheels on either side of the alternator. any thoughts ? |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5116 |
Hi Alphi Those little windmills are a basic drag type windmill, and not very efficient. But they were simple to make, and caught the childrens eye, so it didn't matter how efficient they were. The design is also one that would not scale up very easily. As you scale up, the material costs becomes important, so efficient windmill blades become important. But it proves your thinking 
Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| pablodiablo Newbie Joined: 04/07/2007 Location: Posts: 2 |
HI Alphi Those windmills were called pinwheels,Its made from one square cot diagonally from each corner towards the centre, each 2nd corner(from the cut)is looped and "pinned" with a single pin to create the "wheels" spokes. Pablo. |
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