Thanks to my handy new stand, I was able to raise my turbine with ease in a matter of seconds. The base is wide enough to support the turbine, on its own, in slow wind speeds. While the goal is to have the straps for extra support, this provides enough of a temporary foundation until the straps are added.
The new blade configuration was a result of the accident when testing in the yard. The attachment tabs were broken after the incident, but after drilling a few new holes the blades were reassembled. This is my current stage in my wind turbine process, my next goal is to add 3 more blades, (6 total) to the turbine assembly. After the devastating fall after a long period of testing (during tear down), I figured I need to improve my setup and tear down process. My overall goal is to be able to fully set up the turbine by myself within about 10-15 min. With this system, I can attach the turbine assembly on the end of the shaft, and slowly hoist the shaft to its vertical position, while the base stays firmly on the ground.. A simple latch holds the hinged platform assembly in place to ensure stability.
On a sunny day after Track practice, I couldn't wait any longer to raise my first large prototype in my front yard. The testing didn't go as expected. As I raised the turbine, I not only realized that I had set it in an area of wind blockage (from trees and the house), but the wind had also died down tremendously. Nevertheless I waited and watched from my multi meter down below, as the turbine blades struggled to spin in adequate wind speeds. After about two hours, I decided to try again the next day and see what I could do to find a better location.
During tear down, the massive weight of the turbine assembly overcame my control and smashed the blades, the tail, and the tail shaft to pieces. While it was upsetting, I cleaned up the yard, salvaged what I could, and brainstormed a feasible solution to resurrect my design After purchasing a 10 ft. metal conduit, I set out to find a way to stabilize it in hopes of making it my shaft for my turbine. Using some very strong wire I made three loops and wound the slack around the pole. I hooked some inexpensive ratchet straps to the loops and extended them to stakes on the ground. While the setup worked well, the pole dug its way into the ground when I tightened the straps, and the setup was difficult with the 3 straps. My next step was to find something to put under the pole to keep it from digging into the grass, and add a second loop and strap to my system.
The body of the wind turbine is made from just a simple 3/4" scrap of pine wood. The magnet motor used for this model was a treadmill motor, donated by Mr. Isaiah Shiner. Thanks to him and his family for making this project possible. After the motor was bolted to the board, the tail assembly (made from a thin plastic board and a wood dowel) was also attached to the board with wood screws.
The hardest part in creating this piece is making sure that it was balanced properly. With the motor and the tail attached, I laid the flange and set the board assembly on top until it became balanced. Carefully, I traced the position of the flange and bolted it to the board. When the turbine is ready to be hoisted, a 6" nipple will be screwed to the flange. The nipple has just enough of a gap to allow the turbine to spin freely, while it still keeps it steady enough to support it in the air. The blades for my model wind turbine were made from sections of a 10 ft. long, 6" diameter PVC piping. Each section of pipe made 4 blades and each section were 2.5 ft. long. The pipe was cut to the section with a hack saw, then shaped with a band saw, jig saw, and sander. Holes were drilled into each blade to assemble them to the blade wheel. For instructions on how to make this style blade visit:
http://www.yourgreendream.com/diy_pvc_blades.php After my success with my first horizontal wind turbine, I decided t hang up my old toy motor, and swap it out with a higher-voltage (low rpm) motor. This model also featured a ball bearing axle, from a swivel wheel, a new body made from a dowel rod, and a tail made from foam board. The performance from this model was not spectacular. The tail was not big enough to sway the heavy dowel rod to its necessary position, causing the efficiency of the blades to suffer. Even when the body of the turbine was perfectly facing the wind, the stiff motor wound not spin. From here I assumed that it would be best to extend the blades, giving them more surface area for the wind to push.
In an effort to increase the rpm of the magnet motor that I was using, I decided to use a different approach, with my first try at a horizontal wind turbine. Using the blades from a pin wheel, and the fuselage of foam plane, I was able to produce self adjusting wind turbine for just a few dollars. The project was a huge success taking minimal time to build and producing up to .5 Watts of energy in about 13 mph winds. From this trial my new focus would be on horizontal type wind turbines.
My next improvement was adding and extra set of cups to have 4 total. The goal was to make the spinning motion even, therefore creating a more steady energy flow. Again, since the motor was not reaching a high enough rpm, the amount of power recorded was almost negligible. My next goal was to find a way to increase the rpm of the motor.
The first model for my wind turbine project was constructed from three Styrofoam cups, a few Popsicle sticks, and a small magnet motor from an old toy. While it produced next to no energy, I was glad to have begun this amazing project, and so excited to see something that I made, spinning in the wind.
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About this pageSTARTING AT THE BOTTOM of the page you can see the development of my current wind turbine project, and understand how each model was made as a result of the last. I created this project as a way to challenge myself on a subject I hadn't been acquainted with, and to prove that a little hard work can do a lot for our environment.
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