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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 25 2007 : 11:05:28 AM
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As I was driving back to London from Seaforth Ontario this Friday, I just happened to see the blades of a new wind turbine peaking out from over the trees. After a rew minutes of looking I was able to find an obscrure highway leading to the access road. The turbine was quite new and still not active, and the crew working on the site was happy to let me snap a few pictures of the car with the turbine in the background. The pictures are much like those in the Honda Insight brochure the dealers used to hand out. The only real shame is that the Insight is unable to tap all this clean power.
I could not get any techical detail out of the crew as to the output of the turbine but I did learn that it is a privatly funded installation that's going to be used as a test bed for future turbines in the area.
Everyone has seen pictures of these turbines but unless you stand beside one, you can't grasp the scale of how big they actually are. This turbine is 100 metres tall and the blades are almost 30 metres each.
Download Attachment:  Side View Of Insight With Turbine Over Hood.jpg
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Download Attachment: Insight At Base Of Turbine Rear View.jpg
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Download Attachment: Insight At Base Of Turbine Side View.jpg
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Edited by - Aaron Cake on Mar 25 2007 11:07:54 AM |
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marks256
Mad Scientist
USA
402 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2007 : 6:37:04 PM
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We have about 48 wind turbines in our back yard! :D seriously. The closest one is about a mile away. It is expected that we will get about another 40 or so in the near future.
I will take some video of them if i ever get a chance(that is, if i can get my video capture card to work...)
I was lucky enough to get to view them up close as well. They are freaking cool! Aparently they are the largest ones in our area (southern minnesota, usa) |
Intel: We put the 'Um...' in Pentium! |
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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Mar 27 2007 : 09:13:33 AM
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| There's quite a large wind farm up near Goderich Ontario that produces 40MW and is continually growing. I just have not had the time to drive out there (it's about a 2 hour drive). |
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jord4231
Member
Australia
45 Posts |
Posted - Mar 27 2007 : 10:34:53 AM
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I made wind generator a few years ago out of a rewired 3phaze motor and huge pcv storm water pipe cut up for the blades,
It worked quite well but problem was I never had enough batterys to store power I just had a single car battery I used it to run lights and a old car radio for my work area one day we had a really strong wind and the nut on the blades came loose guess I should have used a lock nut  never got around to puting it back togeather. I'll dig out the photos if any ones interested |
Captain good vibes |
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marks256
Mad Scientist
USA
402 Posts |
Posted - Mar 27 2007 : 5:10:46 PM
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| Sure. I have nothing better to do. :) |
Intel: We put the 'Um...' in Pentium! |
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SpaceBison
Apprentece
23 Posts |
Posted - Mar 29 2007 : 11:18:32 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by marks256
We have about 48 wind turbines in our back yard! :D seriously. The closest one is about a mile away. It is expected that we will get about another 40 or so in the near future.
I will take some video of them if i ever get a chance(that is, if i can get my video capture card to work...)
I was lucky enough to get to view them up close as well. They are freaking cool! Aparently they are the largest ones in our area (southern minnesota, usa)
Buffalo Ridge? Nice place, been through that area a couple of times. |
Don't like my signature? Click on it to make your own! |
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marks256
Mad Scientist
USA
402 Posts |
Posted - Mar 29 2007 : 5:31:47 PM
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[quote=SpaceBison]Buffalo Ridge? Nice place, been through that area a couple of times.[/quote]
Nope. Southern Minnesota, USA. |
Intel: We put the 'Um...' in Pentium! |
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jord4231
Member
Australia
45 Posts |
Posted - Mar 30 2007 : 10:58:36 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by jord4231
I made wind generator a few years ago out of a rewired 3phaze motor and huge pcv storm water pipe cut up for the blades,
It worked quite well but problem was I never had enough batterys to store power I just had a single car battery I used it to run lights and a old car radio for my work area one day we had a really strong wind and the nut on the blades came loose guess I should have used a lock nut never got around to puting it back togeather. I'll dig out the photos if any ones interested
These are the photos, probably not what you where expecting but I was 17 years old ish and I used to build a lot of crazy things
Download Attachment: wind gen1.JPG
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Download Attachment: wind gen 2.JPG
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Download Attachment: wind gen 3.JPG
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Captain good vibes |
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cyclopsitis
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
732 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2007 : 8:54:15 PM
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Nice pics Jord! Did it work well?
K |
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jord4231
Member
Australia
45 Posts |
Posted - Apr 03 2007 : 08:23:39 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by cyclopsitis
Nice pics Jord! Did it work well?
K
Thanks mate :)
Yeh it generated a lot of power during strong winds I just never had the time or money when I was 17 to buy batterys and make a good voltage regulator for it,
I wish I could find the better quality pictures of it, I'll keep hunting.
During strong winds where I actully got concerned it would take off and fly away I connected a 12v 100w halogen globe to slow down the blades and eventully it burnt out I guess this was also because it was unregulated, that bulb got extremely bright some times I ended up connecting the thing up to a car battery and ran a old car stereo and a few lights from it.
Jord |
Captain good vibes |
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SpaceBison
Apprentece
23 Posts |
Posted - Apr 03 2007 : 10:58:49 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by marks256
[quote=SpaceBison]Buffalo Ridge? Nice place, been through that area a couple of times.
Nope. Southern Minnesota, USA.
[/quote]Yep, that's Buffalo Ridge.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/novdec03/wind.html |
Don't like my signature? Click on it to make your own! |
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marks256
Mad Scientist
USA
402 Posts |
Posted - Apr 03 2007 : 5:38:01 PM
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I don't get out much.  |
Intel: We put the 'Um...' in Pentium! |
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Timber
Apprentece
USA
18 Posts |
Posted - Apr 19 2007 : 5:26:59 PM
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Greetings,
New here, but have always liked your site Aaron!
Just love the way you bring those fun projects to life!!
I found your site years ago when I was trying to build a Bio-Feedback monitor.
I think I ended up using your "Lie Detector" circuit.
Didn't know you had a forum until today, so I joined up.
Here is one of my favorite projects.
Download Attachment: PVC_in_Action.jpg
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Here's my Permenant Magnet Single phase conversion ...
It was a 120/240V single phase with starter windings.
I squared off the armature to accept the Neo Magnets rewired the windings and get two phase ... about 50 Watts in 15mph winds.
Lots of trees around, so it's not too efficient ... but it works to help keep two 6VDC AGM Deep Cycle golf cart batteries charged.
Download Attachment: BladeSet2.jpg
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PVC Blades (10" Sch 40 PVC)
Download Attachment: Bolt_Array.jpg
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Sandwiched the blades together using some truss plates
My blades finally broke after about a year and a half. It was cold and very gusty high winds. Design flaw, these blades were too narrow at the root as you can see above. I'll make some more this Summer.
They sure did work well though, would start up at 4mph wind and start generating at around 6-7mph.
I also have a couple of small solar panels to supplement.
It's an ongoing project ... |
Think Green!
Timber |
Edited by - Timber on Apr 19 2007 5:38:27 PM |
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Timber
Apprentece
USA
18 Posts |
Posted - Apr 19 2007 : 8:40:23 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by jord4231
I made wind generator a few years ago out of a rewired 3phaze motor and huge pcv storm water pipe cut up for the blades,
It worked quite well but problem was I never had enough batterys to store power I just had a single car battery I used it to run lights and a old car radio for my work area one day we had a really strong wind and the nut on the blades came loose guess I should have used a lock nut never got around to puting it back togeather. I'll dig out the photos if any ones interested
Hi Jord,
That looks like a nice motor to use for a generator.
Is that one of those Fisher and Paykel motors, by chance.
Maybe a washing machine motor?
I really like the Radial Flux design of these.
These are one of the truely best motors to convert easily.
I bet that would REALLY work well with some Neo Magnets replacing the original ones!
Good Job, especially for only being 17 at the time.
I was 50 when I made my first working generator ... hehe
Dave (aka Timber) |
Think Green!
Timber |
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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 09:29:04 AM
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That's a great turbine! For years I've thought about mounting solar panels on the south facing roof, and installing a small turbine on the garage. The only problem is that I don't know what to do with the power generated.  Powering this website would be cool but of course the requires a steady supply of about 300W... |
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Timber
Apprentece
USA
18 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 6:21:57 PM
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Hi Aaron,
You should seriously consider it.
It's a bit of an investment initially, but would suppliment your power requirements.
You say you would need 300W continuously ...
... I look at it this way:
Use both Solar and Wind, have as large a battey bank as you can(perferably true deep cycle batteries).
Use a good 3-stage charger (or use an inverter that has a charger built-in) to keep the batteries maintained.
If you had two Wind Turbines and perhaps 150W in Solar Panels, there would be days that you are getting your 300W for free (less initial costs, of course). Other days (and nights ... with wind) you might not get more than 50W ... but it constantly will suppliment.
I know darn well that I would be lucky to break even in my investment into solar panels, batteries, charger, inverter etc. but there is something very rewarding about building a system, using it, tweaking it, adding to it and even watching it work that is truely priceless.
(... but I know you already know this)
Why Heck Arron, I have absolutely no doubt that you could build your own charger and inverter, maybe even put together your own solar panels, convert a high voltage/low rpm 3-phase with some Neos ... I am not quite so talented as all that myself (I had to purchase some of my system, but I sure have had a lot of fun learning and putting this little system together one piece at a time.
Caution: The AE fever is serious and very addicting (and may cause permenant hair loss)! ... but is sure is fun ... |
Think Green!
Timber |
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Wind Turbines
