LarryLawrenceJr.com

On this rare day we actually have some wind here in New Buffalo Michigan. The 6 Blades are spinning like crazy. I am worried that the torque from the 6 blades might rip the tower apart.

Last night I ran the already low battery bank to the point of being DOA. I hope that I didnt wreck them as I ran them so low before correcting some problems I had with wiring.

Even at the top of the ladder here next to the garage ( 3 feet from the blades) you can not hear any wind from the blades. Nice!

Anyway, there is still alot of work to do and testing on this.

I shot 2 videos on this today for this document.

ScreenShot:

ScreenShot:

I made this blade from 8″ PVC available at our local Michigan City Indiana Lowes store. 8″ PVC was the largest that they carried. I also looked at Menards store but the largest that they had was 4″

The length overall total was 5′ (feet) The actual pvc pipe was 10′ in length but I had the store cut it in half for me so I could better get 2 five foot sections into the back seat of my car then trying to get one 10 foot piece into it. (which of course could not fit)

The center of the blades with hole. You can see from the pic (above) that I used a sander for smooth the edges. Not real sure if it will make alot of difference but I figure it probably would not hurt with the wind cut in on the blades and such.

(above) Longer view of this design out of the 8″ PVC sch #40

(above) Pic of one of the tips of the blades. I sanded it smooth using a hand sander to help the air/wind flow over the tip and maybe to cut down on the sharp edges to reduce wind noise.

above: another view of the tip of the blades.

I know this really has not much to do with wind but the wind generator/motor/alternator used in this post is from another person that is using the same generator (AC-Delco = DC-540) to get power from a water wheel. Its his application in regards to the use of this generator and his specs that I find interesting.

Click on a screenshot for large pic.

As posted from Jenson (France)

All the same here are my first, shocking test results with new permanent magnet generator 180 tooth cog on water wheel straight to a 7 tooth cog on pma.

With out generator = 21rpm

Generator (no load) = 17rpm, 425 rpm @ generator produces 31v

Generator with 12v/ 20w bulb = 13rpm, 325rpm @ generator

Generator with 12V/ 100w bulb (barely lights the bulb) = 7 rpm, 175rpm @ generator

Shocking or what eh, dunt half take some torque once you start loading the pma, I’m sure that it will loosen up a bit through use as the bearings are going to be tight at the moment.

A couple of videos this one is with a 12v/20w bulb.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=8yyRJSvoQzE&feature=user

Now watch the wheel slow down when I put a 12v/ 100w bulb.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=__CYMekZzNA&feature=user

I am going to try and make a 5 tooth cog or smaller but although the Teflon is tough I will be running out of diameter to play with.Once I get gearing spot on I will then get a machine shop to make me up a set of cogs but can’t afford at this stage to pay for experimenting.

I might also have to look into the possibility of modifying the mill race, I could possibly put the wheel further forward and maybe 20 or 30cm’s lower down but don’t know whether it would be worth the effort.

Jensen

Some PVC (Sch 40) I bought for a wind generator project. I will not use metal, steel, or aluminum….ever! I love PVC. Its strong, will not rust, easy to cut and lasts forever. You could make some very small blades with these but I think this is way too small for any serious project. Maybe could be used for a school kid project. I bought them to use with the pole for my wind projects.

Here is a very small but nice blades that I cut out using my new jigsaw. I used the patern or template that can printed and cut out. Then placed in the inside of the pvc pipe that was cut in half lengthwise, Then just cut it out. Made a nice air foil for blades but too small for any of my larger projects. I tried this first just to see what it would look like.

Very impressed. Even though its very small, just over 3 feet total, its curve is nice and with some sanding would make a nice blade for a wind project. This blade was cut and made using 4″ schedule 80 pvc pipe. (drain pipe)

Here is template I made from the small one above. I made it bigger using scrap cardboard. have not actually used it yet on real PVC but I will and I know it will be better then the smaller one for most any basic wind generator project.

The template I used for my blades was from gotwind.org It saved me loads of time and I did not have to do alot of ‘trial and error’.

Here are the instructions from their website:

The blade profile can be downloaded as a PDF file or JPG image and printed off

it will require 3 sheets of A4 paper .

The vertical lines are position markers. Please print in landscape at 100%

PDF version here

click to enlarge (60Kb)

As many of you may or may not know, once you have decided to make your own blades using PVC pipe, you cut the pipe in half, lengthwise. Then you would lay this templates in the center of the INSIDE part of the pipe. Then cut it out.

You can either tape it to the inside or trace it into the inside of the pipe using a marker or pen. Either way it takes all the guess work out of making your own blades.