You might be interrested in some research we did in Oz on the Seeley motor. A lot of our windmills are based on the F&P Smartdrive motor, but about a year ago the Seeley motor caught our attention. Its a radial design, with magnets on the outside. See the picture. Behind those coils are steel laminations to complete the magnet circuit. The design is cog free and efficient, but unfortunately the plastic used is very weak and the Seeleys were proving to be a problem from a mechanical point of view. I think a couple of windmills were built using the Seeley, but the F&P is a much more robust unit and is still the best pick for us. I think it would be possible to make a efficient windmill alternator based on the Seeley design. A car/truck brake drum could be used as the magnet hub, just add the magnets. The stator design could be based on Ed's work or the Seeley unit. Laminations could be insulated fencing wire wound around a timer/plastic former.
The advantages are cool running thanks to the the exposed winding, easy rewire or reconfiguration, and you could also wind out the magnet hub to adjust the cut in speed, just like spacing out the disk's on the axial design. It would also elliminate problems caused by overheated and warped stators in the Axial design.
I think the radial design is worth considering
These links show some discussion and photos of the Seeley motor. http://www.thebackshed.com/windmill/FORUM1/forum_posts.asp?TID=585&KW=seeley http://www.thebackshed.com/windmill/FORUM1/forum_posts.asp?TID=594&KW=seeley
Glenn
Link is here if you want to ponder this style of construction. It may help to make an outer drum as Flux was alluding too. The draw back with these particular ones was the high impedance output 15ohms in star . A transformer or PWM would be required for these particular stators http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/5171/seely.html
Have fun with it I did.
........oztulesFlinders Island Australia[ Parent ]
I have built several of these using neos, the biggest does about 1.5kW at 400 rpm, starts in about 3 mph wind with 10ft blades and is about 70% efficient at 1kW. It is matched to low winds with a boost converter and starts charging about 6 mph.
Not something that I would attempt without a lathe but if you are lucky you might find all the bits to do it without machining. I used the outside of a motor core for the laminated core. Adopting the wound wire idea would give you more scope to match the dimensions to a vehicle brake drum.
Hugh Piggott originally used this type of construction but I think the constructors had difficulty finding motor cores to suit the brake drums. He moved away to the axial design as it is easier to build with little facilities.
For those who can machine things then the radial has far more going for it than the axial construction but with a lot of facilities I would steer clear of radials. That includes motor conversions, very difficult without a lathe.
That Seeley thing is the correct concept, but it looks so bad mechanically that I suspect to would be better to start from scratch. The concept is much better than the F & P, nothing about which inspires me, but if they are cheap they must be tempting to someone.
Flux[ Parent ]
The concept is much better than the F & P, nothing about which inspires me
OK, I'll bite. Why dont you like th F&P.[ Parent ]
