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10' axial flux home made windmill | 12 comments (12 topical)

Re: 10' axial flux home made windmill (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by Ungrounded Lightning Rod on Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 07:22:31 PM MST

Sweet!

Several comments:

1) Air really wants big holes and more of them to get any decent flow through the disks.

2) The arrangement of air holes unbalances the rotor. Shoulda' had five, not three. Not fatal. But you'll have to balance the rotor and blades as a unit. (Mount your blades so the heaviest part is near the singleton hole - and the extra hub weight from the two missing holes - to minimize the tuning weights you need.) The stationary part of the genny won't be balanced so you'll need to spin it (in a calm area or inside, with the axis horizontal) and see which blade/side stops pointed down. Spin it in both directions to compensate for friction and average the downmost points. When it's balanced it will stop randomly. If you don't get it close to balance it will wig-wag when running (putting wear on the bearings, mainly the yaw bearing) and will be harder for the wind to start.

3) I don't see any mechanism for jacking the rotor down. How did you do that? (How will you get it off if you need to adjust the gap?)

4) You'll get a bit more out of the blades if you make the ends sharp, i.e. the end of the blade thins down to a knife-edge in the last inch or so rather than being rounded. It throws the tip vortex out - i.e. reduces the tendency of the air to run around the end of the blade from the high- to the low-pressure side and depower the last few inches of the tip, by making it jet off the tip so the blade has moved on by the time it gets turned around. Inch-for-inch the outermost part of the blade has the most swept area and thus the most potential power.

Re: 10' axial flux home made windmill (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by oldculett on Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 08:35:40 AM MST

Thanks for the comments.

The holes in the hub dictated the size of the holes in the bottom rotor. It was about 1 inch each.
At the time, I chose the hub, I never thought about the balancing. I just figured that GM probably had put them in the right place. As it turned out, they must have because the hub was not unbalanced. I don't know if it was counter-weighted in the thickness of the casting or what, but it was balanced. I balanced the blade off of the generator but after I put it together, it would not seek any other spot than where it happened to be. I had planned to let it run for a little while and check for balance again.
Now, the holes in the rotor, I only put the three 1-inch holes in the base rotor not the outside rotor. If you look on the photo of the generator with the alignment plate on the bolts, you'll see that I have jacking screw holes in the outside rotor. I did put a large center hole in the outside rotor and the blade plate is spaced out one nut width to let air in that side.
I had not known about sharpening the ends of the blades. When I take it down to move to the permanent site, I will try to modify them.

I appreciate any and all comments. Thank you. Oldculett

[ Parent ]

Re: 10' axial flux home made windmill (3.00 / 0) (#10)
by customman on Sat Oct 24, 2009 at 10:57:49 PM MST

ok, i love this post! it has turned me into a wind junkie. My parents own property that is ontop a naked hill, and receives wind 24/7/365. I am going to make one of these mills, my next question is how would you grid tie this? what are the next necessary steps... i have been reading up and the aurora looks like it is the brains. also i have read that some sort of RPM limiter is needed "brake". no batteries will be used, i am looking for direct grid tie only. any help anyone has to offer, or links to posts that would outline the proper process would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[ Parent ]

Re: 10' axial flux home made windmill (3.00 / 0) (#11)
by oldculett on Mon Nov 09, 2009 at 06:03:06 PM MST

Test

[ Parent ]

Re: 10' axial flux home made windmill (3.00 / 0) (#12)
by oldculett on Mon Nov 09, 2009 at 06:08:46 PM MST

I tried to answer this before but for some reason, it would not post. But, I just ran a test and it's posted so I will try again.

Grid tyeing a system is much more complicated than what I have done. My property does not have the grid available so I am strictly wind gennie with batteries. From what I understand, there is many rules and many dollar controllers to make that happen, and the coils and such must be wound for that purpose. If you read more on this site, I'm sure you'll find out what you need if you truly want to go grid tied. Oldcullett

[ Parent ]

10' axial flux home made windmill | 12 comments (12 topical)

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