brian parsonsmachine
By scoraigwind, Section Homebrewed Electricity Posted on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:30:46 PM MST
I couldn't find a comment button so

"Objective: Build wind turbine to produce 1500-2500 watts A/c for heating "Question 1: What diameter does the turbine blade's need to be (I live on the coast   of newfoundland canada) " 3-4 metre diameter - say 4 "Question 2: How many magnets in a dual rotor system what size rotors." 20 magnets on a 16 inch rotor would be good. "Question 3: How many coils what size wire and how many turns in the coils." For the 4 metre one I'd say about 70 turns of #15 wire per coil connected in series and star. "I have a full shop so building the turbine should be no problem. There is a huge amount of information and opinion's on the sites and if I could get a general idea of what I need to start it would be Great!! Brian Parsons" You will need a controller to turn the heaters on as it speeds up.  I'd also recommend an over-voltage trip to put on a big dump load on in the event of any failure of the other heating system. I suggest you run the heaters at variable voltage from about 50 up to 120 volts so as to get best matching to the alternator.  You will also need to bring more heaters in as the wind speeds up, starting with none. Have fun :-)

brian parsonsmachine | 17 comments (17 topical)

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#1) by jlt on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:39:04 AM MST

I have couple of pictures of a miil that i made using your plans as a guide,. i already had some ceramic mags  so decided to use them   I used flex plates from a350 chevy eng.13in in diamenter.with 12 flats on them.after getting it to gether my voltage was to low so i changed 12 of the mags to 2x1 neos.  That doubled the volts.It has been up for over a year . i see 50+ amps.sometimes a it hase held together very well. i figure it puts out about 5 times the output of my old 200 watt windko that i have been using for about 20 years.Thanks for all the contrabutions that you havemade. Iam  w orking on a 15 in with 16xpoles and 12 coils now . and also a 24in 40 pole with 30 coils. just cannot stop playing with them . it hase been a hobby of mine for about 30yrs.

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#6) by Speo on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 03:24:26 PM MST

The stator is so thin... [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#2) by jlt on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:45:39 AM MST

sorry for the large pictures thought that i had the size right this time

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#3) by bob g on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 09:33:16 AM MST

don't worry about the size as far as i am concerned, the top picture is an artform! not often that once get such sharp contrast, clarity and sharpness of color. and besides the genny is beautiful great work. bob g ps. can i order a poster print of the top picture? , :) [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#4) by electrondady1 on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 11:39:35 AM MST

thanks very much for posting , ive got two flex plates mounted to a trailer hub  right now.  you have expelled any doubts i had .did you take any measures to level the mounting indents and holes? [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#5) by electrondady1 on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 11:57:02 AM MST

ok, i can see what looks like your stator through the holes. are you saying you changed just one rotor to neo mags and left the other with ceramics? [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#7) by jlt on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 03:49:03 PM MST

yes ijust put neo on one side and it doubled the volts. it is 5 phaze.100 turn coils  it seems to be about right for cut in speed. i am losing some of my flux as the flex plates are so thin. my stator is 7/16 thick.hope that helps you? [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#8) by electrondady1 on Mon Sep 05, 2005 at 06:35:50 AM MST

You will need a controller to turn the heaters on as it speeds up.  I'd also recommend an over-voltage trip to put on a big dump load on in the event of any failure of the other heating system. I suggest you run the heaters at variable voltage from about 50 up to 120 volts so as to get best matching to the alternator.  You will also need to bring more heaters in as the wind speeds up, starting with none. would it be possible do describe the nature or construction of the control devises you are recomending? i'm thinking, your reducing the load on the generator at start up and allowing additional heater circuits to kick in as the current increases?

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#9) by brian2034 on Mon Sep 05, 2005 at 06:09:13 PM MST

Thanks I have 24 NEO magnets 1"x2"x1/2" and thinking 12 per rotor, what size rotor would you recommend? would 24 magnets work or should I use 20 as you recommend Same with the coils 70 turns of #15 would it still work with the 24 magnets if I go with it.

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#11) by Flux on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 01:29:58 AM MST

Brian How much heat do you want, using excess power from a battery charging windmill in high winds can be useful, but if you only want heat and have no battery storage then you need to have a good think about how much heat you want and how often. I suspect you are in a good wind area but even so unless you have a very large machine you may not get useful heat many days a week. I did reply to your other post that got deleted and couldn't reply to the one that was left. As a rough guide a 15 ft mill will produce about 500W at 15 mph. This I suspect is about the minimum amount of heat that is worth having. The power varies as the square of the prop diameter so from this you can decide how big a machine you want to go for. When you have sorted this out then come back for advice on the alternator. Your 12 pole 24 magnet machine would normally suit 8 to 10 ft for battery charging but for heating you can ignore speeds below 15 mph so you could perhaps push it up to a 12 ft prop. If you change the number of magnets you must change the coils to suit. Flux [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#12) by brian2034 on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 08:09:46 AM MST

Flux I use wood for part of our heating needs when we are home, but my electric bill is still 4 times as high in the winter months($100 summer/$400 winter). In the last ten years I've replaced all windows,doors,and tripled the insulation but our heat bill continues to be high! I could use the wind turbine for lighting but my main concern as you can see is heating. My plan was to build a wind turbine and wire it directly to a common household heater with whatever controls I would need. If we had wind it would produce heat the more wind the more heat, I don't expect it to produce enough to heat the house just to supplement it. So after reviewing the information on the web sites, my question: Is it possible to build a wind turbine that would generate enough electricy, and what would I need. I'm guessing 1500-2000 watts A/c Brian Parsons [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#13) by Flux on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 08:51:02 AM MST

Brian It is perfectly possible to produce upwards of 1500 W but you are still evading the wind speed question. The smaller the machine the higher the wind speed you need to make that power. If you go for 12 ft you will only see the power you want with winds over 20 mph, if that is a regular occurence fine. If that only happens every few weeks it won't reduce your bill much. Have a look on Hugh Piggot's site at the big 16 ft for something that will give you a lot more heat. You have to decide for your lowest wind, above this you may well have more power than you know what to do with and will have to furl and you would be well advised to follow Hugh's advice and have an emergency dump in case you loose your main load. Have a look at  http://www.scoraigwind.com/nirvana/ And also DanB's big machines on the otherpower site. For heat I don't think it would be worth considering less than 12ft unless you have a seriously windy site. Flux [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#14) by brian2034 on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 09:44:35 AM MST

Wind - Only the Airport station monitors wind data. The prevailing wind is from the west through most of the year, except for June, July, and August when it is from the southwest. Average annual wind speed is 24 kilometres per hour. The calmest month is July, when average wind speeds are 21 km/h from the southwest, extreme sustained winds are 67 km/h from the southwest, and gusts reach 107 km/h from the south. The windiest month is February, average hourly wind speeds are 27 km/h from the west, extreme sustained winds reach 137 km/h from the north, and gusts reach 193 km/h from the southwest. 1 mph = 1.609 km/h Avg. annual wind speed 15 mph A 12 foot turbine would be fine if that is what I need. [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#15) by Flux on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:47:03 AM MST

ok you have wind.  Now for 12 ft prop. The minimum number of 2 x 1 x 1/2 magnets that you could get away with is 16 pole (32 magnets) In view if your wind and the fact that it will be pretty sustained makes me think that you would do much better to use 20 poles (40 magnets) Magnet rotor discs about 16" diameter. 15 coils about 5/8" thick with about 35 turns per coil. This would need about #10 wire but that may be subject to eddy current loss and would be murder to wind. I would use 3 or 4 smaller wires in hand to fill the space. I am assuming that you rectify the output and run your heaters on dc (if you can switch them). If you want to run them balanced round the 3 phases increase your turns by 50% and reduce wire size to get it in. You should be able to use standard 120v heaters and switch them in gradually from about 40v. The load will have to be switched in progressively and you should reach about 3500W at about 120v. Please use this as a guide, I have never done anything with direct heating but it should point you in the right area. Flux [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#16) by brian2034 on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 11:41:58 AM MST

Three or four smaller wires what size? 20 poles and forty magnets or should I go with a larger magnet and less poles. I havn't checked on the price of larger magnets. Brian [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#17) by Flux on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 12:06:04 PM MST

Try #17 . If you can't get 4 in use 3, I haven't done a detailed design. The 2 x 1 x 1/2 are common and are probably good value, you may be lucky to find something that is better value for money. Flux [ Parent ]

Re: brian parsonsmachine (3.00 / 0) (#10) by doceanboy on Mon Sep 05, 2005 at 09:43:06 PM MST

what part of Newfoundland? I'm near Carbonear send me a Email doceanboy@yahoo.com

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