Holly Free Motor!
By jxc582, Section Mechanical Posted on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 04:16:19 PM MST
My school gave me this

I got a 4 hp ish   2.984 kw permanent magnet treadmill motor. It is rated at 210v DC. It has a mechanical fan to circulate air and a huge metal hub mad of thick steel. The hub has a key-seat. I think I can just drill and tap it to attach blades right to it. I will post pics some time. I'm gonna need help making a good housing for it. It does need to be almost entirely weather proof right. How will I manage such a beast of a motor? I have a solar grid tie that is made to work at 48v. anyone have an idea to regulate the voltage? I was thinking I could add a battery bank that would be charged by it (a charge controller would be needed right) and have some kind of relay so that when the windmill is charging it the connection to the grid tie opens. When the wind dies down it would return to its normally closed. I would still need to have an additional normally open relay to the grid tie that would open when the voltage dropped to a certain point. Does any one have some bright ideas so that I wouldn't need to manually operate the windmill? One last concern is too high of winds. How would you protect it from this?

Holly Free Motor! | 7 comments (7 topical)

Re: Holly Free Motor! (3.00 / 0) (#1) by vawtman on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 10:34:29 AM MST

I would think the first thing you need to ask yourself is why they just gave it to you.  Maybe hook it up to a battery and see if it spins.  Some treadmill motors have brush holder problems when worked hard.

Re: Holly Free Motor! (3.00 / 0) (#3) by jxc582 on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 10:40:02 AM MST

I got it from the guy that manages the gym. He said the motor works fine it was the deck to the treadmill that broke. I am gonna do some spinning tonight to see what voltages I get. I might even be able to get an identical second motor. [ Parent ]

Re: Holly Free Motor! (3.00 / 0) (#2) by jxc582 on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 10:34:59 AM MST

Scratch that, I think wheel studs would be best for the hub. I do have an auto hub that I think I can use for its vertical axis support.

Re: Holly Free Motor! (3.00 / 0) (#4) by jxc582 on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 11:34:43 AM MST

After reading around, the tilt back seems the best to me. It not only lowers the speed of the rotor, it reduce the forces on the tower while still making power.

Re: Holly Free Motor! (3.00 / 0) (#5) by wdyasq on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 12:04:13 PM MST

"My school gave me this" Don't worry your neighbors, as long as they pay taxes, paid for that several times. But, government agencies can be free with money because it is not theirs, it was 'free'. I agree with keeping it from the scrap yard. I agree it is better off with you than in the dump. What I don't agree with is the wasteful spending of the goobernment and the taking by threat of force the property of others and 'giving it' to those THEY feel fit. It is best the government doesn't get the money in the first place. Then they can't buy votes or play war. Ron Adventure is just bad planning." -- Roald Amundsen

Re: Holly Free Motor! (3.00 / 0) (#6) by jxc582 on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 06:11:56 PM MST

It is just a motor from a busted treadmill. I don't see how it is wasteful spending. I guess they could have salvaged money from things like this but it would have probably cost as much as the reward of doing so. They simply hold extra parts and felt they could let this one go. I see the school as having committed no fault. [ Parent ]

Re: Holly Free Motor! (3.00 / 0) (#7) by jxc582 on Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 08:59:44 PM MST

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