...basically I'm going to want to wind up with a small wind farm on my property to supply the bulk of my off-grid power needs for an eventual large house/woodworking shop/mechanical shop. Going to need lots of power, and what I have learned so far makes it pretty apparent that I'm not going to get there with one big mill.
So, I'm figuring that I will scale up the design just to a point where it is still practical and easy to build - maybe around 8 feet by 8 feet...and then make a whole mess of them.
To that end, I want to choose parts for my design that are reasonably priced, but probably purchased new rather than scavenged from a junkyard, so I can easily go into limited production with the design.
One piece that I do plan to scavenge is used 14 inch sawblades for the back of the rotor. (probably a single rotor design) Hoping that this is a large enough rotor diameter to obviate the need of dual rotor.
I would like to invite some comment on motorcycle or automotive wheel bearing assemblies that can be purchased new from an autoparts store that might be apropriate for such an undertaking. I'm thinking this will be the primary "bought new" part of the assembly.
Need something that will handle maybe 100 pounds of VAWT sitting on top of it rotating a few hundred times per minute pretty much non-stop for many years. Is this too much for a motorcycle bearing to handle? If a motorcyle bearing is appropriate, please make recommendations on the specs and make/model etc.
If I need to go to a small car wheel bearing, and remembering you are talking to a software/electronics/photography nut, not a "wrench", what would you call the whole assembly I would need to buy to make a practical start at putting together the base of a VAWT? What are the individual pieces of that assembly called in official "car talk".
Also somebody mentioned a trailer hub in a recent post. I suppose this is also a candidate. Is it cheaper than the equivalent car parts, and is it easily obtainable from an auto parts store?
Another point to consider is that we are talking about a VAWT, where the alternator will be part of the base of the unit. Ideally, I'm thinking I would want something that...
- can easily be mounted to a solid flat base of some sort
- provides an attachment surface for the non-rotating stator just above that
- provides for a rotating hub/arbor of some sort coming out of the middle of that which could easily be attached to the flat surface of the stator (14" saw blade)
A pre-made assembly that lends itself to that sort of a finished arangement with the minimum of additional home-made parts or re-milling, etc. would be preferred.
If it is basically just a wheel-hub assembly with the bearings hidden inside the hub, then the total outside diameter of the hub would need to be less than 9 inches, as I will be using 2 inch long magnets on my 14 inch rotor, meaning the active part of the stator could be a 15 inch disk, with radially arranged 3 inch coils (including the non-active end parts of the oval shaped coils) leaving room for an almost 9 inch hub to come up through the middle.
This seems like a simpler and sturdier arrangement than the alternative of having the hub spining beneath the stator, with a smaller diameter "axle" of some sort attached to the hub and coming up through the stator. That's why I'm hoping to find something with a smallish hub.
thanks,
jp