Well I got the call..... would I like to help a neighbour to assemble and raise his new AWP....... Duh!
So I calmly ran out the door tripped over the dog and lept into the 4x4 and I was off. The first Pic shows in the top right corner.....triangle... part of my place... i was off down to the bottom left to his place... yes the mountains.
The site chosen was about a thousand feet above the surrounding countryside and looking back at my little mountain in the distance looks like this:
My joint is where the mountains (top left) meets the sea (thereabouts).
So Now you've seen my island, you can see why i'm nuts about it...blah blah....
Ok. The site has an unobstructed view of the winds from all directions, and so the tower height is quite small... 40 feet.... Don't need a Batcape for this one, you get blown over into the ocean when you leap off... this is one windy site.
First off the fulcrum block. It's about 3feet into the rock, and the guy posts are 6 feet into the rock... this should hold the island in place.
The platform was put down months ago, everything happens in slow motion over here. The ship never arrives on time, and nothing seems to get synchronised between the different transport systems. Sometimes the ship from Victoria may be a monthly service at best. Makes for an interesting time.
The tower fulcrum anchor was bolted in and the power box can be seen in the rear. There are surge arresters in there as well. The machine is 240v three phase, with a transformer at the power shed to drop down to 48v. The dump load is there as well, and so is the empty place for the pwm load diversion and rectifier box... it didn't turn up!.. we are assured it will turn up Soon.... whenever that is.
This is what the tower looks like after we struggle to put it all together in 40 mph winds, sometimes trying to blow us into next week. It rains, then some sun then some more wind... this is truly a s__tful day for this sort of recreation... but we press on.
Day 1 ends with us exhausted from working all day in wind conditions that sometimes nearly blew us over.....might be a great view from up here, but it is difficult to work in.
We figured it was a tribute to sound tower design that we could erect it successfully on this kind of day
Day 2.... not a breath of wind..... not a whisper...somethings not right. We venture onto the mountaintop and still no breeze. This is unheard of.... we suddenly realise the "lore" that has been mentioned here before ie....if you erect a turbine today, there will be no.... nill.... nothing in the way of wind.... guaranteed......
I'll be danged.... it's true. For this place to have no wind, it's a abnormal event.
on this mountain.
We take advantage of this and in no time we have the tower back down on the ground (left it up last night). The AWP is assembled in short order, and we get ready to bolt it onto the tower yaw housing...... it doesn't fit. Pull the three bolts back out from the alternator that holds them to the AWP yaw housing. Somehow in manufacture they missed the fact that the four studs that hold the stator in the rotor housing are left too long. We cut them flush with the bearing housing and all is well. .... Back up the hill and bolt them to the yaw housing. No problem now.....
We then carefully drop a stainless steel washer down into the guts of the alternator....oh noo.... pull it all apart again, and spend ten minuites trying to get it out... success at last..... bolt the stator back to the yaw housing and were back in business. Now we find the rear weather shields don't quite fit the rotor housing, a quick bend and no-more scrapes.
These turbines are rough and ready, but are robust. No frills, and nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer and grinder.... tough machines indeed.
This one has fibreglass blades, and they are quite beautiful, almost out of character with the rest of the machine...... and they fit.
The yaw bearings have been redesigned and a (Dinges this is for you) triple slipring has been installed by the guys in Melbourne. Looks good..... forgot to get a pic of this, next time it is down I will try to remember.
We bolt the nose cone on and were ready to go:
There is now no visable means of support, a quick spin by hand and a measurement at the power box reveals 70-100v at only a handspin of the prop. All phases are equal, and we short them all together at the fuse box..... now it is difficult to spin up, and should hold the prop in stall until the power box arrives.... we hope.
The weight does not even slightly bend the tower and she is ready to go up
Well it's time to winch it up, and it goes no problem. The 6" pipe has no trouble, and the 5/8 winch cable pulls it up without serious strain.
Here she is half way up.
Well at this point you'll have to take my word for it that it made it, the batteries in the camera have given out... i knew the day had gone too well.
...............oztules
