Main Frame for 12' Turbine

[wil]

There are a handful of ideas that has drawn me to building one of these Wind Turbines:

1. I like to tinker.
   
2. Tinkering is more fun if you scrounge for parts and pieces.
   
3. Renewable energy has always been interesting.
   
   

New steel is easier to work with and it sure makes things look nice, but I deceded I would just use whatever was lying around the shop to build the frame for this wind turbine.

The only real resembleance of this frame to the one in Hugh's plans would be the offset for the hub from center and the tail.

I had small chunk of channel iron so I opted for that, over the angle iron, for mounting the hub.

Here you can see the angle the tail was placed. The hub was taken off a 1988 Chevy Celebrity.

Here the side view shows the angle the tail leans away from the yaw bearing.

I scratched my head for a while on these angles. I thought..Wow if you think about it there are a number of compound angles here!

My problem was that I was thinking about this too much. In the end the tabs that hold the tail on where both cut with no angles at all, in fact they are identical in every way. The only "special" cut was the cope to make them fit the pipe.

Here is a rear view shot. If I remember right the tail is about 6' long.

I really like the pipe tails and tail hinges that people are building here, but I thought I better build it as close as possible to Hugh's design on my first one. No matter the urge and it was tuff...  I didnt really change anything from Hugh's design, at least nothing that would make it perform differently.

Haveing said that... Here is a shot of the tail stop that was not in the plans..

Another of the tail in the furled position.

During the alternator assembly I built the stator mounts which are not shown in these pictures - but will be in one of my next diary entries.

All that is really left on the frame is paint.  I haven't decieded on a color yet, but it's probably going to be a sky color of some sort.

Wil

[windstuffnow]

  Looks good wil, my only concern would be controlling the chain during turbulant or gusty winds.   It might be better to weld some stops on the main tube and remove the chain.  

.

[wil]

Thanks Ed.

I did think about using a stop. I'm not sure exactly how I would place a stop in there yet since the leverage pressure at the hinge point would be quite high. I was a little concerned that it may rip the stop off.

I also thought about moving the chain closer to the hinge and using a shorter piece, although I like the idea of a stop much better.

Wil

[willib]

i've never had to build a furling tail , so take this with a grain of salt,

if the tail comes crashing back after furling , wont it yank on the whole alt/gen ?

maybe some rubber tiedowns attached to the chain would add tention till the chain gets taught?

it is fun scrounging parts , isnt it! today i got a 1500Watt/3000 watt heater and a bicycle

and a neat little three LED flashlight at the dollar store

[wil]

Hi Willib,

Yes it is fun scrounging for parts. there are times when I see something and say to my self... Hey I could use that for....!

Anyway, I'm sure the tail will come back fast at some point and I was worried about what the chain would do when the tail is furled, so Ed does have a good point.

I was thinking that there might be more cause for concern on a stop if the yaw bearing did NOT pivot, but since it does pivot there may not be so much cause for consern about the stop being torn off.

Since it's still not up and flying, I might tack weld a couple of ideas for stops on the upper part of the yaw bearing and see what happens if I let the tail fall back into place.

Wil

[willib]

Harrie uses shock absorbers!

[jimjjnn]

Yep, You don't want that chain whipping back and forth into the blades

[DanB]

I would just be sure of two things...

• the chain can never hit the blades
  
• there's plenty of clearance between the tail and the blades when its all together.
  
  

If both those things are true then I think the chain is find and a very solid/strong way to go so long as its attached well.  

[wil]

Good point.  

I might take a look at the length of the chain while in the furled position. Then ask my self those two questions.

Thanks,

Wil

[Titantornado]

One concern I note is that the hub has no up pitch.  You prop blades could end up running dangerously close to the tower

[wil]

The plans called for a 4 degree tilt angle.  I used a Curv-O-Mark protractor to mark a 4 degree line on the yaw bearing.  I wasn't sure that it was enough after the hub was in place, but didn't think I should mess with this setting until I knew more about it.

Wil

[coldspot]

Wil-

Looking good !

I like the chain, but would add the rubber,(needs replaced more often), or something to keep it under control.

Makes me think I'd better put my new never even been plugged in welder back together,(didn't like the 10% duty cycle, so I've added a cage fan from a dishwasher to suck air across the transformer coils).

"Yes it is fun scrounging for parts. there are times when I see something and say to my self... Hey I could use that for....!"

Thats why I have a few hundred projects started and going but only finish a few dozen a year !!!!!!!

LOL

[wil]

Thanks coldspot,

Actually I had a hard time acepting the chain from the word go... but though I would try it.

I still like the idea of a stop, and will probably play with that idea more before she goes up.

Wil