PB-VAWT Gone Wild

[feral air]

So, my Plastic Barrel VAWT is up and spinning. It's not makin' much power (probably not even worth measuring) but it's up!

(I tried to fix the sideways pic but couldn't, sorry)

The way it's mounted is almost shameful. The chain keeps the arm from spinning around in circles. The rotor is just hanging from an unknown DC motor, on about a 10' pole. It "furls" in about 10mph winds because the way it's mounted is so sloppy - there's no bolts or screws or anything holding the motor (and hence the rotor) to the pole. The rotor starts rocking at about 8mph and then at 10mph wind or so, the vanes smack against the pole and that slows it down. Good thing it's plastic because chances are good that it'll break free of the pole and come down eventually.

I still need to get all the other parts together to do it as planned but for now it's up and runnin'.

[electrondady1]

i can tell you got the bug really bad !

jumpin' the gun is a shure sighn. lol

it will be sweet when you redo it stronger.  

[TomW]

feral air;

Its a great start! Always fun to watch people get into this hobby with enthusiasm.

Zubbly and I discussed using a motor conversion for both a top and a bottom bearing. I think you really should have a lower bearing on there to control the slop. If you have another motor you could perhaps rig it as a lower bearing even if not used to make power it certainly would make it easier for it to spin up without smacking the mounting hardware.

Just a couple thoughts. I never did a vertical myself so not able to offer any detailed advice.

Cheers.

TomW

[Norm]

Yay It works !

consider building it like a large 'Pico Turbine'

http://www.picoturbine.com

  A pointed shaft at the bottom end with a bit

of grease makes a quite durable bearing.

  Just overlapping the barrels makes a big difference in performance...plus it gives you a

better way of mounting ...the blade supports can

just be a plate or board bolted to the ends of

your barrels...it would be a positive to discard

the mindset of glueing them together....

....IMHO....

 of course no one hardly ever listens to 'ol Norm

  LOL

             ( :>) Norm.

[ghurd]

"of course no one hardly ever listens to 'ol Norm"

A mistake to not listen.

G-

[feral air]

I think that better shows how I've got it put together for now (not a graphic artist, please excuse). If I bolted the motor to the forks (and I probably will today) then the rotor wouldn't smack the arm and she'd be good to go full speed. The way I have it now, the motor is just held to the forks by gravity so when the wind picks up it rocks. When it's up for real it will have top and bottom bearings.

I'll probably use bike wheel hubs for that since they're cheap and easy to find. One internal 3-speed hub (to transfer power) and a front wheel hub for the other side is what I was thinking. I may skip the 3-speed hub and just get a mountain bike wheel hub instead.

If your goal was to generate electricity then I could see mounting a motor on either side and using those as the bearings. As long as they generate something useful in the 300-400rpm range and can hold your rotor up. The cool thing about the plastic barrel rotor is that it doesn't weigh much for its size (mine is just shy of 24lbs), it's really rugged and fairly flexible. I bet I could drop it from a 10 story building and it'd walk away with just minor scratches.

[feral air]

I'd do it like the pico turbine except I don't want to deal with electricity. I want mechanical work -- I want to drive a small air compressor with it, to get wind power from wind power, so to speak. I think this will reduce the cost considerably and make using the power very easy in my situation.

The halves are overlapped (so that there's an air gap between them) and are held together with thick plastic support plates that I cut out of a scrap barrel. One plate on the top and two on the bottom. The plates are bolted to the rotor halves to hold them together. Glueing them won't really work since the adhesive I have doesn't stick to PE (/the barrel) very well. I really got it for fixing my ABS water tank though (which it's rated "excellent" for). I only tested it on the barrel because I didn't realize how well the support plates would hold. Now I just don't see any reason to add glue to the mix - it'd just add dead weight.

No one listens to me either...and I'm usually right!

[vawtman]

I often wondered if it would be possible that one could draw a gadget in this posting section and post it.

 Using Windows and the paint thing?

 Would it be out of the size range if done?I know nothing.

 OL Norms idea is a good one for attaching.

[feral air]

I bolted the motor down and it spins up much quicker now and the rotor never touches the support arm or pole.

[Norm]

Ah well you do have the halves overlapped and

fastened same as I was thinking.....

    I remember at first you were thinking

about glueing them together....so I see you realized that wouldn't work very well.

    I'm thinking along the same lines about air

also but in my case direct drive to a swing...

a glider swing...

http://www.instantplans.com/benchswing/canopy_glider_plans.html

4 adults even swinging leisurely could pump a lot

of air soon as I finish it....some beer and piza

to power the adults and we're all set...to heck

with windpower ....don't get that much here

anyways....

LOL

       ( :>) Norm.

[wooferhound]

Pizza Power !?

[feral air]

That's a right smart idea. I saw a show the other day where these guys built a pedal powered air compressor - a swing would beat that hands down.

[Norm]

This heat is slowing me down, need to put some

wheels on it so I can haul it around to shady

spots.

   Oh on the plus side ....swinging stirs up a

breeze to keep you cool.

            ( :>) Norm.