Can this LEESON DC 180V motor be used in wind turbine?

[barshad]

Is this good, bad or ....

http://cgi.ebay.com/LEESON-1-5HP-DC-MOTOR-180V-VARIABLE-SPEED-LATHE-MILL_W0QQitemZ270241737489QQihZ0



17QQcategoryZ78190QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks in Advance

[bob g]

i suppose it could be used for such a purpose

voltage being linear generally

it should charge a battery at rotor speeds i would think.

the main issue might be the fact that it is a brush type motor

with the power being taken off the armature (rotating part) and you

are limited to around 7amps max.

seems like one could make better power with something else for less money?

i passed up a 300+lb, 50 hp dc permanent magnet motor some years ago

because it was 180 volt and limited to around 30amps if i recall,, might have been more..

but i could not see trying to lift a 300+ lb motor now generator up on a tower

for a result of around 30amps.

be interesting to see the results if you decide to go with it.

bob g

[kurt]

well it would be best suited to 24v charging as a windmill but it has a small shaft only 5/8" so you would have to figure out a jack shaft for it to support the blades but other than that it would probably be suitable for an 8-9' prop or so according to what zubbly used to fly and recommend to others for that sort of motor. you can research that yourself if you want its all here....

[CmeBREW]

This is just my humble opinion keep in mind.  I am no expert.

I've been using a DC Leeson motor similar to that one as a mill for about 6 months now.  Mine is the same numbers 180vdc at 1800rpm, but the amps is only 4.5A.

The 12v cut-in is around 130-140rpm. (or, 260-280rpm for 24v)

Mine Does only around 120 watts max (12v), but the good thing is it does WAY better in low average winds than the small 4 footer I had previously. (But a more efficient, lower resistance generator would be even much better than this)

The motor I have does not do that good for a 24v system, because you need a smaller prop which only does good on a windy day because of the difficult cogging start offs.

I would quess that motor you showed would probably do up to 200 watts in a big wind with a 6-7' prop-- which is actually OK but I strongly suspect is not that efficient for a 6'-7' mill.  That DC motor, like mine, has quite high resistance, which is not so good.  It also will have quite significant cogging for less than a 6'prop.

An 'efficient', lower resistance, good mill this size would probably be doing twice (or,more) the power in any given wind speed, including low winds).

So, my opinion is I wouldn't buy it for that high price even if it were a brand NEW dc motor. It is risky to get a used motor since it could be about worn out from use.  There are better motors you can buy/try that are better as a generator.

I would rather try something like an AC (3-phase;brushless) servo motor with decent AMPS, and a stronger, bigger shaft for supporting the bigger prop. Of course, DC servos are good too, but you have to change the brushes.

Heres an interesting AC servo:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Yaskawa-AC-Servo-Motor-USASEM-30AC1_W0QQitemZ360057123551QQihZ023QQcategoryZ
78197QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You should really do research on the web to find the rated VOLTAGE on the servo in question. Thats the difficult part. There is alittle quessing involved.

These are usually rated to run at 200-400vac (3-phase),  so at 3000rpm I would think it would be great for a 12v system. (and if it were rated at 1500-2000rpm, great for a 24 system)   It might do well over 400watts at 12v.

It probably weighs 70 lbs though??.

If you don't like it, you can always sell it on ebay and get most of your money back.

Easy to hook up.  There are 4 prongs in the connector, one prong is a ground to the chassis which you don't have to use, and the other 3 prongs are the 3-phase outputs that you simply hook up to the bridge rectifiers as usual for a 3-phase alternator.

Just ignore the 'encoder' connector with all the tiny prongs.

 

[ghurd]

Careful with brushless servo motors.

I have maybe 8, and none of them work to make power.  eBay.

One may work, but it has a brake (not mentioned in the listing).  Didn't check to see if it is easy to defeat.

But I have a lot of money tied up in servos that don't do what $5 worth of magnets in an old motor will do.

Just lucky I guess...

G-

[barshad]

Thank you very much to all the answers,

conclusion: I am not going for this expensive DC PM Motor. Thank you for saving my $$$s.

I have two other options, please check my post

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2008/6/3/162547/4672

Thank you once again for your time and help.

Best regards,

Bhatti

[CmeBREW]

That is a good point Ghurd.  New persons have to realize that the GREAT MAJORITY of Dc Permanent magnet motors and AC&DC servos on ebay are WORTHLESS as windmills.  A newbie has to understand that only one with the correct numbers (voltage ratings, RPM, amps) will work decent.

I certainly did not mean to sound negetive. It is difficult to explain everything.

I've also noticed that finding usable good DC motors for windmill generators it getting more and more difficult to find a good deal on ebay.

You are right though, ac servos are probably the most difficult to know if they would make decent mills because they usually leave off the important numbers like the voltage ratings, and/or the rpm, and actual rated amps.

But sometimes you can find the info by searching the manufacturer on the web and get a great deal on one of the newer type ac servos with the NEO mag rotors and high amps. (many of the older, heavier ones used Ferrite mag rotors)

I did alittle research and got this brand NEW 'Pacific Scientific' ac 3-phase brushless servo recently for under $50 on ebay.  It is less than one ohm of resistance.

This one according to the label runs (or; should generate around) 70v/ per KRPM.

or; 70v per 1000rpm //or; 7v per 100rpm)  So 12v cut-in was exactly what I thought it was going to be: around 180rpm.  I use the same BASIC  'rated volts/to the rpm' basic formula as we all do DC motors to calculate 12v cut-in.

This one is 13.5 amps and probably about 1.5KW rated as a motor drive.

The bigger the amps and KW rating the more power it should make as a generator.(IF the volts to rpm ratings are right)

The black paint chips off the aluminum easy. These new servos are normally over $2000  since they went on CNC machines.  This one weighs only 30 lbs and has zero cogging, no friction from the bearings (a tiny finger clamp onto the shaft easily turns it!) , and it could probably do over 300watts in a big wind if I wanted to put a small 5' prop on it. (which I don't)

With my big slow drill testing, it easily did over 110 watts at around 400rpm with no bearing down on the drill at all. (Unlike when I tested my last 4.5amp 180vDC motor with the same drill which beared down quite a lot due to higher resistance)

Since it has a nice big inch and an eighth shaft, I am putting a nice 8' prop on it to do more watthours per average day in the lower winds of my location.

I must say from my drill testing , I like it twice as much as a normal DC motor.

Like you say, some of servos do have the brake that is normally 'on' and would need to be disengaged somehow.  Mine did not have this.

For a newbie, it might be better to stick with the Ametek until they learn more.

These are tricky for new persons and hard to come by for a great price on ebay.

But I must say I like the big AC servo motors better than DC motors. But I STILL like my big DC motor mill too!

Of course though, the best thing of all is to learn to make a MOST efficient alternator from scratch as they show how to do here-- and you can know exactly what you're getting!.

I hope I throughly confused everybody!

[CmeBREW]

On the other hand, after re-reading Ghurds comment, it makes me wonder if I just wasn't partly lucky on my first try. He's been doing this way longer than me. Perhaps the simple 'volts to rpm' estimation calculation don't always work for all ac servos just the same??  I suspect it is fairly accurate for DC motors though.