10' wind turbine power output question

[kwdaye]

Hi everyone, I was thinking about building a 10' wind turbine, but the area I live in doesn't seem to get very high winds. Is there a way to build a stator that when it turns slow it will produce more power than having to turn fast.

Thank you,

Kevin

[Flux]

The power you get depends on the blade diameter and the wind speed.

If you are in a low wind area you might get a little more if you modify the design to be at best efficiency in light winds. You could possibly come down a bit on cut in speed but you must be able to get the thing to still survive in high winds which you will get at some point.

You won't be able to reduce the cut in speed a great deal without running into stall even in the low winds. Prop tsr falls rapidly above cut in and if you make the cut in too slow this effect affects you in the useful 10 to 15 mph wind range. Unless you use some form of mppt you will probably gain very little by reducing the cut in below 7mph.

You can shift the working range up or down a bit to suit a high or low wind area but in the end the only way to get lots of power in low winds is by increasing prop diameter but you are then into unknown territory if you start modifying a standard design.

Flux

[kwdaye]

Could I use a six blade design?

[Flux]

Yes but what would you gain. There is only a limited power available at a given wind speed so unless you can find a blade design that has a much higher cp than a 3 blade one then you will do no better.

Possibly in the 3 to 6 mph region you may be able to find blades that do better then the conventional 3 blade unit but you are only looking at a few watts out anyway. The changes need to the alternator to work at the lower speed may reduce your gain to nothing and it will certainly present you with serious problems when real wind does come ( which it will).

Solar doesn't work in the shade, windmills need wind. If you have average wind speeds below 7 mph forget it. If you have averages of 7 or over then 3 blades will do what you want with least nuisance.

Flux

[kwdaye]

O.K. thank you for the info.

Kevin

[zeusmorg]

 It would be worthwhile to verify your windspeed before spending the money on a 10"

Buy an aneomometer and measure your windspeeds, and then compare them to local noaa data. This will give you some idea whether or not it is worthwhile to build one.

[kwdaye]

ok thank you again