VAWT Design

[nuncoop]

Hello all,

I've been very interested in designing  and building a VAWT lately. I have no previous electrical or mechanical engineering experience, but I have a basic idea of what I want. Some design ideas would be very welcome. What I'm looking to assemble is a helix-shaped VAWT, close to 1.5 feet. It doesn't have to produce a lot of power, as I'm only looking to power a handful of small LEDs. Does anyone have any ideas on where I can get some plans for this type of wind turbine? Thanks in advance!

[spinningmagnets]

Ed has a well-written site thats a good first stop:

http://www.windstuffnow.com/main/

Also, deep-search THIS site. Since threads sometimes drift a little, one question can lead in several different directions, so the answer you want may not be in the title.

Google this site with "VAWT" "Lenz2" "Benesh"...

[nuncoop]

Excellent, that is exactly what I'm looking for. Beginner information. It's funny that your name is spinningmagnets, I also had a question about magnetic bearings. Have you ever heard of them being used in a VAWT? I'm thinking a permanent-magnet array might be more efficient, and reduce mechanical strain on the parts of the windmill itself. I will do a look through the threads and see if I can find some more information on this myself.

[finnsawyer]

In the not too far distant past the question of magnetic bearings for a VAWT came up.  I gave my opinion on the issue.  I'm good at that.  You can dig it out of my comments if you wish.  Of course, you could try Googling "magnetic bearings" also.