Stator segments

[kihon]

Hi guys,

While thinking about the stator for my project, I started thinking about maintenance of the stator. If for example a coil shorted out, would the entire stator need replacing?

So I though what if the whole stator was not a single casting, but instead made up of 9 separate castings (ie one for each coil, each the same shape and size) and a frame for holding them in place.

would this be a Bad Thing(tm)?

The idea is that if successful, this design (with some tweaks for, if not mass production, then larger scale production) will be manufactured in a third world country, by locals, and hopefully, maintained by people in the rural communities. (Hopefully this will provide some employment within the rural communities)

[electrondady1]

 it would work if you can come up with an easy design

but you need to way the effort required.

against the need .

   

[electronbaby]

Part of the beauty of this design is that it is easily adaptable to many different scenarios. Many parts of the world don't have the luxury of the parts we have in the US and UK (and possibly vise versa). It is usually easily built from what is commonly available. With that said, sure, I don't see any reason why you couldn't do what you propose. Like e.d. said, you need to weigh the effort against what is actually needed. Everyone who builds these alternators goes through at least one or two burnouts. I call this a learning curve. After that, usually, it is figured out what to do and what not to do as far as design criteria. I personally feel that your idea is not warranted if you have the other parts of the wind turbine working correctly, but peoples design criteria will probably change as there are more and more grid tie wind turbines being built as we speak. These run a little differently than most of the battery charging designs we currently see a lot of on this site. So...who knows. If you can find a way to make it work, go for it. If we didn't have individuals continuously pushing the limits, we wouldn't have learned what we know today. Watch out for eddy currents. :-)

[bzrqmy]

Although it's not a bad idea, it would be laborous for a homebrew.  I think winding coils is a freaking blast!  Once wound,  wiring and casting is not really that hard once you have your mold completed.  I don't even have mine flying yet and I am thinking that I will wind another with different # of turns to experiment with and use as a "Spare Part" if needed.

[Flux]

I agree with the others. The virtue of a casting is simplicity and it holds the coils rigidly in position. With segments you would have a complicated mounting process and in all probability it will still not be very rigid.

It is exceedingly rare for one coil to develop a fault on its own. I see no real reason for any coils to develop shorts unless you overload them and cook them , in which case the whole stator will be suspect and replacing one coil would be the start of a chain reaction with all needing to be changed very quickly. Don't overload it and forget the complicated ideas.

Flux

[sk windpirate]

Hello

I agree, The stator is only as good as the weakest link.

How ever: There might be call for stators made to order. With a mag pkg.

[hvirtane]

I think that your idea is quite sound.

I've seen stators made of industrial formica and coils put inside holes in that industrial formica stator body. If the coils would be left without any coating and fixed by strings, their cooling could be quite good.

I think it would be a good idea to have coils made in developing countries. There are lots of capable craftsmen in most developing countries.

- hv