Newbie Questions

[bluehunter40]

So is the Hugh Piggott 4 footer a single rotor alternator? And does anyone know the output of this mill?  ( I bought the book I am just waiting on snail mail)

If so, could you build a duel rotor alternator for a system that small?

What about stopping the mill from spinning around the pole and damaging the wires, I just cant seem to see what prevents that, from what I have found so far. Maybe when the book gets here I will have the answers.

What is the difference between a 12V and 24V alternator? Other than the volts, I mean what makes it able to produce 24 volts?

Can you connect more than one mill to the same battery bank?

I have seen some talk about the energy credit. Since the plans followed at least seem to be the same or spin offs of Hugh Piggott, is there no way to get some kind of approval for these? I know that I am an outsider so to speak, new at the very least, but why not pay an engineer to sign off or form a non-profit company or something?

Tim

[Flux]

Yes it is single rotor.

The output obviously varies with wind speed but at furling point it should produce something in the region 200W.

Yes you could build a dual rotor version for a small machine like that. This version uses the same magnets as Hugh's larger alternators which are readily available and cost effective. The design is simple to build. If you change to dual rotor you may have problems using a standard trailer hub as the space at the centre of the stator on these small alternators is limited but it certainly can be done.

The voltage depends on the winding. For higher voltage you use more turns of thinner wire. The power is the same, you need less amps at higher voltage for the same output.

You can connect as many mills as you want to one battery.

Can't answer your final question depends on the approved scam in your local area, few of these things make sense and most require you to use commercial equipment that someone has vested interests in.

Flux

[bluehunter40]

So would you simply build a second rotor, or would more changes be required? I could only assume from my basic understanding at this point that a second rotor might require slightly larger blades, to prevent cogging?

Thanks for the reply

Tim

[Flux]

Yes as always the changes to a design that you make affect the operation in many ways.

You could make it dual rotor with smaller magnets but you would need other changes. If you make it dual rotor with the existing size magnets then the 12v winding may work better at 24v and the blade size will likely need to go up to nearer 6ft. It doesn't cog that is a myth which I can't get people to forget. It will however have a higher torque requirement with dual rotor.

All Hugh's designs are carefully thought out and you will get best results if you stick to the design. There is little point in changing it and messing up the performance. Not sure which book you ordered but if the newest one there are plenty of sizes of machine to build, choose the size you want and don't try to hybrid various designs it takes lots of experience to make useful changes. When you have built something and gained some experience then you will be able to predict what changes will do.

Flux

[bluehunter40]

I got the 2009 book, so I agree that I need to do something right out of the book with no real changes. The trouble is I don't have a great deal of room to fly one. So I will just wait and see what I like in the book.

Thanks again