Ac motor For wind gen

[carlb23]

Hi all,

I am new to this wind thing and I was wondering if someone could help me.  I have a 2hp 230/460 3 phase Ac motor that is almost brand new.  Could I use this for a wind gen and if so  how large a blade would I need with average winds at only 10 to 11mph.

Thanks

Carl.

[Bruce S]

Carl;

   Hello and let me say welcome.

There are a whole lot of people here that can help you with this, and will be able to correct my misteaks.

here's my 2 cents worth and what I've learned from this forum.

1. ) the AC motor will need to be rewound using magnets as most AC motors are not self-exciting, which means it will not put out electricity with some redo.
   
2. ) it isn't generally just the size of the blades that will need to be decided on, there the main question of how much power you need along with how much power you hope the be able to capture. These would then lead you to begin a design of the generator that will include not only the blades but also how many magnets their arrangement, the coil size the wire size and so on.
   
2. 1/2) there is also what you are going to use to store the power you do generate.
   
3. ) 10 - 11 mph winds are these speeds constant or gusts? this too will lead towards other design issues.
   
4. ) Conservation, this is the one that makes the biggest one the to do list; as it help you to decide how much you need to generate and has the most impact and greatest savings.
   
   

Hope some of this helps and doesn't deter you from continuing.

Bruce S

[drdongle]

Welcome to the board. I highly recommend that you search the archive of posts

(using the "search" function in the box on the right side of the page) with attention to those by Zubbly. He is our AC motor conversion maven.

[zubbly]

Hello Carlb23!

that 2 hp you have will make an "excellent" alternator. you can use the stock winding as is or you can make a slight modification to it by adding 3 additional lead wires. in the end you will have an alternator that you can make reconnectable for 12/24/48 volt battery charging. the voltage potential will also allow you to direct connect to standard heating elements in a 3 phase fashion or rectified to dc current.

the rotor can easily be converted with round magnets.

good luck and have fun!

zubbly

[carlb23]

Thanks guys,

I will do a search on this and get all the information I can.  Being new to this I know I will have to do a lot of reading. I am glad I at least have a motor that I can start with.  The information you guys have given will now enable me to find more information on A/C motor conversions and hopefully I will be on my way

Thanks again,

Carl.