The Zephyrus is just a copy of the Enertech 1800, from the looks of the webpage.
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Question, The unit calls out for a parker hannifin hydro brake, where to find one is up for discussion. I'm woundering if I can use an electromagnetic brake on this unit. Or is there some bigger purpose of using a hydraulic brake. Suppose the unit is running near the critical max speed, do these units come to a hault or slow down slowly. Which on(e works the best and lasts the longest??
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The Parker Hannifin brake, as used, is now obsolete (meaning expensive) and not well supported by Parker.
Enertech started out with the 1500. It originally had an off the shelf electromechanical brake, (A Reliance 15 ft-lb) and they then went to a hydraulic brake, which was then retrofitted to most 1500s and continued as the 1800. The problem with the electromechanical brake was that it would sometimes not stop the machine in a highwind shutdown or a utility outage during hi winds. Prolonged overspeed= catastrophe= bad for business. Increasing the torque rating of the brake just resulted in a larger torque spike on normal shutdown and wrecked the gearboxes. Hence the hydraulic brake. It's a gearpump circulating fluid in an open loop during normal run. On shutdown (loss of power) a solenoid valve closes the loop and the pump pumps against a pressure relief valve, which is adjustable for stopping power and length of stop. Very reliable soft stops so long as the system doesn't leak.
You can certainly get an electromagnetic disc brake that will bolt onto the generator. If you do, go with a minimum 20 ft-lbs rating, cross your fingers in hi winds and plan to replace the gearbox every few years. Stearns and Ding's Dynamics are a couple sources. There are probably others.
1800s aren't too expensive- probably way cheaper than trying to build your own, especially if you can get a tower with it.
So far as the electrical end, it's also pretty simple in concept. The anemometer sends a signal to the control board and when the wind average gets hi enough (usually 13mph), the machine is switched on.When the average wind drops to some preset value (usually 9mph) the machine turns off. There is also a hiwind shutdown (usually 40mph) for overspeed protection. (I have a few of these boards...)
There is some resistance at the utility level to having one of these on their line, but there have been 1000-1500 small Enertechs and quite a few other brands connected since 1980 or so. There aren't any significant interconnect problems. The federal PURPA act of 1978 mandates interconnects, but utilities can make it a miserable haul if they like. Check your state's utility regulations and also to see if it has net metering.
Neil
