Hdd Magnets and bearings for Generator

[shaddaz]

Well Hi all

Im Shaddaz been wanting to get into green power for along time but never really pulled anything off so hoping with the good member base of this forum and all the current info on here you guys and girls might be able to keep me focused into making a working test bed to start learning from

the idea at the moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFfhMR1uidg

Please watch the vid (not my creation)

as you can see he has multiple HDD Magnets mounted to the HDD Bearings seems to create a very nice low resistance generator

My Problems:

never made coils before so its still a bit of a grey area for me to try and work out i no that the size of the coil should be no bigger than the magnet but what gauge coated wire should i use for a good balance of Amps and Volts and how many turns would be recommended

as i say this is just a test bed to learn from i might stick a small vertical wind turbine blades on the top just to see ho it performs

anyway thanx and hope you all understand what i am trying to do

Shaddy

[Bruce S]

Okay, I watched the vid and a couple more of his on there. Nice pretty design...
But, what he did was not design his own coil but from the looks he used the wire coils from the HDs as well.
These coils are made up of wire that is thinner than most human air.
IN some of his posts his answers lend me to believe he doesn't know much about generating either.
He talks about having current and no voltage which is incorrect.

The usage of HD this way is a good one to try out, so IF you have a source of HD magnets and want to build this, I would say give it a try BUT make sure and becareful NOT to mess up those coils inside.
Build this up, and at the same time read the FAQ for coil winding and a few of the basic math , i.e. P.I.E or P=I/E = Power (in watts) is I=current divided by E=voltage.
As you can see you can't really have one without the other 
Using his design you're going to need about 24HD magnets.
Make sure and have fun while learning
Bruce S

[shaddaz]

Thx Bruce

I will have a look at the FAQ for coil winding info.

I had a feeling his creation was very rough around the edges but felt the parts are easy (ish) to get hold of so a good place to start i was considering this morning about winding my own coils (once i get all the info) but trying to use a dual layer of coils (1 layer top magnets spinning in middle and 1 layer coils at the bottom) thinking about that if i did the coils right i should be able to get a nice amount of power from the size of the unit

Future plans:

I have seem a Maglev generator on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iir9YWoT6ZQ&feature=youtu.be

it looks very nice and would be interesting in the future to try

[Bruce S]

Thx Bruce

I will have a look at the FAQ for coil winding info.

I had a feeling his creation was very rough around the edges but felt the parts are easy (ish) to get hold of so a good place to start i was considering this morning about winding my own coils (once i get all the info) but trying to use a dual layer of coils (1 layer top magnets spinning in middle and 1 layer coils at the bottom) thinking about that if i did the coils right i should be able to get a nice amount of power from the size of the unit

Future plans:

I have seem a Maglev generator on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iir9YWoT6ZQ&feature=youtu.be

it looks very nice and would be interesting in the future to try

Couple things.
There is no reason NOT to use the coils from the HDs, but the voltage and amps will be very small. They will be okay for you to get a good understanding of watt's going on <-yep that is an intended pun 

For a look at dual layering. There's a lot more going on, try these little things first, get your hands into build even these little things then keep going with getting the knowledge. It'll click, and then you'll be helping others understand.
That Maglev thing... yea its okay and all, but may i suggest going through a few building of some smaller turbines first, get something producing on a semi-constant and understand what is needed and then maybe tackle that.

I've been to a few "maglev" discussions put on "various" people at energy "fairs" outside of StL.
NOT my cup-O-tea & honestly it truly seems like a waste of good magnets both ceramic and Neodymium types.
When pushed for answers, most of the builders didn't have a clue of how they would work on a day to day basis and all they had were indoor units that did not do any thing near what a good ECM motor or even some of the printer motor re-builds did, and those were on towers doing real work.

I'm not saying they won't work, just they need more work than I want to use for them at this time.

I can say for certain, that I saved a whole bushel of people a whole bushel of money that one day I was out their way 
The people building the "maglev" were selling complete plans and kits, which made me suspect right off the batt.
Just my nickels worth ( inflation )
Cheers
Bruce S

 
 

[shaddaz]

I fully agree mag lev is a long way off but more of a novelty item than practical

I will look at the HDD using there coils i can then see with other wire what effect it has on the output and see what i get from them as your quite right to say give me a better understanding about what i am doing and possibly help others with my fails and achievements

[XXLRay]

Instead of using a dual coil stator I would rather suggest to use a dual magnet rotor.

[snake21]

hi guys,talking about hdd magnets,next week,i will get some 30 hard disk and i want to build a wind gen with the magnets.i have 3 ideas,please help me to choose one.
thanks
1. using the magnets to build a hugh design turbine,single rotor
2. replace ceramic magnets in a permanent magnet motor with hdd magnets
3. make an induction motor conversion using the magnets in the rotor.

if you have other options,let me know please.
thanks

[jlt]

Don't forget there are north and south poles on the face of  hard drive mags.You will have to cut them in half.And then put all the same pole up .

[Bruce S]

hi guys,talking about hdd magnets,next week,i will get some 30 hard disk and i want to build a wind gen with the magnets.i have 3 ideas,please help me to choose one.
thanks
1. using the magnets to build a hugh design turbine,single rotor
2. replace ceramic magnets in a permanent magnet motor with hdd magnets
3. make an induction motor conversion using the magnets in the rotor.

if you have other options,let me know please.
thanks

Snake21, even though this is kind of a hijack to his post  I'll answer this by saying dump #2
The other two are about equal in design
Bruce S

[Bruce S]

Don't forget there are north and south poles on the face of  hard drive mags.You will have to cut them in half.And then put all the same pole up .

JLT;
 glad you pointed that little item out. Work got in the way I wasn't able to put that important reminder up here.
In the youtube vid, he gets away with not cutting them by lining up the top ones with the others on top, even the broken ones have two mags on there.
.
Cheers;
Bruce S

[ghurd]

Snake,
I would dump #1 because the magnets are thin.
That leaves an induction motor conversion.
G-

[shaddaz]

Don't forget there are north and south poles on the face of  hard drive mags.You will have to cut them in half.And then put all the same pole up .

So would be more efficient to cut them?

producing more output ?

sorry just trying to clear that point up abit

[XXLRay]

he gets away with not cutting them by lining up the top ones with the others on top

Sorry I don't understand that. Does this lead to north and south pole being separated at top and bottom?

[electrondady1]

electric coils work when the polarity they are exposed to changes
the sides of the coils are called the legs
the legs of the coils are over different polarities
as the alternator rotates the polarity changes and current is produced.
as mentioned hd mags have two poles on each face.
in the video the coils are exposed to alternating polarity
and produce alternating current .
in most instances hard drive mags are split into two to form two separate magnets this makes it a great deal easier to form the geometry required.
once split the magnets can be flipped so that they present a larger single pole to the coils

[shaddaz]

electric coils work when the polarity they are exposed to changes
the sides of the coils are called the legs
the legs of the coils are over different polarities
as the alternator rotates the polarity changes and current is produced.
as mentioned hd mags have two poles on each face.
in the video the coils are exposed to alternating polarity
and produce alternating current .
in most instances hard drive mags are split into two to form two separate magnets this makes it a great deal easier to form the geometry required.
once split the magnets can be flipped so that they present a larger single pole to the coils

So would make no difference to the operation just makes it more simple for making coils etc by having
N S N S N S
N S N S N S

 rather than

N S N S N S
S N S N S N

On the same mag

is that right? or have i missed the point completely?

[electrondady1]

as the magnetic flux is emitted from the magnet it goes looking for the opposite pole..
if two magnets of opposite poles are side by side (hd mags)
the flux will travel side ways to attach to the other pole
what we want is for the flux to be drawn vertically out of the magnet so that we can get it to excite a coil
that is why you will see so many dual rotor alternators here with the coils between .

[shaddaz]

this is my interpretation of that you said have i understood that right?

[electrondady1]

yes i think you understand.
now imagine how a dual rotor works
 
s     n     s     n     s    n
=     =     =     =     = 
n     s     n     s   n     s 

the spacing is wrong but the idea is, the flux is drawn vertically through the coils from one set of magnets to the other. rather than sideways