magnet help needed please.

[fixitguy]

i lucked up on an old Whisper 1000 turbine built somewhere between 1987 and 1991 i think.the old gent that gave it to me said it was hit by lightening years ago.most of the magnets got completely blown apart.but he has a complete new in the box 1000 and he gave me another can.im flying the old system with a new can...my question is what magnets should i buy?
i wanna rebuild the old can then i'll have 2 complete systems.one magnet survived heres a pic.
and heres the old PMA on a home built geared frame.

[XXLRay]

If you want to use the same setup you should use magnets of approximately the same strength. Otherwise they might cause a generator too strong or weak for the blades.

As I have no idea, which magnets the company built in originally I for myself would just ask them. Another way to determine the strength is to disassemble the new unit and measure the strength of the intact magnets inside. You can buy meters for that purpose. Of course you can also attach an e.g. iron/steel rod or pipe to one of these magnets and add weight to it until the magnet cannot hold it any more. This will give you the strength of the magnet.

It might be difficult to buy that long magnets. You can use multiple smaller ones instead. These have to assembled in same polarity which might be difficult as they push away each other then.

[fixitguy]

thanks for the info Ray.the company has long been sold out.the new owners are not very helpful.altho a sweetheart i talked to gave me a phone number of a man who has OEM parts.
4 times a called him. "yes i have a good used can...i'll look on the shelve and call you back".thats been rockin on 3 months now.anyway.
about the blades.i made those in the pic the originals are 2 blade wood.understand im now into a geared rig completely off OEM charts.
i guess my build is like a VW doing the quarter in 3 seconds.

[Flux]

I think the original magnets would have been ferrite, I can't believe that neo was cost effective that long ago. I also know that those alternators reactance limited in high winds and that probably wouldn't happen with neo to the same extent.

If you have enough of the original you should be able to find the width,  length and thickness are easy to determine. If you can't get the size there are probably various manufactures who will cut standard ferrite blocks to size ( magnet applications or magnet developments is at the back of my mind, cant be bothered to check, you will find it easy enough.)

Don't try neo, it will need a redesign.

Flux

[XXLRay]

Don't try neo, it will need a redesign.

Could he just take smaller Neos if they are cheaper?

[Flux]

Yes. It is unlikely that they would be cheaper but the quantity of neo needed would mean that the cost could be quite low.

Without a redesign it would be difficult to use magnets of much different shape. To use neo you would need something of the same length and width but much thinner. This would need mild steel blocks at the back of the neos to carry the flux and still maintain the original air gap ( or just a bit bigger).

Certainly possible but I see lots of chances of missing the target badly without a fluxmeter or lots of design experience. I suspect ferrite will be available without much difficulty and you can stack them endwise if not long enough.

Flux

[ChrisOlson]

The guy that used to build those turbines is Manny Umpierre in Duluth, Minnesota.  Manny is now a partner in Ventera Energy there and it's possible you could call him to find out about parts for those older machines.  I doubt they have parts for them because they sold all that stuff to Southwest Windpower and Southwest Windpower now sells Chinese machines and doesn't want to acknowledge that those old machines even existed.

But maybe he could tell you what they used in it so you could fix it.

I got Manny's phone number.  PM me and I'll send it to you.
--
Chris

[fixitguy]

thank you sir..ive been all over the net looking for parts and pieces with no luck.

[fixitguy]

buy theway Chris...my geared is based on yours...but with more getup and go.

[ChrisOlson]

buy theway Chris...my geared is based on yours...but with more getup and go.

Good work!  Since I started fiddling with ferrite pole generators I got the gearing in mine up to .33:1 so the generator hits 1,000 rpm.  LOL!
--
Chris

[fixitguy]

33 to1..get OUT you dawg,,i need blades.

[fixitguy]

my rig is strarving for wind.iill get there soon enough..thank you all

[fixitguy]

i called Manny at Ventera  and got this message "we are closed inorder to reorganize with new management and ownership". didnt say when they would open the doors again..

[ChrisOlson]

That's an interesting development, and must be fairly recent.  I was just at their place a month ago and they weren't closed then.

But I don't think sales of grid-tie turbines are going all that well, and that's what Manny builds now.
--
Chris

[Warrior]

Not sure if this helps but these wind turbines have cerramic magnets.

Here are a few pics...

[CBabcock]

I see that this thread is REALLY old, but I stumbled upon it and may be able to give some insight if others may need it later...

This machine at the beginning of the post was one of Elliott Bayly's earlier Whisper machines.  They were manufactured by World Power Technologies in Duluth, MN.  I have had quite a few of these old machines and flown at least a dozen of them over the years.  The Whisper 1000 was originally available as only a 2 blade model with a 8' or 9' wood prop, if I recall correctly.  Pretty sure it was a 9 footer...  Later on, they added the options of a standard wood 2 blade prop, a 2 blade fiberglass version, 3 blade wood and 3 blade fiberglass.  This was a tilt-up machine where during furling the rotor would point towards the sky and the tail would drop towards the ground.  This earned it the nickname a "drop tail" Whisper.  The control box was very crude, consisting of nothing more than a set of rectifiers and a 3 way light switch for a shorting switch.  No charge control at all.  Back in the day, you'd install an Enermaxer to control your dump load based on battery voltage.  I have the Whisper 1000 drop tail serial number 0001 on display in my shop.  I got it from Elliott on a trade for an old 32V light plant along with some of his early Whirlwind stuff and a bunch of other "goodies".  RIP Elliott, still miss ya bud. :-)

On the subject of magnets used in these machines, yes, they were ceramic magnets.  All of the Whisper machines use ceramic mags.  The originals on this Whisper 1000 were grade 8 and measured 1 5/8" by 4" by 1/2 inch thick.  I have successfully used 1 1/2" x 4" x 1/2" grade 8 ceramic magnets as a replacement on a few machines.  Where I got them from?  I don't exactly remember.  I found a surplus place that was selling them in lots of 10 at a good price, over 10 years ago and snagged up a few dozen of them.

Corey

[ChrisOlson]

The Whisper 1000 was originally available as only a 2 blade model with a 8' or 9' wood prop, if I recall correctly.  Pretty sure it was a 9 footer...  Later on, they added the options of a standard wood 2 blade prop, a 2 blade fiberglass version

The Whisper followed the Whirlwind machines.  I got an original Whirlwind, which came with 12, 14 or 16 foot blade (I got all three blades for it), depending on whether you wanted it to be a 1000, 2000 or 3000, and has a yaw drive fan on it:







Anyway, since Elliot passed away suddenly in Jan 2012 and the company is now owned by North Coast Wind & Power, LLC, and operated under the name of Ventera Wind, with management that was around when Dr. Bayly was yet alive, they will help in restoring an older machine to keep the legacy alive.  Southwest Wind Power, who the Whisper design was eventually sold to, is no longer in existence.

[CBabcock]

Hey Chris!

I have one of those, too! 


I also have one of the earlier Model A machines as well, complete with prop but no nose cone.  Just need to get around to getting it rebuilt....


Corey