Servicing 3off Hugh Piggott design 3.7m, 12ft diameter Wind Tturbines

[clockmanFRA]

Been up flying for nearly 12 years now.

COVID19, One thing about not having any paid work to do is that i can now finally have 6 days solid on a good full service of all 3 of my wind turbines.

Regulars on this forum have seen my endeavours regards the Wind turbines, But every year they need to be lowered and given a good service.  I have taken some pics as i do them to help explain a few things and perhaps help others.

No3 has been running  continually for nearly 3 years solid, and its blades have got badly out of balance.

The other 2 were shut down after Christmas as they had got out of balance.



The main control box for No3, I try to keep things as simple as possible. The Tristar is set for diversion, so when the batteries are full excess power is diverted up to the main house into 8kW of Dump loads. I have 4 Tristar controllers and each has a 2kW Dump load heater.

 

Dump load resitors.



Dump load heaters in the house, arranged on a steel frame cradle support that can be moved. Yes, they get real HOT!



No 3 with the Ancient Greek/Roman GIN POLE method of lowering the wind turbine mast.



The Wind Turbine connection cable box and the Mast short out Plug. Yes the Turbine control box also has a short out system, but the short out plug is handy when actually balancing the blades on a still evening with those little bits of lead, saves me time going backwards and forwards to the control box building.

[clockmanFRA]

Before lowering i always unwind the 3off cables that go up inside the mast to the PMG. I use a tape measure and keep measuring until i get a maximum extension measurement as i unwind. Difference of wind up this time was 170mm over the 12m, 36ft mast length.




The Gin pole in action as i lower. Note the steel tube is heavy so you can release the cable wires from there ground mounting shackles and insert the large winch and shackle the winch in position.

You need to manually lift the Gin Pole to get the mast to start to lower and then the end of the Gin pole that has a steel catch V end engages with the wire rope.










 

[SparWeb]

Your tower/gin system is similar to mine.
These things start out one way, then evolve a bit until they work "well enough".

All the details you can provide about the condition of your machines will be read thoroughly by me, I can guarantee.  Thank you for sharing!

Idle curiosity: Does your cable unwind clockwise or counter-clockwise?
The wind at my house "twists" in the clockwise direction.

[Scruff]

Dear Mr Clockman Sir,

May I rectify your rectifier heatsink?



I'm glad to see you're back and fit to turfur! Love your work!

Haha look at me with newb. stripes
I jacked Navi. ...buncha armchair warriors.
This place looks interesting....more doin' than talking...feels like home already!

[clockmanFRA]

SparWeb,

The strange thing is it changes every year.

Idle curiosity: Does your cable unwind clockwise or counter-clockwise?
The wind at my house "twists" in the clockwise direction.

And yes i will be thinning out those hedges this winter, its getting a little high, don't want those wind turbines impeded.

[clockmanFRA]

Hi Scruff,

Good to here from you.

Welcome to this forum.

 There are some good folk here that are knowledgeable and always helpful, and more importantly they are real hands on folk.

Yes, Heatsinks should be mounted correctly, but i find that in a ventilated control box the heat sink dissipates evenly.  Its size is way over the top, but its safe.
 And yes when i first started all those years ago i have had very hot little heat sinks in a winters thrashing gales.  So then i kept an eye on Flee bay for large and flat one sided for mounting.

Scruff how's your endeavours?

[mbouwer]

Beautiful self-built toys to generate energy from the wind.

Greetings Rinus

[clockmanFRA]

Hi Rinus,



Okay, No3 required some careful old paint removal and Rust treatment, (hydrochloric ?) then wash and dry and repaint with white hammerite paint again.

Bearings on this hub had a very little play, no the magnet rotors were not touching the coil stator, but they needed tightening up by about 3/16ths of a turn on the main 1 inch nut.  Hubs on all my wind turbines are the rear wheel hub from the Peugeot Boxer van/Citroen Van and the Fiat ducato van they all use the same exact part Hubs.   New grease packed into the Hub.




Paint has come away from the blade plywood mount triangle plate. So careful filling and repaint with a good industrial oil based white paint. SparWeb the cracks really are just the paint cracking, as i have been piling the paint on each year, hoping to give good protection.

I paint around the the main 12 mm/1/2 inch stainless steel threaded studs, to try and keep the water/moisture out of the blades wooden holding/mounting hub. It never does but i live in hope.



New lead required to get the blades balanced, I always place it around the mounting hub on each blade accordingly, again its the blasted water/rain getting into the blade.  I have 4mm dia holes in the end of each 8mm thick tip, yes its improved matters but that blasted water always gets them out of balance after a year of running.

The above image/photo shows the main 3 cables joined in a heat sleeve tube to form one cable element, and this comes up the centre of the mainmast and gently bends over my welded on steel arc support.  I was shocked to see all last years zip/cable ties had perished and the ultra violet sun shine had disintegrated them. They came from a trusted source so i was dismayed. So the PMG has had all new zip/cable ties fitted.

Balancing all done with my lead strip on each blade and see how far it will move each blade in turn, and moving the lead strip closer to the hub. Takes me about 2 hours to get it correct. I use masking tape to hold the new bits of lead in place until i get things about right before permanently securing the lead with stainless steel screws.

No 3 Wind Turbine Finished and back up flying late yesterday/Wednesday evening.

Now to No 2 Wind Turbine, this has the experimental fiberglass blades before they were perfected as on No 3 Wind turbine.

 

[Scruff]

Hi Scruff,
Good to here from you.

You too CM, you've been an inspiration and the old haunt fell to ruin after you parted. I'm not just saying that.

Welcome to this forum.

Thanks. From what I've seen I ought to have come here sooner.

There are some good folk here that are knowledgeable and always helpful, and more importantly they are real hands on folk.

I heart measured results. It matters not how well it does but that it's proven.

Yes, Heatsinks should be mounted correctly, but i find that in a ventilated control box the heat sink dissipates evenly.  Its size is way over the top, but its safe.

It was a joke CM, I pointed out it was upside down 5 years ago and you flipped the photo. It's impressive how little has changed inside that box.

So then i kept an eye on Flee bay for large and flat one sided for mounting.

I just pull them outov my salvage scrap or use construction ali offcuts.

Scruff how's your endeavours?

You'll see soon. I'll start a diary jobber. Life at the cutting edge, I could use the input...
Greening the gaff.
I'm building a fleet of battery-inverter gensets for hire.
I started with 5.
300VA up to 3kVA, 1kWh to 3kWh. Some lead some LiFePO₄.
Lots of proofing, testing, reworks, some expensive magic smoke, more testing, more reworking.

I've a LiFePO₄ 1.2kVA, 1kWh finished and it's rockin'.
I've built a lead sister and dare I say it's a coin toss except for the weight.
 
The 300VA has been out "on test" with my partners for 2 months (running the security alarms off it for insurance while the lecky is commissioned)

I've killed a Studer 24V-2200 XPC, so she's on the way to Jonesy for acts of necromancy.

One's on the test bench passing with flying colours and thuther is under rework because I made the mistake of buying a MasterVolt for it.


Converting a camper Truck.
Resurrecting a camper van (chassis rot)
Rebuilding a pair of clone 20yo & 18yo Mitsubishi Colts.

Everything is a bit taken apart around here...

Your signature sums it up nicely.

[kitestrings]

Your turbines re holding up well Clkrmn, considering the time element, and everything that Mother Nature throws at them.  ~ks

[mbouwer]

Clockman,

It looks like your turbines are in a small valley. But you are close to the coast, and of course you have a lot of wind then.
Do you also know other self builders along the Belgian coast?

[clockmanFRA]

Scruff, looks like you have some good projects there.

Yes Rinus, we are half way up the valley, what you seem in the distance in the south facing photo is a sub valley.
Because we are only an hour from the coast we get a good constant south westerly's. I can not put the towers any higher because we are in a military training fly zone.  In the photo its a no wind day.

However under French Law you, the property owner, can put a Wind Turbine mast up above ground level by 12 meters without the necessity of putting in for planning permission. 

Thanks KS.  I always read your posts as they show how it should be done.   Me? i just keep my girls flying for their energy output.

[clockmanFRA]

And so to No 2 Wind Turbine.

This was the first with experimental fiberglass blades.  Over the many years of operation, one blade was snapped in half and flew away by nearly 200 meters in a howling gale.  But i think the blade may have hit the tail as the tail jumped off its spigot mount.

The new blade i made had a better root assembly but made the blade another 10% heavier so the blades need careful balancing.

The fiberglass blades are 3 times as heavy as my No 1 wind turbine that has Red Cedar wood blades.

I still used an interior wood block at the root so the sandwich plates of the blade assembly could have their stainless steel screws something to bite into.
Unfortunately that means that the root of each blade has a tendency to swell up and split the joint of the blades.  I sorted it out for No3 wind turbine and for the replacement bade on No 2, as i allowed space and did better joint folding over with fiberglass woven material during assembly of each blade.

All the fiberglass blades are foam filled.   But sadly the rain still gets in !

No 2.




The Gin pole end V piece,




The Tirfor winch shackled up.






No 2 down and showing one blade with a split at the root on the blade half joints.  You can see that i have previously stitched both side of the split joint using stainless steel screws, but over 3 years the split has reappeared allowing the water in. 





And another blade with a slight split on the same blade root joint.





No splits on the replacement blade, but the sandwich ply 3/4 inch thick is open and had rain in it.  Note I doubled up this 3/4 plywood sandwich board.  Its supposedly Marine exterior ply wood, but these 2 don't seem to stand the rain very well.

[clockmanFRA]

No 2 again.

Both steel magnet discs have surface rust that needs treatment.


 


And No 2's tail needs some paint.








I decided to not take the blades apart and repair them in situ.   Especially as the main bearing had absolutely no play.

Over the last 20 years i have been using polyester resin anchor systems and found them to be very durable and not shatter like Epoxy does.  So this time i decided to drill a 10mm hole into the split gap many times and to inject a polyester mix.
These resin systems use a filler compound as well as the actual chemicals, and i think that's what makes this system usable for this particular job and circumstances.

The resin systems, note that injection nozzle that's about 9mm in diameter, so i can get real good penetration.




I injected as much ass possible into the 10mm drilled holes. It does not look pretty, but i think its got that joint sealed. 

 



And the smaller split all sealed.  Again it isn't pretty, but at this close to the root i believe its not really going to upset the aerodynamics of the blades.



 

[clockmanFRA]

No 2 works all finished and painted and the blades balanced.





Not bothered painting the nose cone.





I check the leading edges and the blade ends and touch up with paint if required, but not much leading edge damage.
I repainted the whole Hub and the root of the blades with 2 coats of industrial oil enamel paint.

The Tail with 2 coats of  that lovely industrial oil/enamel paint.





So No 2 is now up and running sweetly the evening of Saturday the 27th June.

[clockmanFRA]

And just for JW ....

The fieldlines bumper sticker on the car and at work, it covers a bad shopping trolley bash mark.

[richhagen]

Clockman, glad to see you are recovered and doing well and keeping busy!  Greetings from across the sea. 

[Scruff]

Its supposedly Marine exterior ply wood, but these 2 don't seem to stand the rain very well.

I've a boaty mate who informed me most marine ply carries the caveat "Not for marine use".
He had about €1k of proper job in his van that day. I counted 8 sheets.

[clockmanFRA]

Hi richhagen,

Yea still getting better, still no appetite and poor sense of taste.

My other 2 boys, 17 and 19 are back from the Uk, but they are now here under quarantine for 14 days.

Although the blackcurrants are ready in the walled garden so each time i go past them they get personally handful harvest, they are just right, so sweet and no bitterness, probably good for another 5 days.

[clockmanFRA]

Now Number 1 Wind Turbine.

This has American red cedar blades. 2 blades came out of one piece of wood, but the timber stockist in the UK in 2006 only had a very limited supply, so the other cedar blade came from a different tree and this cedar was denser and therefore heavier.

This has caused issues over the years with getting the blades balanced.

Those of you that have worked with cedar understand how lightweight cedar can be, so the complete assembly is very different in getting balanced than my No2 and No3 wind turbines that have fiberglass heavy blades, but with them i can measure and control materials so get each fiberglass blades about the same.

Unwinding the 3 cables that go up the mast for No 1 was just 60mm.  For No 2 it was 140mm.  Obviously No 1 does not twist about much.







At least my boys can now help as College has finished for the summer.
Tail is very tatty with the paint peeled away





PMG front steel magnet disc, a bit of rust, so its peeled away manually then treated with hydrochloric rust remover and dried and painted with hammerite metal protection paint.





The rear PMG steel magnet disc, again the rust treated.





This blade at first looks like it has split, but no the paint has split, so some rubbing down, a good coat of oil based undercoat and then 2 coats of oil based top coats.





This blade has the paint peeling away in patches. Just removed loose paint, rubbed down and undercoat and 2 coats of top coat.

[clockmanFRA]

Stay awake now Sparweb.





2 blades have a fair amount of lead at their roots to try and balance for that heavy blade.








The blades are now balanced after spending some time waiting for a period of no wind/breeze.

My no2 and No3 are much easier to balance as they are heavier blades, so balancing them is possible in a slight breeze.

No 1 has now offset weight at its hub, and this causes a slow speed oscillation like a poorly preforming bellydancer, I am told!

I may need to rethink my concept of balancing the blades with this No1 wind turbine and look at other methods such as drilling a recessed hole in the end of the blade and using a lead disc?.

But for the time being i will live with this No 1 service for this year and next year, but i will monitor the situation. 





No 1 finished and ready to go back up.





No 2 in the background.


3rd July all 3 wind turbines serviced/repaired and creating electricity.

 4th July today and its a dull cloudy windy rainy day, but definitely nice to have that extra power coming in to the batteries when i am only getting about 2Kw from 15Kw of PV.

Other issues.

One of my old Morningstar Tristar 45's PWM has been misbehaving.  All my Tristars are set on diversion mode, and all have the same charging set rates etc.
 But No 2 Tristar has been carrying on dumping well below the set float voltage. Something i have not seen before.
I thought that the library was fairly warm and felt the 2 Kw dump load heater and it was fully on even though the battery voltage was down at 52 volts.  Down at the control building the Tristar was showing that it was dumping max and flashing ALARM as if it was in overload.

I have a spare Tristar so i swapped them out, all okay now.  When i get time i will have a look at that faulty Tristar.

Time taken was 7 days solid for complete repairs and servicing of 3off 12footers/3.7m diameter wind turbines.

Next servicing next year, but i wont bother this forum members with that.

[mbouwer]

The combination of your small wind farm, your solar panels and your electrical skills makes it very worthwhile of course for us to read your findings on the forum.

[Scruff]

A poorly TriStar...how rare. Does it smell funny?
Loss of proportional control sounds like a FET issue.

If you wanna export me the log file I'll have a gander.

[SparWeb]

I'm watching, don't worry!

The split edge of the fiberglass blade would have me all bothered.  From here I can't tell if it's a big deal or not.  I do hope that repair stands the test of time. 
Your environment is somewhat more difficult than mine, but even here on the prairies, for any potential entry of moisture, I would lose my mind getting things sealed up.

Irrelevant observation: I seem to have the exact same work-table.  I've even dabbed paint randomly on mine, just to match yours!