Building the sickest® VAWT ever. Brilliant minds unite please!!

[brandnewb]

OSB is far to flimsy for a coil form... you would be better off having it 3d printed by someone with a large machine. Using a water proof filament(the low end filaments will absorb some H2O so not a good choice). Wood in general is to unstable and I don't care how well you water shield it moisture WILL get in there in the form of condensation.

Trust me, I have a LOT of experience with this with several boxes with delicate electronics mounted on towers! ALL have a weep hole or they would collect water.

btw we are still in a prototyping phase. for the laternator it's full scale or nothing for now as I lack any and all math skills to do proper extrapolations on results of small scale tests.

So the question remains; How to get the most power output at 60 rpm out of 96 magnets in a +- 80 cm diameter?

The materials we can change when prototyping is done.

[Mary B]

Find your local maker club, draw what you want made, for a small fee they can do it. Probably have to segment in it 4 pieces that can be glued up but they can do that on their computers.

[JW]

I run Solidworks 2000 and 2016. The sweeps and lofts are not easy to master.

[brandnewb]

or when I have 3mm steel disk. do they need holes cut out for the magnets or can I position them on the surface of the disk?

Can someone please advice on this?

I am moving towards 3mm thick steel plates for both the coil disks and the magnet disks.

But I am not sure if the magnet disk (the rotor) needs to have cut outs for the magnets or if I can simply attach them somehow on the surface?

[brandnewb]

also, can I stack multiple sheets of steel with a very thin thickness on top of each other while spacing them apart ever so slightly? I might be able to source the sheets more affordable that way.

[bigrockcandymountain]

Normally they are glued with cyanoacrylate  and no cutouts.  People then sometimes pour epoxy around them for a better bond. 

The coil disks on a normal axial cannot be steel.  They are just the coils cast in epoxy to make a solid disc.  You can't have a steel disc as it would mess up the magnetic flux from the magnets.  You can't even have nonmagnetic metals, because the changing field would induce eddy currents and such. 

I don't think the stacked plates is a good idea.  It would weaken the magnetic return path if I'm picturing it correctly. 

[brandnewb]

here is an image of that I meant regarding the stacking on this sheets of steel.

[brandnewb]

Find your local maker club, draw what you want made, for a small fee they can do it. Probably have to segment in it 4 pieces that can be glued up but they can do that on their computers.

thank you Mary. At my neck of the woods shops are vew and far between so it seems. Pricing is syco(TM).

I've got half a mind just getting a good 3d / cnc mill hybrid printer my self. The only problem is that I prefer open source.

[MattM]

Modern machine tools create so many new possibilities. 

I look forward to reading about your project.

[brandnewb]

This just in!! major news outlets headlines across the globe read;

Finally got a coil winding template. First attempts with 1mm wire are not good ;(

The wire is unwieldy and although flexible just not easy to force into any turns I need it to go.

I'll share an image of the template alone. No wires to be seen there as I would be too ashamed. It might be just that I do not know how to do proper winding yet

[Bruce S]

well given the last advice I'd like to reach a consensus between all here regarding the use of materials before I plow through. If I am not mistaken someone earlier advised for the use of steel plates but now I am uncertain again given the most recent advice.

Look at reply #12 for the thickness of the steel backing plate for the magnets

[brandnewb]

You meant there is some kind of indicator that displays the response #? If so then please accept my humble apologies but my eye sight did not allow for me to gather that.

If at all possible could you insert a direct link?

[brandnewb]

the steel backer plate can be half as thick as the magnets and it will do fine.

as for your prior question, its like asking what's the best transmission in the world, without specifying anything else.

the most efficient 60 rpm electrical machines would be the 120 rpm generators in hydro electric facilities. (just slow them down a bit)
a close second would be the axial flux motors used in certain US submarines to drive the propeller without a gear box. they have extremely low cogging torque and extremely low torque ripple (no those are not the same thing) so as to remove all the sources of noise that could be transmitted out the propeller.

So officially it should be 2.5mm thick steel. should I size ticker or thinner when 2.5mm is not to be sources?

[TechAdmin]

Restored and unlocked.

[JW]

good job...

[JW]

WHen I press the insert image icon all that happens is
unable to insert an image. How is that supposed to work?

This what we have been talking about all along. We noticed this recently. We cant fix it just yet. Were working on it.... it is highly unusual for us to not be able to upload pics. We know what it is and how it works (thru a MOD). Thats just SMF.

Its looking like it will take another week to get it fixed.

JW

[brandnewb]

and thank you. signalling respect is of paramount importance yes?

but I know you have yes? this was just small oversight yes?