Developing countries and wind generation

[mwmwm]

My wife spent a few months in Kenya as part of her Master's in International Development, including a month in a village in Western Kenya with no power, and no plumbing, and fresh water less than 1 KM away. Electricity was 2 KM away, yet I was able to talk to her on her cell phone most nights -- as long as she had a charge. This is not unusual in developing countries: villages with cellphone access, but no local power. We've been helping this village somewhat financially, but sustainable energy of any kind -- even the small bit for cell phone charging -- is something else entirely, for them: it becomes a way to connect to others.

We recently purchased a hobby farm in eastern Nova Scotia, where the wind blows a lot. I will be, in the next year, experimenting with systems that use available materials to produce usable energy, even if in small amounts.

For example, it seems to me that plastic 1-Liter water/Coke/Fanta bottles, if cut right and affixed correctly to a rigid infrastructure, could produce a viable windmill. If that, with either a belt or a gear, could run an automobile alternator/generator enough to keep a 12-volt battery charged (w/o a lot of knowledge of amps/volts/etc.), then a significant boon would be available to non-electrified villages throughout Africa. They can get their hands on alternators, and on plastic bottles, and on a tall structure, but if they have to buy a bunch of electrical equipment, they're sunk. Too expensive, and thus unlikely to be applicable.

If I/we could come up with a blueprint for the following, we could help change the world:

• 1 blueprint for how to use the standard curvature of 1-liter bottles to cut (with sharp knife) and affix to a windmill-like structure (light, fairly strong) that drove a belt/pulley system that drove a truck/car alternator to charge a 12-volt battery
  
  
• 1 kit (< $50) that includes fanbelt(?), affixing systems for constructing the windmill, and wires to charge the battery
  
  

... then the Kenyans could come up with:

• 1 12-volt car battery
  
  
• 1 alternator/generator harvested from junked car
  
  
• 15-50 1-liter plastic bottles
  
  
• 10-100 hours of raw labor
  
  
• great enthusiasm
  
  
• a reason to buy a 12-volt-to-cell-phone converter
  
  
• the means of a small business that charges cell phones via the wind (or via a bicycle attached to the same alternator/generator
  
  

I'll be working on this periodically -- not unlike (though much smaller than) the "One Laptop Per Child" initiative -- for the next year or so. I think it can be done, even if inefficiently. Inefficient isn't the issue, in this case -- cheapness of raw materials is the key issue, and not needing technical knowledge.

Any suggestions appreciated: how can we do this? This community is, by far, the most likely I've found, to tussle with this question. It has to be simple, implementable, and use local materials, and rely on labor more than high-tech materials.

Is it even possible?

[willib]

if their government could supply cheap neo magnets to their citizens , it would go a long way to getting them power.

without the magnets i'm afraid it doesnt look good . unless they have access to a lot of scrap microwave ovens , not neos but they will produce power.

you might also get the wire from discarded starter relays.

ps the auto alternator just wont work without serious modification.

[s4w2099]

I am with willib on this. You cant use a car alternator for this. You would have to build an alternator. The plastic bottles I estimate that will not punch much more than 2-15 watts in a decent wind at the most.

[mwmwm]

I have a hard time believing that we can't trickle-charge a 12-v battery with wind, produced from lightweight blades produced from the "natural standard" curvature (albeit cut down into flexible, replacable blades) that comes from 1-liter size bottles, presuming they're properly cut to catch the wind.

2-15 watts per hour? per day?

If it's "per hour" then that how is it different than the solar-powered charger (at $99):

http://www.21st-century-goods.com/page/21st/PROD/SPT/GSE65

or the pedal-powered one:

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/358/C11323/   ... don't know the price

For us, $99 makes the solar charger kind of cute. For those folks in Kenya, that makes it too expensive, especially since if it breaks, they have to replace the whole thing. I'm trying to figure out a sustainable modular system, with replaceable parts, that would appeal to the folks in the African outback. I'm afraid "the [Kenyan] government" won't be helping with this sort of grassroots-enabling kind of thing.

[s4w2099]

I am not trying to hold you. I meant it could make 2-15 watts of peak power(instant reading) and I am being optimistic about the 15Watts. Probably it would make much less than that average. I dont know how much power you want to generate with this type of device. LED lighting might work for you. In that case you wont need to charge a 12V SLA. Just Use some NiMH.

I am just saying that 1L bottles could be very small to trap an usable amount of power from the wind. Thats my opinion though I might be wrong.

In the upcoming week I will try that myself since I wanted to do something like that for a few months. I will try a small VAWT 24" tall made with 4" PVC pipe cut in half to make the two blades (cups). I would really be happy if I can get 15 watts out of it.

[willib]

there is no wood in africa?

the blades arent the problem

i'm sure anyone who wanted to make a set would have access to wood working tools

[mwmwm]

Thanks.

I'm only trying to devise a wind-powered "charging kiosk" that could charge 10-20 cell phones a day, max. That, for rural Kenya, would be a good little business, for the next few years. I'm not trying to power lights, or air conditioners, just recharge cell phones. Any extra power would be bonus, but not the key issue.

Re the 1 liter bottles -- I'm envisioning them laid horizontally, affixed via the screw-top to an L-brace, and curve cut consistently "on the bevel" to produce wind-catching arms -- and might produce a reasonable windmill:

\ ' /

- * -

/ ' \

but then, this is mostly in my head, not actually, physically tried!

Thanks for your interest. I think this is doable, and worthwhile perfecting the blueprint, if so.

[mwmwm]

There's wood in Kenya (and in much of Africa), but not high-quality woodworking tools. Way too expensive. Remember, they're subsisting on a dollar a day.

So yes, hand-crafted beauty (artisanship), but hand-crafted accuracy, so that each blade is at the balanced, precise best angle in a three-blade wind-power propeller...  not so much.

Plastic bottles they have in abundance, which are lighter-weight than wood, and have a consistent curve that could be applied to this problem.

If the bottles can be cut to create geometrically appropriate curves, and effectively affixed by lightweight means to a windmill frame of some kind, then a low-tech, low-efficiency (but high-value) power source coulbe be made to happen, by far more people in far more villages.

That's my hope, anyway.

[bigdan]

Do you have access to 24v truck fan motors. Any junk used dc motors, the higher voltage and lower RPM the better. Wood blades or PVC style blades and a hub attaching the blades to the motor. Placed on a tower and you have a cheap low voltage generator.

[wdyasq]

If a frog had wings...

Have you even checked to see how much power is available at the prevailing wind speed? What the swept area of 'plastic bottle' is.

That would be a place to start.

Ron

[Norm]

Can be made with 1 liter bottles but 2 liter

works better.....

http://www.mothergoose.com/Whirligig/bigWhirl/bgwhirl.htm

Can be fastened together with small metal screws

instead of glue....a bunch of them could wind up

a weight....

            ( :>) Norm.

[s4w2099]

Ok, then you are going to need many of these devices but I think its doable. Its probably cheaper to make a bigger mill though. 20 Cell phones to be recharged equals to about 100Watts of power. Most of them charge from 5Vdc@1Amp so thats 5Watts per cell phone. 5Watts * 20 phones = 100Watts.

Are you planing to install these devices for individual families? or is this going to be like a central place for them to charge the cell phones? if its a central place probably a bigger machine would be cheaper, it will not have the advantage to be fixed with trash though.

[s4w2099]

I was thinking that it could be better done with a VAWT design since *I THINK* that making that type of rotor the bearing friction will kill most of the power. Being this small probably a VAWT system might be able to fight better the bearing friction because of the extra torque.

He could probably use cassette (tape) belts and pulleys to increase the RPM of the alternator. I will try that myself since I have a couple of cassette drives that I dont use anymore.

[Jerry]

MWMWM you've mentioned the availability of soda botteles and car alternators.

And as mentioned what about microwave ovens (see Ed at windstuffnow) VCRs, motors, old speakers for magnets ECT?

Maybe a group could make a trip to a city and find some of these dicarded things?

You could take the doughnut shaped speaker magnet and use that to replace the car alternators rotor coil then wire the 3 phases speratly to there own rectifier then sires the 3 dc outputs, and if these alts were 24 volt then the direct blade mounted rpm should be enough. However I think you'l need something other then the bottles for blades.

Just my 2 cents.

                          JK TAS Jerry

[mukunthko]

If you're only thinking of 15 watt turbines. You can just use the bottles as cups and make an anemometer type turbine. You could then possibly connect cycle dynamos for generation. you get them for 2 dollars each. they're rated at 3 watts and 6 volts.

[luv2weld]

We seem to be hung up on the blades. I don't see the blades as the

problem here. The problem is going to be the alternator. From what I read here, we're talking about a village of grass shacks. No money, no access to magnets or copper wire.

But they do have access to junk cars and trucks.

So how about using the alternator from a car hooked up to a stationary bike. You can

get the RPMs up better than with a small wind generator. So instead of standing around

watching the wind charge the cell phones, they have to pedal the bike.

If there are cars and trucks (running) available, how about a DC to DC voltage

converter to charge the phone batteries??

They could also salvage the wire from starters, alternators, coils and relays that

can be found in junk cars. The salvaged wire could be used to wind coils for a

larger wind generator. The wires in the cars could be used as the wires to run

the power from the alternator to the point of use. Brake drums, hubs, all kinds

of things for making wind generators. But you still have the problem of finding

the magnets. If you are planning on sponsoring this village, maybe some of us could

help with donations of magnets. WAIT!!!! Don't beat me to death yet!!!!I'm not talking about each of us donating 24 of the 2"x 1" neos. I'm thinking more along the lines of the magnets used by CmeBREW in his low wind generator. Here is a link

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/5/7/35346/08541

Also I think Nothing To Lose, Ed Lentz, and a lot of other folks have done a lot of

playing with small magnets.

This village could become another Fiji. This link is to BT Humble's account of trip http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/4/20/8510/36796

This means more work for you than for us. We can provide some of the supplies,

but you have to actually go there and teach them.

But let's not get carried away here. We can't sponsor everybody that's poor.

If you're going to do that, add my name to the poor list!!

Also you expressed concern over their ability to deal with technical problems. The

answer is for you to teach 3 people there. Then each one of them must teach 3 more.

And so on. Soon the whole village will have the knowledge without a lot of superhuman

effort.

You could even contact manufacturers for help. A lot of good will and free

advertising if they donate. Even for small donations. This can become your "Mission

in Life".

There are lots of possibilities out there. Let's not get hung up on little things.

Also remember that we might want to help, but we are not willing to bankrupt

ourselves in the process.

Keep us informed of what you're going to do.

Ralph

[ghurd]

Not trying to rain on your parade.

Other than a car alternator and soda bottles won't play together.  You should try to get it just to turn itself with soda bottles and you will see what everyone is saying.

It would almost certainly be cheaper to use solar.

Plus with solar there is almost nothing to go wrong.  Who will understand this windmill enough to maintain or repair it?

How many cell phones are in the area, how many brands, how many voltages, how many connecter variations... ?

You could certainly build a solar charger for you wife's phone for $20.

Say $7 for the PV, $2 phone connectors, $1 controller, $2 for everything else, leaving $6 for shipping.

G-

[hvirtane]

Hi,

I know in Kenya two small companies

making very similar wind turbines as DanB and others have made.

http://www.hedon.info/goto.php/MonsoonRenewableEnergyKenya

The other is here:

http://www.craftskills.biz/why-wind.htm

They are also sometimes posting here.

- Hannu