WindDIYenergy 4

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1 Copyright 2009 GreenDIYenergy.com

The $140 Wind Turbine

Do It Yourself (DIY) Instructions

GreenDIYenergy.com


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Table of Contents

SECTION PAGE #

The $140 Wind Turbine 5

How It Works 6

DIY Parts List and Costs 7

Generator 8

Blades and Hub 11

Mounting 21

Batteries 26

Tower 30

Caution 38

Suggested Additions 39


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THE $140 WIND TURBINE:

The Do It Yourself movement is now becomingpopular as a result of the high cost of sustainabletechnology. We have assembled an instructionalmanual that will help you build your own affordablewind turbine out of recycled materials and cheapbuys.

Wind power is an investment that will accompanyyou into the long-term. By following the instructionsin this guide and constructing your own turbine outof affordable materials, you will save even more thanyou would from buying a retail wind turbine systemwhich could cost thousands of dollars.

We have provided you with many ideas, rangingfrom the best types of generators to the shaping andcutting of your own blades. Because there are manycrucial elements to wind turbine construction andproduction, we have provided you with diagrams thatdetail these construction methods as well as images

that depict how the turbine functions overall.


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HOW IT WORKS:

Wind turbines share five common attributes:1. Generator2. Blades and Hub3. Mounting4. Tower5. Control Panel

The wind turbine in our example will provide afew hundred Watts of power. It wasnt designed to

produce enough electricity to power an entire houseor farm, but its incorporation within an existingelectrical system can significantly lower your energybill by taking pressure off of household loads.


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DIY PARTS LIST AND COSTS:

(Approximate figures)


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Generator:

The generator is one of the most critical parts of the

wind turbine. Its responsible for taking power fromthe blades and turning it into usable energy.

Pictured above is the 30 VDC Ametek motor we

used. Without having to go through the complicationof building your own generator, there are several DCmotor options available.


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When used as a generator, a motor rated for 325RPM at 30 Volts could be expected to produce 12+Volts at a reasonably low RPM.

Your motor should have:

High DC Voltage

High Current

Low RPM rating

There are many motor options to choose from. Wesuggest the following options:

Permanent magnet alternators (more expensive,

but they are designed for wind turbine use)

Old computer tape drive motors (surplus relicsfrom the days when there were big reel-to-reeltape drives)

Electric lawn mower motors

Floor buffer motors


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Servo motors

All Ametek motors (30, 38, or 99 VDC work

particularly well)

NOTE:

Car alternators and AC motors have been used forwind turbines, but we have found that they generallydont work very well and arent recommended.

Before you make a final decision about which motorto use as your wind turbine generator, go to themanufacturers web site and research the motorsspecs. If youre browsing Ebay, ask the seller if hehas tested the motor as a generator, or if he can testit for you.

If a motor that can be used as a generator is sellingcheap, you can buy it and test it by chucking it intoyour drill press (or lathe) and turning it on whileattached to a load. If it handles the load, you canuse it. If not, you can resell it on Ebay and get yourmoney back.


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Blades and Hub:

Blades are another crucial element to a wind

turbines functionality, transferring energy producedby the wind into kinetic energy.

To construct your own blades:

Acquire a 6 inch wide, 24 inch long PVC pipe

Quarter the piece of pipe around itscircumference, cutting it lengthwise into four

pieces (diagram on the next page)


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Cut one blade and use it as a template for theothers (standard measurements provided)


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Our research has shown that 3 is the optimumnumber of blades - most commercially made wind

turbines have 3 blades. Turbines with even numbersof blades tend to suffer from vibration problems.Single-bladed turbines need a big counterweightopposite the single blade to keep them balanced.

There are diminishing returns to adding more

blades. Expense and complexity go up quickly, butperformance only improves marginally. Also, addingmore blades tends to increase torque, but thiscomes at the expense of speed.

Generators like to run fast, which is why you rarelysee a wind turbine with more than 5 blades. Inapplications where torque is important, you may seeturbines with lots of blades, like the ones pumpingwater on ranches, but they dont make goodelectrical generators unless their output is gearedway-up in order to create enough speed.


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Use a belt/palm sander to smooth and shape theedges of your PVC pipe quarter-pieces

It is critically important that all the turbine bladesare the exact same size and weight


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Now the blades need to be assembled to a hub. Besure to assemble the hub before you drill any holesin the blade so you can make sure that they line up

correctly with eachother.

Use a scrap disk of Aluminum that is 5 indiameter and in thick


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Bolt together a toothed pulley to fit on themotor of the shaft, making sure that the holefits the motor attachment snugly

Drill holes in the hub for the blades to bescrewed into


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Attach the hub pieces together and thenproceed to connect blades

After assembly, check for balance:

Mark each of your blades with a number

Assemble the blade/hub contraption upon astable support, such as a pole


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Spin the blades approximately 10-15 times

For each spin, document the number upon

the bottom blade

After spinning, notice if the same blade endsup on the bottom each time. This means thatits heavier than the others, which couldoffset the entire turbines productivity

If your blades are unbalanced, you can sand a bitmore off of the heaviest blades curved edge. Then,test it again by using the same process.


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Once you are convinced that the blade/hubcontraption is balanced, attach a dome-shaped vent cap for protection


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Mounting:

To create a mounting for turbine mobility:

Strap the generator to a piece of 2X4 wood

Cut a 4 inch diameter PVC pipe to make ashield for the motor, protecting it from theweather

Construct a tail to keep the blades turned intothe wind with a piece of heavy sheet ofAluminum (tail shape varies by preference)


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Shown above is our mount with the generator and

tail attached.

You need to make sure that your blades arefunctional and always facing into the wind. Create abearing that allows for ample mobility in the windcurrent:

Attach a 1 in iron floor flange, centered 7 inback from the generator-end of the 2X4


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Screw a 10 in long iron pipe nipple to it(displayed below)


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This photo shows the newly constructed head andbase of the wind turbine, prior to final assembly.

Disassemble the generator and tail


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Completely coat all wooden parts with UVprotected latex paint - three coats is ideal toprotect it from harsh weather

After painting, this photo shows the finished headunit with the generator, blades, and tail attached.


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Batteries:

Collecting and using the power created by your new

wind turbine requires the following:

A charge controller

A blocking diode to prevent power from thebatteries being wasted by spinning themotor/generator

One or more batteries to store power producedby the turbine

A secondary load to dump power from theturbine into when the batteries are fully charged

Power Inverter

Car batteries may seem like a good material torecycle for wind turbine utilization, but they are not agood choice for a wind or solar power installation. Ifdischarged too deeply, they become damaged. Car

batteries are designed to deliver a quick burst ofpower to start the engine. They are not meant to bedeeply discharged and recharged repeatedly.


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Recycled golf cart batteries and other types of deepcycle batteries work much better with wind turbinesand will not be destroyed quickly from over-usage.

Whether you build your own or buy one, a chargecontroller for your wind turbine is crucial. It will:

Monitor the Voltage of the battery(s) in yoursystem

Either send power from the turbine into thebatteries to recharge them, or dump the powerfrom the turbine into a secondary load when thebatteries are fully charged (to prevent over-charging and destroying the batteries)

If you did not have a charge controller, your batterywould overload from an abundance of energy,making its life run out faster. A controller is anecessity for your wind turbine, as it will interrupt thesystem before it overcharges. Without a controller,you would have to slavishly watch the voltage onyour batteries and connect and disconnect them

from the wind turbine manually.


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Pictured above is the inside of our charge controller,of which we chose to construct. However, you caneasily purchase a charge controller online at Ebay orother electrical stores.

Before wiring everything together, speak with an

electrician about the best size gauge of wire toensure maximum turbine performance


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Voltage output from a wind turbine varies wildly withwind speed. Without a battery bank and chargecontroller in the system, connecting directly to the

wind turbine could cause damage to the inverter oranother appliance. The load from the battery banksmoothes out the Voltage to something the invertercan handle, providing power during periods of littleor no wind.

Your wind turbine should function in the diagram

presented below:


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Tower:

You must now construct a sturdy tower that will

support everything you have created thus far.

To assemble the tower upright:

Use a 10 ft long piece of 1 in conduit

To test, anchor the pole to four big woodenstakes - driven into the ground with nylon rope


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The photo above shows how the guy-lines shouldattach near the top of the tower.

Use chain-link fence brackets as tie points foryour guy-lines

Place a steel hose clamp at either end of the

stack of brackets to keep them in place


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Later, for a more permanent turbine establishment:

Replace the wood and nylon with steel and

cement the tower into the ground

This photo shows the base of the tower, staked tothe ground. A wire from the wind turbine exits from a

Tee below the conduit tower.

Cut off both ends of an old extension cord (to

connect between the turbine and the controller)

Put spade lugs on both ends


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Threading the wire through the tower is fairly easy,but you may have to use a fish-tape or string line topull the cord through the conduit.

Grease the pipe on the bottom of the head andslide it into the top of the conduit


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When the wind starts blowing, the turbine headshould snap around into it and begin spinning upquickly until the output Voltage exceeds thebattery Voltage plus the blocking diode drop(which is around 13.3 Volts, depending on the

state of the battery charge)


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This photo shows our controller, battery,inverter andassociated electronics wired up to the turbine.

Once maximum Voltage is exceeded, the turbinesuddenly has a load as it begins dumping powerinto the battery

Once it has a load to power, the Voltage fromthe turbine only goes up a little as wind speed

increases

RPMs only slightly increase as wind speedincreases


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Remember: More wind = More Current into thebattery = More load on the generator

Here is a close up of the electronics. The metershows that the wind turbine is producing 13.32 Volts.

The electric shaver and battery charger are

providing loads on the system through the ACinverter.


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To do maintenance on the wind turbine or incases of high wind, you will need to shut downthe wind turbine by shorting the turbine output.

This will halt the blades and make the turbinesafe to work with.


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Caution:

The whole head-assembly can swing around ifwinds change direction during maintenance. Becareful!

Generally, the wind turbine created in this guideisnt loud. However, it may be overhead by those

situated in close proximity when the wind isblowing hard.

There is no big tendency for the cable to twistup. However, if you use your turbine excessively

and it does become twisted, you can alwaysdisconnect the wires at the bottom of the mastand manually untwist them.


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Suggested additions:

If you are interested in investing a bit more time and

money into your wind turbine, here are someoptions:

Add meters to monitor battery Voltage andcharge/discharge Current

Add tachometer to track speed of spin

To increase reserve storage capacity: add morebatteries

To increase power production: add a secondwind turbine or solar panels

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