The last bit of work was done on the the vacuum pump and vacuum reservoir.  If remember the one imploded on me.  The little unit I made is from the same plastic tube used for my pool filters.  This is the suction I could get from a small 12V pump.

 

At the end of the vacuum line I created this "stop valve".
 

And a week later the needle did not move. Week is long but I forgot about the test. Wanted to take a small video and then realized I forgot about the test A week is way to long a few hours is fine for the resin to harden. No leaks are important for air bubbles and to keep the carbon fiber etc. in place.

 

Edited November 30, 20214 yr by Erastus

The vacuum device in action. Primitive but it creates good suction and  very cheap. Sorry for the shaking's.   I could not get a vacuum pump locally for 3 x the cost of the total unit.  The unit is now fully vacuum tight.  What a mission and ready.  The fully vacuum tight created a better reading and ..

 

 

Edited November 30, 20214 yr by Erastus

Something trivial.

The lid is from 10mm perspex the black "ring" is a section of 10mm x 5mm deep that I had cut out filled with black silicon and that is the seal.  O rings and other stuff worked for pressure but not as good as the good old silicon for a bath tub.

Edited November 30, 20214 yr by Erastus

The plate for the magnets and the spacing of it. I had it drawn in auto cad so when I get it cut its ready for them

Did a few software additions:  Below is the menu:

Moving RR   -> 656

Rot Done -> 0  Coil Width  -> 20  StepMode  -> 1  Wind's -> 100  LRStep -> 20 Mode O Motor OFF  Dir L

r reset counters to zero Motor off
s Set winding count
e Emergency stop
d enter wire diameter
G Start winding
c Show counters
t Steps per thickness of wire
w Width/Height in winds
m Test Motor

 

d is the thickness of the copper wire and it will calculate the amount of windings and thw width is specified by menu selection w.

This is the update line where the small micro feeds back to the PC.

Rot Done -> 0  Coil Width  -> 20  StepMode  -> 1  Wind's -> 100  LRStep -> 20 Mode O Motor OFF  Dir L

Step mode is the degrees per step the selection is from:
"1  One Step";
 "2  1/2 Step";
"4  1/4 Step";
"8  1/8 Step";
"6  1/16 Step";
This is moving the cradle left to right or right to left....
At the end it is about feeding the wire properly toe ensure the coils is winded properly and prevent the windings from climbing on top of the next...
Rot == Rotations or windings done.

Edited November 30, 20214 yr by Erastus

What is lacking is the courage to wind the the first coil.  Always mind over matter ...

Thank you for the update, and your courage to do this on a public platform. 

6 hours ago, YellowTapemeasure said:

Thank you for the update, and your courage to do this on a public platform. 

Not really.  The inputs I got and the questions is truly worth it.

On the ROI topic even severe criticism leads to the good as you start investigating matters.  Simply put when doing something criticism is often the best input and most valuable.

All inputs saves time, costs and improves the product.
The inputs on this topic thus far made me change some stuff and looked out for others and truly appreciated.

Today we start the winding process. There are a few interested in installing this so it is important to make this easy to replicate very low in cost and low in maintenance and easy to replicate.  The so called excuse in SA is we did no maintenance... 😇  But not one person was laid off. I recon I will get away with 4 bearings as movable parts.

My main concern is the rust factor in the magnet area.  The steel mounting and "flow" plates should have regular heat on it but the magnets facing the North Wester directly from the sea.  That is the main issue.

The prototype will be from mild steel the next one from stainless.  Therefore the reason to use carbon fiber as a medium light strong cost effective (except in F1) and durable.

If one does not have to do maintenance then make it that it requires no humans and therefore low costs.  Trust a robot ..
 

What started as a two or three unit has created other interests and best to spend time on the long lasting of it which I recon should be 15 years plus.

Edited December 1, 20214 yr by Erastus

And the windings are purrrrrfect.

 

Now that the winding system sorted I am waiting for the magnet  template and test the coils layout with it.  When done and happy the first two disk for the magnets will be cut and sample magnets placed on them ready for the final tests..

That will bring us to the next phase where my house will be prepped  for the  3M something pillar from 75mm Sched 40 pipe.

Should the magnets & coil layout be acceptable then I will get the bright bar shaft 30mm +/- 1M. This shaft will be connected to the 3 x 3M blades and magnets. Will be mounted on the two flange bearings

I am breaking away from the normal convention of welding and manufacturing.  The reason is simple there just to many excuses for what and what not.  Thus the bearings will be mounted on channel iron welded into a U shape.  Channel iron I can buy in a 6M length pre-cut to the right length.  Then cut out 4 V bend the end up 90degrees and voila the frame is done.  The first will be done next week.
No other welding engineering and begging to get some work done.

What is important about this is that there will be very little plates that needs to be cut and welded.  What I am not sure is how stable the unit will be on when mounted on the vertical axle where the East West movement is important so the tail follows the wind.  I do not have the know how to calculate that.

 

The next bit of waffle will have the frame/mounting I have in mind.

 

bearings will be the following type:

Edited December 2, 20214 yr by Erastus

Yesterday I did my dry runs on manufacturing the coils.  Although the coils will work 100% I realized that my formula for calculating lateral travel is not 100%.  This will prevent me from "packing" the windings tightly and will cause an increase in size that has a domino effect.

To calculate the travel I will get one of these tomorrow and from that I will have a very accurate lateral travel.  This will pack the windings very tight saving space saving copper wire.

 

Finlay the project is running faster and smoother now I have the manufacturing sorted and hopefully this week we will see the first few watts generated from the stater. That will provide the final formulas for rpm/Kw and how effective the electronic break will be combined with the software that emulates solar panels.

The electronics will generate two galvanic isolated power bands that I will be able to feed into my 2 inverters.  Maybe into the third one too.  The hope is to generate +/- 13Kwhr at the current wind speeds in Cape Town. 

With that successful  the next step will be to push for up to 17Kwhr in the stronger winds.  What will be nice is to add a second turbine that will have its own 20Kwhr inverter and then be able to feed parallel power to the inverters one side PV and other side wind genie.

Quit often when the winds are strong in winter the sun is low,  Thus the inverters will have an added function where by night and low sun high wind conditions it will pump power back into the grid 24/7 depending on THE WIND.

Edited December 5, 20214 yr by Erastus

Well done for pushing on with this project, I'm learning alot. 

With the rust concern of yours, maybe look at few layers of Q30 spray. It creates a protective skin against moisture, salt and corrosion. Just a thought. 

Impressive

15 hours ago, Martd said:

Well done for pushing on with this project, I'm learning alot. 

With the rust concern of yours, maybe look at few layers of Q30 spray. It creates a protective skin against moisture, salt and corrosion. Just a thought. 

Many many thanks for the info.  Will that be a permanent layer>

This part will run at 380 - 450 RPM?

Ensure the surfaces are free from grease, dust etc. 2 or 3 coats with each drying. I've had success with the product on the coast. 

On safe side check after year or 2. I've used for 3 years and no reapply needed yet. 

 

Travel calculated. Could not understand the use of the stand until I had to mount the unit so a make shift mounting and all worked well.  Only the final magnets to mount and then we can rock and roll

 

Now the magnets can be mounted and the winding can start,

Not an easy job for me.

 

After changing a few software lines and trimming the values then adding more magnets  on the "disk" calibration is  "GOOD".

On the rotational side I managed to do a step every 22.5 degrees or 16 steps (lateral movement) per revolution. Combine that with the "NEW" control I have on the lateral movement of .023mm it creates a very fine control for the wire placement.

Thus the coils will be 99.X% identical tightly packed.  This will create more heat but when "designing" the frame work I will make use of "flutes" with in the disks to direct wind for the cool down of the windings. The uniformity of the windings makes a difference in the power supplied to the inverter therefore it will become easier not to use a MPPT.  The old formula  Rint = Rload The closer I can get them the easier it becomes to do the engagement software for the final controls.

I spend a fair amount making sure the starting of the generator and the Kwhr presented to the inverter is as steady as possible and therefore the same as a PV panel.  Controlling the device the way I do also removes cogging. The inverter then becomes a dumb device that must simply generate power and no other funnies.

My objective is to get +/- 7Kwhr from this stater depending on the wind speed.

The final tweaks will happen shortly then the winding will start.

10 hours ago, Erastus said:

After changing a few software lines and trimming the values then adding more magnets  on the "disk" calibration is  "GOOD".

On the rotational side I managed to do a step every 22.5 degrees or 16 steps (lateral movement) per revolution. Combine that with the "NEW" control I have on the lateral movement of .023mm it creates a very fine control for the wire placement.

Thus the coils will be 99.X% identical tightly packed.  This will create more heat but when "designing" the frame work I will make use of "flutes" with in the disks to direct wind for the cool down of the windings. The uniformity of the windings makes a difference in the power supplied to the inverter therefore it will become easier not to use a MPPT.  The old formula  Rint = Rload The closer I can get them the easier it becomes to do the engagement software for the final controls.

I spend a fair amount making sure the starting of the generator and the Kwhr presented to the inverter is as steady as possible and therefore the same as a PV panel.  Controlling the device the way I do also removes cogging. The inverter then becomes a dumb device that must simply generate power and no other funnies.

My objective is to get +/- 7Kwhr from this stater depending on the wind speed.

The final tweaks will happen shortly then the winding will start.

Here is the part that I do not understand. My understanding of commercial turbines is that they generate 3 phase AC and then convert it to DC, and then the turbine controller then feeds the DC to an MPPT controller (like the Sunsynk's MPPT).

So I need some context, because I read that you don't want to use an MPPT controller due to excessive cost. What is your turbine generator generating, 3ph AC? Are you going to feed 3ph AC into your inverter? 

My apologies if this is a silly question, I am just trying to understand your design a bit better. 

Edited December 8, 20214 yr by YellowTapemeasure

18 hours ago, YellowTapemeasure said:

Here is the part that I do not understand. My understanding of commercial turbines is that they generate 3 phase AC and then convert it to DC, and then the turbine controller then feeds the DC to an MPPT controller (like the Sunsynk's MPPT).

So I need some context, because I read that you don't want to use an MPPT controller due to excessive cost. What is your turbine generator generating, 3ph AC? Are you going to feed 3ph AC into your inverter? 

My apologies if this is a silly question, I am just trying to understand your design a bit better. 

Not a silly question.  I have "my own"  three phase 10Kwatt inverter that will be interfaced to the turbine.  So I can do what I want to do.

For this reason it is easy to dump the MPPT and do an PV emulation with the same controller.  Thus I can save on component cost and interfacing cost.  I am not fond of MPPT as it caters for a bad design,  Each MPPT has its own complications and all it is  as I said in the past to compensate for a bad design. It also has its own losses

Hopefully I can run two three phase inverters on it one for the PV and one for the wind generator,

THAT IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL.

In my case I am working towards a larger unit 4 or 5M one depending on the success of this one.
There is a fair amount of EXTRA logic involved as the coils and magnets could create "cogging" very fast.

My objective is to make use of small to large size winds.

I want three moving parts which is three bearings nothing else. No breaks, no gears no MPPT no ...

With my own 3 phase meter that will form part of lets se what we will get.

Its gettting close to putting the first one together.

Here we go the next phase is starting.

A basic plan (not that there is much more about it) of the steel design. Once again the less humans and engineering the better of we are.  It appears that the only welding will be where the disks meets the shaft unless someone has a better idea.  I am extremely limited when it comes to steel work.

The mounting "steel" ( due to a lack of how to describe it) is from a section of rectangle tubing cut and bend in a U shape  and 800mm x 600mm x 600m  for Nr 1.

Its always easier to go smaller where extending or enlarging it comes with a BIG delay.

One thing I learned "engineering ... builders....makenixes ..."  😇 😉

Sorry don't know how to rotate the drawing

 

Edited December 9, 20214 yr by Erastus

On 2021/12/08 at 8:27 AM, Erastus said:

After changing a few software lines and trimming the values then adding more magnets  on the "disk" calibration is  "GOOD".

On the rotational side I managed to do a step every 22.5 degrees or 16 steps (lateral movement) per revolution. Combine that with the "NEW" control I have on the lateral movement of .023mm it creates a very fine control for the wire placement.

Thus the coils will be 99.X% identical tightly packed.  This will create more heat but when "designing" the frame work I will make use of "flutes" with in the disks to direct wind for the cool down of the windings. The uniformity of the windings makes a difference in the power supplied to the inverter therefore it will become easier not to use a MPPT.  The old formula  Rint = Rload The closer I can get them the easier it becomes to do the engagement software for the final controls.

I spend a fair amount making sure the starting of the generator and the Kwhr presented to the inverter is as steady as possible and therefore the same as a PV panel.  Controlling the device the way I do also removes cogging. The inverter then becomes a dumb device that must simply generate power and no other funnies.

My objective is to get +/- 7Kwhr from this stater depending on the wind speed.

The final tweaks will happen shortly then the winding will start.

I could not  get it to work unattended and then I put the new dial indicator on the disk and realized the disk wabble.  So its back to the lath shop to get it trimmed not to wobble

34 minutes ago, Erastus said:

Not a silly question.  I have "my own"  three phase 10Kwatt inverter that will be interfaced to the turbine.  So I can do what I want to do.

For this reason it is easy to dump the MPPT and do an PV emulation with the same controller.  Thus I can save on component cost and interfacing cost.  I am not fond of MPPT as it caters for a bad design,  Each MPPT has its own complications and all it is  as I said in the past to compensate for a bad design. It also has its own losses

Hopefully I can run two three phase inverters on it one for the PV and one for the wind generator,

THAT IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL.

In my case I am working towards a larger unit 4 or 5M one depending on the success of this one.
There is a fair amount of EXTRA logic involved as the coils and magnets could create "cogging" very fast.

My objective is to make use of small to large size winds.

I want three moving parts which is three bearings nothing else. No breaks, no gears no MPPT no ...

With my own 3 phase meter that will form part of lets se what we will get.

Its gettting close to putting the first one together.

Thanks for the clarification, I now understand, it's a very efficient design.

22 minutes ago, Erastus said:

Here we go the next phase is starting.

A basic plan (not that there is much more about it) of the steel design. Once again the less humans and engineering the better of we are.  It appears that the only welding will be where the disks meets the shaft unless someone has a better idea.  I am extremely limited when it comes to steel work.

The mounting "steel" ( due to a lack of how to describe it) is from a section of rectangle tubing cut and bend in a U shape  and 800mm x 600mm x 600m  for Nr 1.

Its always easier to go smaller where extending or enlarging it comes with a BIG delay.

One thing I learned "engineering ... builders....makenixes ..."  😇 😉

Sorry don't know how to rotate the drawing