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4 Kwatt wind generator


DDD

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There is the magnet and pickup  Nou it is automated.  Insert the number of turns and it will stop when that amount is reached

Little video swoing the counting

For those not so into electronics. The magnet is 3mm x 3mm glod plated and is often swollowed by humans thne it can be followed through the body.

Monday I will start testing the coil and voltage generated by the magnets.  Magnets are 70mm x 50mm x 20mm. A test rig will be build and then we can view the wave forms and measure the current with instrumentation to verify my maths
 

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Edited by Erastus
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My new cradle to feed the wire.  I adapted the software and the coil manufacturing process will be fully automated. 
I am to lazy to watch the coils been made.

Coil winder made to handle two coils and there is the little menu for the selection and options

 

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And the main motor also replaced.  They now both run in synch and all timed on the pickup monitoring the count.

Now that the software is done motors synchronized will get some one to do a decent frame for me as I am totally useless with that.

One fully automated coil winder.  Some features are:

Variable tension to set the winding tightness for a solid coil.
System calculates the travel per thickness of the copper thickness of the coil and windings.
Auto stop on the windings
Left right calculation done in micro
Left Right speed gets automatically synced with the spool.
 

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1 hour ago, YellowTapemeasure said:

This is great @Erastus, I really appreciate your journal, please keep posting.

 

Its a pleasure hopefully more will start using and safe $.  That's the ultimate goal.
But for a motor the winder is done. 

We now have an automated system for those who wants coils in the future without struggling.

Now the molds and then the blades from carbon fiber.

Then the smart controller.  Hopefully end of the month we are in the position to assemble and start with first unit

Regards

Edited by Erastus
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10 minutes ago, Erastus said:

Its a pleasure hopefully more will start using and safe $.  That's the ultimate goal.
But for a motor the winder is done. 

We now have an automated system for those who wants coils in the future without struggling.

Now the molds and then the blades from carbon fiber.

Then the smart controller.  Hopefully end of the month we are in the position to assemble and start with first unit

Regards

If you can package this for a reasonable price I'll be the first to place an order.

Will go nicely with my 8kw sunsynk connected on the aux input of the inverter. 

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1 hour ago, Achmat said:

If you can package this for a reasonable price I'll be the first to place an order.

Will go nicely with my 8kw sunsynk connected on the aux input of the inverter. 

Achmat,

What I am desperatly "trying" to do is to get a nice one going for all of us.  I am also trying to make it so that you can feed "2 or 3" inverters so that a person only rely on a stupid micro processor.

So I am making it in a isolated form that we can split the power into two or 1 or 4 directions so we do not have earth loops,  Then with a few different pieces of software we should be able to switch between the different devices.

I will also make it so that one can start with a small device and then upscale.  It seems that the most expensive part is the copper thus far.

Hopefully I can replace the "solar" panels with it. That is my idea.

The last thing I want is that people must then buy this and that and and and  then it is to complicated and expensive.

It must be availble for those who want to build and save like me and then the people who wants to buy it complete.

Its quite a bit of work for one and by golly I am terrible with my hands 12 thumbs but  getting there.

For that the coils machine and for that imy test set so I can test the coil and make sure it complies with the persons system tralalalalalalaaaa

Edited by Erastus
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8 hours ago, Speedster said:

How much wind does one need to make these feasible?

Difficult to say right now. The longer and bigger blades will need less wind and then its about the max power from the wind.  Mine I am designing because we have  good winds many days. Cape Town known as one of the best wind surf places in the world. Judging by the wind surfers and kites I recon there will be plenty. Therefore it will push the Kwhr when the sun is weaker or down.
For other areas I recon less Kw.  I  have not as yet studied the wind maps of SA. If you consider the trees in Cpt  is affected by the wind I recon it will be a close tossup between solar and wind. For that I pushing to get 6 - 7Kwh from my unit.  Will start testing coils and power from tomorrow on. That will explain the feasibility of it.
As for now I have no formula's or information I can provide as accurate information.

In Cape Town I am sure it will be a very good addition.

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8 hours ago, Erastus said:

Difficult to say right now. The longer and bigger blades will need less wind and then its about the max power from the wind.  Mine I am designing because we have  good winds many days. Cape Town known as one of the best wind surf places in the world. Judging by the wind surfers and kites I recon there will be plenty. Therefore it will push the Kwhr when the sun is weaker or down.
For other areas I recon less Kw.  I  have not as yet studied the wind maps of SA. If you consider the trees in Cpt  is affected by the wind I recon it will be a close tossup between solar and wind. For that I pushing to get 6 - 7Kwh from my unit.  Will start testing coils and power from tomorrow on. That will explain the feasibility of it.
As for now I have no formula's or information I can provide as accurate information.

In Cape Town I am sure it will be a very good addition.

https://windguru.cz is an authoritative source of wind info, used by the boating community. There is current as well as historical info. What I have picked up is that there is a general trend towards lighter wind earlier in the day, and stronger wind at night (although there are exceptions). This makes it ideal as a complementary energy source to PV, as it produces when there is no sun. The investment is therefore comparable to having batteries (albeit it will require more maintenance).

I would love a wind generator, but just don't have space in my tiny garden, and I am sure that the neighbors will complain about the noise, but despite this I am very enthusiastic about it, Particularly for coastal installs, like CT and PE.

Edited by YellowTapemeasure
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2 hours ago, YellowTapemeasure said:

https://windguru.cz is an authoritative source of wind info, used by the boating community. There is current as well as historical info. What I have picked up is that there is a general trend towards lighter wind earlier in the day, and stronger wind at night (although there are exceptions). This makes it ideal as a complementary energy source to PV, as it produces when there is no sun. The investment is therefore comparable to having batteries (albeit it will require more maintenance).

I would love a wind generator, but just don't have space in my tiny garden, and I am sure that the neighbors will complain about the noise, but despite this I am very enthusiastic about it, Particularly for coastal installs, like CT and PE.

Many thanks will check

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  • 2 weeks later...

1.  How many magnets in th e rotor?  What size are they?

2. What speed of rotation to generate the 4...6kW ?

3. How noisy will the generator be? I'm thinking about  family and neighbours....

4.  How will your brake work?  It's tricky stopping it in strongish wind...

5.  Would you have it mounted on a pole/structure and at what height would it work at its best?

Fascinating project. 

Edited by Adri
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Currently I am busy doing tests to evaluate cost effective magnets. I am not 100% sure how many the final alternator will have but I recon between 96 and 120 magnets.
The cost of the magnet is  R34 where the fancy magnets are R 198 per magnet.  I recon there will be a huge saving on magnets.
The final size I can not comment on currently as I am evaluating the magnets, coils and blades.  The mounting place and size

I am also testing and adapting it for the stronger winds we have in Cape Town so I can generate higher wattage.  Thus far I have done some modifications to the coils and copper size both to handle heat and to get around mppt.

The speed for maks power I recon will be +/= 50 - 60Kph. Depending on the magnets and blades  the alternator have the potential to generate 12Kw.  But not so fast that is in a purrrrrfect configuration and no losses.

The alternator is very quiet.  The blades in the wind has some noise but then where I live we are use to the noise of the wind and will generate some noise but it is a 400/500 rpm design therefore noise is not as these 12/24V mosquitoes.  😉

Break is simple it is electronic with some software loops.

The unit will be on a pole on my roof. Hopefully very soon and by 4mm inside the law.   😜
In winter when its cold it will be fine summer might be not fine.   

Talking nonsense I have about between 6 - 10mm spare

As for mounting in the winter the NW hits us head on. Last winter it took some of my roof and veranda roofs etc.  I recon on the gust and stormy winds there is a huge possibility to generate full capacity but it is stormy conditions.  On the normal South Easter the funnel we have as wind is channeled I recon the mounting height above the roof and the SE will generate good KW.  The black South Easter will push more but my actual worry is the NW.

Its open in front of us and  it will hit and hit hard.  In the storm conditions our 6mm windows at the back of the house get pushed out +/- 20 - 30mm.  Any 5mm or less will not last. Some years ago I was involved with a wind plume model in Cpt and I am pretty sure that in the strong winds I will get > 4.5Kw from the turbine.

If it works as I expect it to work then we will go for a large one of 9M blades I would love to push 15 - 20Kw I recon there is good winds that will allow us that will be ideal on the farms  in the area.

The nice about this is I have a prop a alternator a few magnets and a tail a small micro and a few pieces of electronics. Extremely low cost and that is why I am doing some funnies.

The lower the cost the better the design.  I recon a carbon fiber blade going to cost +/- R1000 the mat I verified is R380 not sure about the resin amount but 5Kg cost R390.  This weekend I will start making the molds then I will see the amount of resin required.

But yes it is a very nice project. Did not expect so many areas of involvement but it is extremely nice time spend on this project.

Thanks for the interest!!!

Edited by Erastus
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