Really Need Advice Making Micro Wind Farm

[Robmcg]

6x3ft to guess, Maybe able to fit 7x4ft, something else that I am curious about is how they deal with cross winds, as I get a lot of that. Traditional windmills swivel, I really don't know how verticals would deal with sudden wind changes.

Also something that inspired this idea, Lincoln Electric's world head quarter's is less then 2 miles from me and they have a 400~ft windmill to help power their plant. 1 Floor up and you can see it clear as day, I am at the same altitude of that massive windmill.

 

[Alec_t]

Maybe able to fit 7x4ft,

Not sure which is height and which is radius/diameter, but something that size will experience a very large force trying to blow it over. Have you thought how you would safely anchor it to the building? You wouldn't want it landing on some passing pedestrian down at ground level .

 

[BobK]

Gravity does not help with rotating the blades of a windmill!

A vertical windmill does not have to be pointed into the wind, it operates with wind from any direction, which is one of its major advantages.

Bob

 

[Bluejets]

Then there are things like blade balance and gyroscopic forces to contend with.

As far as rotating the whole show for wind direction.......the old Southern Cross water pumps have done it for the last 100 years or so....
I'd say about half a dozen of these might get close to your 25Kwh/day

 

[Bluejets]

So with my availible area, I was thinking I could fit a 5-6 foot vertical windmill in that space easier. Also would it be more efficient to use a AC generator over DC? Knowing I want to connect it to a grid tie.?

alternator is already 3 phase ac....allbeit at about 80v or so...the dc comes from an onboard array of diodes. Regulator finally dresses this down to the usual 15v dc approx.

 

[Robmcg]

Not sure which is height and which is radius/diameter, but something that size will experience a very large force trying to blow it over. Have you thought how you would safely anchor it to the building? You wouldn't want it landing on some passing pedestrian down at ground level .

I definitely wouldn't want that. 7Hx4W Circumference. 80pound slab of poured concrete? attached to its 4 point feet maybe?!

 

[Robmcg]

alternator is already 3 phase ac....allbeit at about 80v or so...the dc comes from an onboard array of diodes. Regulator finally dresses this down to the usual 15v dc approx.

I wish I paid more attention in welding school. At least I would have had a basic understanding of this stuff. So if I get a AC Alternator for grid tie in, I would get a better efficiency as I don't have to worry about the conversion loss? Also I do know that Tesla's AC allows the use of smaller gauge wires to carry X over a longer distance without losing power like Edison's DC. So AC is bound to save me money on wiring over DC right?

Could I direct connect the windmill to this, then the wall or am I still missing steps? Would this work? ebay item

 

[Robmcg]

Then there are things like blade balance and gyroscopic forces to contend with. This statement right here had me looking into full vertical prebuilts on ebay again. (To be clear, I understood the statement but I doubt my ability to perfect something that I trust to spin 1k rpm or w/e but fast)

As far as rotating the whole show for wind direction.......the old Southern Cross water pumps have done it for the last 100 years or so....
I'd say about half a dozen of these might get close to your 25Kwh/day

Do you mean 6 of the windmills or the generators? Cause they sell a 25kwh water pump motor.

HEY QUESTION!! I saw on some survival show a while back and would really like to know if it is true and or viable. Could I just buy an electric motor i.e. treadmill motor is what they used on the show, and spin it backwards to generate a current? Would it be at all close to producing the power that it is rated to consume, if you turned it in reverse at the same RPM?

 

[Alec_t]

7Hx4W Circumference

Using the formula I posted earlier, and assuming a 25% efficiency for the turbine, that would produce about 70W in a 20mph wind.

So if I get a AC Alternator for grid tie in, I would get a better efficiency as I don't have to worry about the conversion loss?

Wrong. Neither the frequency nor the voltage of a wind-turbine-driven alternator is constant, so conversion to mains frequency and voltage would be necessary. As for grid tie-in, forget it. The linesman working for your grid utility company won't appreciate getting shocked or killed by power you're putting into the grid when he thinks he's disconnected the power .
A treadmill motor can certainly be used as a generator.

Edit: This article may be helpful.

 

[Robmcg]

Using the formula I posted earlier, and assuming a 25% efficiency for the turbine, that would produce about 70W in a 20mph wind.

that is really promising so 1.2KW a day at 50w average / 1.6kw a day at 70w average. Assuming I get a powerfull enough generator and a gear pulley system that works well that could be drastically increased right?

Wrong. Neither the frequency nor the voltage of a wind-turbine-driven alternator is constant, so conversion to mains frequency and voltage would be necessary. As for grid tie-in, forget it. The linesman working for your grid utility company won't appreciate getting shocked or killed by power you're putting into the grid when he thinks he's disconnected the power .

So I don't plan on directly tying the wiring into the grid. I saw a video Youtube link from a local company using this product Ebay Link (scroll all the way down on the item to see the details), which if I understand it correctly, converts the power and supplies power to the grid just by plugging it in (once you're generating power) it will also auto disconnect the power to the grid if it detects power from the grid has been lost.

A treadmill motor can certainly be used as a generator.

Awesome good to know

Edit: This article may be helpful.

This was indeed a good read and now I at least understand the differences between most verticals.

 

[(*steve*)]

Assuming I get a powerfull enough generator and a gear pulley system that works well that could be drastically increased right?

No.

The power you can get depends on the wind shouted and the swept area of the blades.

So, for the same wind speed, the diameter of the blades must be extended by 41% to double the power.

 

[Alec_t]

that is really promising so 1.2KW a day at 50w average / 1.6kw a day at 70w average.

Not very promising. If one 7ft x 4ft turbine gave 70W then you would need 15 turbines each that size to get 1kW ! You'd need a huge balcony to site them .

 

[Robmcg]

Not very promising. If one 7ft x 4ft turbine gave 70W then you would need 15 turbines each that size to get 1kW ! You'd need a huge balcony to site them .

Yeah you're right, I suck at this game Atleast this is very educational for me and I feel a lot more comfortable with windmills and general information about them for the future. My goal is 500w an hour to be cost effective. So you're definitely right, 70 is pretty far off from that.

 

[(*steve*)]

You can't have 500W per hour. That's like 45 miles per hour per hour. Watts are a measure of how fast energy is flowing, Wh are a measure of energy.

You might want 500Wh per hour, which essentially means an average of 500W.

It is more sensible to talk about an average power (W), or energy per day (Wh or kWh).

 

[spaceman]

WWII as clouds provided basic cover from bomb raids

In the Normandy invasion cloud cover kept allied bombers from hitting the German pill boxes by three miles. Had it been a clear day the expectation was the targets would have been mitigated and that the invasion would have went unopposed.

 

[NMNeil]

An answer to all your home made wind turbine questions

http://www.scoraigwind.com/
http://www.otherpower.com/
http://www.thebackshed.com/windmill/home.asp

 

[Robmcg]

You can't have 500W per hour. That's like 45 miles per hour per hour. Watts are a measure of how fast energy is flowing, Wh are a measure of energy.

You might want 500Wh per hour, which essentially means an average of 500W.

It is more sensible to talk about an average power (W), or energy per day (Wh or kWh).

I would love to get 1kw per hour and that would cover about 95% of my total energy usage but I would still be ecstatic for 400-700w per hour, of course average.

 

[Robmcg]

An answer to all your home made wind turbine questions

http://www.scoraigwind.com/
http://www.otherpower.com/
http://www.thebackshed.com/windmill/home.asp

Thank you, i will definitely read these sites over.

 

[Robmcg]

In the Normandy invasion cloud cover kept allied bombers from hitting the German pill boxes by three miles. Had it been a clear day the expectation was the targets would have been mitigated and that the invasion would have went unopposed.

I didn't know that but that is very interesting to learn.

 

[(*steve*)]

I would love to get 1kw per hour and that would cover about 95% of my total energy usage but I would still be ecstatic for 400-700w per hour, of course average.

And I would love you to understand what you're talking about.

It's ironic that you quote my explanation of the mistake you're making, only for you to repeat the same mistake again.