How to Build a Wind Turbine - Getting the Proper Permanent Magnet D.C. Motor and Set of Blades
Author: D.R. Smith
If you're going to build a home wind turbine, you'll be much further ahead if you thoroughly research each of the individual components involved in a DIY wind turbine system. Being aware of any potential issues before you start your build will save you not only time and money, but more importantly frustration that could derail your plans. Here, we'll take a look at a couple of the more important pieces of the wind generator system. The generator portion, typically a permanent magnet dc motor, and the blade system.
There are a couple of different paths you can take for the blades used on the wind turbine. If you want to build them yourself, they can be fabricated from PVC or ABS pipe, wood, aluminum, or even fiberglass or carbon fiber. Or they can also be inexpensively purchased as prefabricated units. And while it's certainly possible to construct your own blades cheaply, the prefabricated blade kits are are very inexpensive and can help you start generating power much sooner without the hassle of building them. Often, these blades come with hub mounting hardware too, which eliminates the need to make the hardware yourself. Or even worse, have a machine shop do it for you. Not only that, some of the blade kits that are currently available come with a nose cone, thus saving you the hassle and expense of fabrication this very important piece. And the best part is that these kits are very inexpensive. We feel that because of these benefits, prefabricated blade kits are probably the best choice for most people, and well worth looking into.
As to how the size and arrangement of your blades, you'll need to match this to the type of generator you have, the height of your wind turbine, the target power output of your wind generator, and most importantly your budget.
Building your own home wind turbine can be a great educational experience that's not only financially rewarding, but a fun DIY project. Just remember to have a good set of plans and sources for the required parts before you start. Doing your homework ahead of time will help to make your project a huge success.
About the Author
D.R. Smith has been involved with alternative energy for over 20 years. For more information visit his site to learn about wind turbine blades, DC Permanent magnet motors, and DIY Wind Turbine and Solar Panel Plans
Wind DC turbine motor ( 2860 watts and 22 amps). A car alternator is DC has 250 amps watts ?The difference is?
I am installing a wind power electrical system at my home. The mill has a DC turbine motor pushing 2860 watts-22 amps. I want to use a car/truck alternator. It is pushing 250 amps-watts ? They both charge DC batteries. How would I find out the watts in the alternator and are these the same kind of power and if not whats the difference?
how do you build a wind turbine with a motor to power a light bulb with panes no longer than 40cm each?
how do you build a wind turbine with a motor to power a light bulb with panes no longer than 40cm each?
What is a good Wind Turbine motor/generator?
I heard Ametek is really good, but expensive.
What is an optimal size, voltage, amps, RPM, etc, That I should be looking for to build my own wind turbine.
Can a circular saw motor be used as a wind turbine motor?
and why not
What are 3 different types of wind turbine motors?
i know that a wind turbine has a motor to produce electricity, but i need 3 different types of motors, can somebody just list 3. its all i need
Here’s a website with a lot of good info for homebrew turbine makers.
If you could tell more about exactly what you’re looking to build. Is this a school science project or are you looking to get you house off the grid?
What is the watt and volt rating of your bulb?
depends on the type of motor, and what speed it’s driven at. (I assume there’s a gearbox to increase shaft speed)
If it’s got permanent magnets there’s should be no problem what so ever with getting power from it. The output would probably need some processing though to make it “clean”.
The case of an induction motor came up just the other day in a forum, I’m involved in ( I think it was yahoo groups “Home brew power”) If an induction motor has (some?) of it’s windings connected to the grid, and is driven faster than it’s rated speed (up to about 110%), it’s able to put electricity back on the grid, and the phase of that power will be EXACTLY in phase with the grid. (of course this still needs a grid…)
Also see http://www.qsl.net/ns8o/Induction_Generator.html
1) DC electric generator, to charge batteries directly and run DC
appliances or inverters run from batteries to give you AC current
2) AC synchronous generator. These AC generators get field excitation directly from your electric company so if the electricity goes down from the power company, so does your generator. But the good thing is they are synchronized with the Hz of (60Hz) and you don’t need an inverter to and batteries to smooth out the sine wave of current and voltage. You get a steady 60 cycle current.
3) regular AC induction motor.This will produce electricity that has to be used on the spot (converted to heat water or something) and has variable frequencies depending on rotor speed of turbine. But it can be run thru diodes (just like car alternator) to convert to DC to charge batteries. And then the batteries are run to power DC equipment or run thru an inverter for things that need AC
The difference is voltage. Your unit producing 2860 watts at 22 amps is charging at 130 volts, by my calculations. A car alternator charges at 15 volts.
I have an off-grid home, so I know different off-grid homes use different battery-bank voltages (typically depending on what inverter you use), What voltage battery bank are you using? That would be a better place to start this discussion, and we could discuss how to convert to that figure. Also, car alternators are not built to a very high quality for running 24/7 – the bearings wear out in less than a year of continuous service.
I have personal experience using 3-phase motors as generators, and that’s my favorite method, because these motors are industrial in quality, and last 10+ years in continuous service. They generate at 240 volts a.c., and require 3 transformers plus diodes and a filter capacitor to convert to a different voltage at d.c. Much smaller wire sizes can be used from your windmill if you go this route, too. Write me privately if you’re interested in knowing more about this option.