wind turbine

[david archer 2Participant @davidarcher2]

[david archer 2Participant @davidarcher2]

some months ago an article was published which described the construction of a small wind turbine – is this available to download please.

 

David Archer – Hull College

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Go to google David, and enter wind turbine, I think you’ll find a good amount there, a bit of a search will show you wind turbines from very small (enough to light a LED), up to a Kw or so. You will find how to make the blades, and the generator.Ian S C

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Go to google David, and enter wind turbine, I think you’ll find a good amount there, a bit of a search will show you wind turbines from very small (enough to light a LED), up to a Kw or so. You will find how to make the blades, and the generator.Ian S C

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Oops, I don’t usually do that. I’v had a look in the Model Engineer index and found two articals;Both in volume201, The first is one I remember by Marcus Rooks in number 4332 on page 218, and the second in number4337 page492 by John Nixey

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

 

My garden is partly irrigated by a Savonius rotor made up from an old paint drum sawn in half. It lifts my grey water from the bath/washing machine and rain water etc. into another drum about 2 meters up. From there it runs into a reverse ‘French Drain’ under the lawn.
It drives a form of Downton pump. mine was a copy of the one used abord the Ark (Captain Noah ic) 

 

[Ian AbbottParticipant @ianabbott31222]

I’ve been considering the differences between building or buying a Savonius rotor generator to charge batteries alongside solar panels.  Before I put drill to metal, I’m waiting for the quote from the chandlery down by the river for a commercial unit.  If the figures give me pains in the chest, it’ll be the end for the pile of Lidl capacino coffee tins I’ve been saving.  I’ve already nicked the general outline of the commercial thing, but my difficult part will be the electronic part.

 

I’ll pass on any info and designs that I come up with.

 

Ian 

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi guys,

 

Your discussion of the Savonius rotor took me back the days of teaching Technology in the late 70’s when everyone was convinced that there would be no more oil after about the year 2010,  I taught a course about alternative technologies including solar and wind energy and micro techniques of extracting waste heat from bathwater and boiler flues etc as well as micro generators in streams and heat extraction from rivers and geothermal sources etc etc.  it was all really exciting and Good Lifeish.

 

But of course it all died a death when more oil sources were found and OPEC became more friendly, until that is, global warming was rediscovered in the noughties. Now we are all resurrecting the past.  I did love the Savonius rotor though, so compact and powerful, the kids loved using small motors as generators and lighting rows of 6v mes bulbs.  We also used swash plate cams to give a vertical movement which could drive a pump. Magic days.  Now there is the National Curriculum, SATs and OFSTED to satisfy. Oh well.

 

Terry

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi All,

 

Sorry to be a bore, but forgot to mention that we built our Savonius rotors out of catering sized vegetable cans, about 8″ diameter cut in half vertically and built simple wooden frames to support them. 

 

Wonderful days of experimental serendipity, the kids loved it and were inspired by it, many went on to be engineers etc.

 

Terry

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

I am watching the men who are laying the drains in the road. They have a 50 gallon drum which they have diesel oil. Some times they tend to forget them. This will make a real ‘biggie’. I like the Savonius as it is self starting and is Omni-directional. They are low speed but high torque so I cannot easily use centrifugal pumps without gearing. The Downton pump was made from old Dog-nosh tins running up a 3 meter long bit of plastic down-spout pipe and are pulled by bits of old bicycle chain (the local bike shops are now convinced that the English are total nutters). The pump leaks back into the sump when it is not running, this makes for easy starting.  It coes ‘cluttr cluttr’ etc when it is pumping
Dick

Edited By Richard Parsons on 23/07/2010 15:50:45

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Make my life easy and rmind me of the overlap needed for a savonius turbine. is it 1/3 or 1/4?

 

Neil

[Steve GarnettParticipant @stevegarnett62550]

There’s an interesting research document about that here.

[GoCreateParticipant @gocreate]

 Fascinating thread this.

Pardon my ignorance but this is the first time I have heard of a Savonius wind turbine. Thanks Steve for your link to the research document, I was wondering how these looked and worked, sounds like these can be put to many uses.

 Can anyone recommend any further reading material.

 My machines and outside lighting have halogen bulbs, which I believe draw quite a high current.  I am wondering if I can use a Savonius to provide low volt lighting in my workshop and garden, maybe using a car alternator and electrics to charge batteries so that there is a continuity of supply. Possibly use low volt motors to drive machine coolant pumps.

 Could I use a Savonius turbine to provide frost protection during the winter months? One thing I am not short of is wind.

 Am I getting carried away?

 

Nigel

 

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

 

The problem with the Savonius Rotor is that they are slow and low powered. They are cheap, easy to build, omni-directional and unlike the Darrius rotor are self starting. My pump gives me about 10 watts in a 6M/Sec wind it pumps about 40 litres/hour.

The overlap on the drums is variously 25 to 10% according to various authorities. It is a good idea to Google for Savonius rotor power output. It gets rid of the junk.

I once built two from dog food cans to get rid of moles in someone’s lawn. They had a little clicker on them which transmitted noise into the earth. Old Molewarps don’t like noise as he cannot hear the wyrms. A few days of that and they packed their bags and went elsewhere.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I like “Steves’s” Californian design. There’s some very different aerofoil ones at a supermarket on the road from Brum to Dudley, but they don’t appear to power anything!

 

I suspect those moles were only 1 mole (they are fiercely territorial), and he may just have completed his network

 

Neil

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

Ole Moliwarps does not like noises. And the constant clicking drives them to despair.  Try it one day.  If 2 moles meet ‘out of season’ within a few hours you have one a very fat mole.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

“Pray  you, tread softly, that the blind Mole may not

Hear a footfall.”

 

William Shakespeare

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