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Forum Index : Windmills : AXFX White Pointer performance
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Trev Guru  Joined: 15/07/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 640 |
The 2 axial flux White Pointer wind generators http://www.thebackshed.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3202&PN =9&TPN=1 http://www.thebackshed.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5105&KW Both seem to be fairly on par in light wind, which is what we often get around here. The larger diameter machine climbs in power production very quickly as the wind speed increases though. Here are some pictures of the Amp meters back in November 2012. The left hand meter is the 3.4m / 360mm AXFX. The right hand meter is the 2.5m / 290mm AXFX.  
 
Most days I see around 8-10 amps. I have seen 30 amps from the larger machine when the wind really picked up. That was before I built the smaller machine, so no comparison here. Recently EX tropical cyclone Oswald passed through here. I was at school and Marcy emails me a picture of the bent tower and says I can't get home, the creeks are flooded and no way through.  
I did get home late, the water levels had dropped enough to drive the EV Hilux through, but the wind still seemed very strong. With no wind speed meter I checked the BOM website and they suggested the wind could be as much as 50 something knots during the day. Both AXFX machines survived. I did see over 30 amps from the 2.5m / 290mm White Pointer.  
Trev @ drivebynature.com |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
It is good to see someone else using an old mill tower for a wind turbine. How do you get it to ground for maintenance/repairs? Was it necessary to make the extension pole that long? I did a similar thing but only extended the pole so that the botom of the blades was about two feet above the tower top. Didn't need bracing. Also, I used 3" pipe. David M. |
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| Trev Guru Joined: 15/07/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 640 |
That was a quick post MOBI. The tower is purpose built. It is not an old windmill tower. The pipe out the top is 3 inch. And yes I wanted height, that's why it is up that far. I have more pictures to add. You will see how I use a gin pole to lower/raise the tower. Trev @ drivebynature.com |
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| Trev Guru Joined: 15/07/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 640 |
Thanks Glenn for editing, fixing up that picture. I left thst bent tower for a few days still standing. I dropped it down on Sunday. My cast alloy clamps were still good. Only the 3 inch (75mm) pipe was bent. I also dropped the other tower too. The straight pipe that was bolted to the shed was changed to suit the tall tower. I also made some arms to hold the stainless steel rope out a bit in the middle of the tower. I put the AXFX White Pointer 2.5m / 290mm machine on the pole. Then up it goes. I have to extend the stainless wire rope now with the extra arms. Hoefully I will get some time to do it before the next big blow.  
 
 
 
Trev @ drivebynature.com |
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Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
Is that 3" water pipe? You will find steel tube is much more resistant to bending. Although Oswald did blow hard, had quite few trees hit the deck around here on Sunshine Coast. Energex certainly has had huge amounts of repair work with over 200,000 houses with out power. Making your own power etc put you in control rather than being a number in the queue waiting to be reconnected. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
That's a pretty hefty turbine. The guying looks to like a yacht mast with spreaders. If so, I would have thought the angle of the guys to the tower should be greater, though I suppose the idea was not to have guy wires at a distance from the tower. (trip hazards and mowing problems). Do you use a winch or a vehicle to raise/lower the tower? Does the turbine really need to be up that high? David M. |
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| Trev Guru Joined: 15/07/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 640 |
All I know is it is galvanised pipe, blue wall. I measure the wall thickness to be 3.5mm. The guy ropes were never intended to hold much. The pole I had on the shed never had any ropes on it. The ropes were there to raise / lower the tower. I did have them anchored on the side of the A frame lower half, and pulled up tight with turn buckles. With the spreader arms, I now intend the stainless steel rope to take some force. Vehicle, not winch. Yes I normally use my EV Hilux, but this time I used the front end loader. Anyone with good eyes could see it in 2 of the pictures above. Height......I like it high, it is about 12m, but on the shed was only the one 3 inch pole, 6.5m + 1.5 from the ground, and worked well. Anyhow the tower has the wire ropes all fixed up now. And with the smaller machine, I don't expect it to bend again. On the shed with no wires did not bend, so it shouldn't bend up on that tower. 
Trev @ drivebynature.com |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
Steel sizes are very confusing. Trev's 3 inch pipe is actually measured to the inside walls, so it's 2.5 inch in old money, 65mm Nominal Bore (NB) and it will have a visible seam join down the length of the pipe. The metric equivalent of 3 inch is 80mm N.B. 87mm or greater outside diameter. Steelmakers don't call their higher grades of structural steel pipe anymore. Now-days it is listed as precision tube and circular hollow section (CHS). The "tube" is measured to the outside diameter (OD) at 76.1 MM  yep, you guessed it, about 3 inches, you cant win!I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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