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Im new to this forum and would like to introduce myself as Mike Roy from Canada. I have been a Tool & Die maker for 17 yrs, and have owned RR CNC MACHINING for the past 8 yrs. For the past year in my spare time I have been playing around with the idea of a 61" Dia PMA type wind turbine. This is a 12 volt output design. All the parts were CNC machined from 7" Dia solid 6061-T6 Aluminum bar stock.
Have alook, here are afew pic's of the build process.
Edited by mroy0404 2013-03-06
wallablack Senior Member Joined: 10/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 164
Posted: 10:54am 05 Mar 2013
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Very nice work.....a polished aluminium turbine would look very "bling", but dropping it for the polish would be a pain in the bum, ahh, clear coat.
Sorry, they look cool mate, impeccable work.
Love it.Edited by wallablack 2013-03-06Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools.
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333
Posted: 03:46pm 05 Mar 2013
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Nice work, my only question is how do you furl it??
I am making 7 more units up for my friends, one of the guys did ask for his turbine to be polished! I will post pic's of that polished turbine in the coming weeks. Output of this 12v unit seems good so far too. I have seen 608 watts, at 70km hr or 43.5mph winds.
I have this 12v five blade turbine set up just out side of town at a friends place in the country. He has had winds that reached 126km hr or 78mph afew months back when Hurricane Sandy came through this area. We have the turbine wired to a very large fork lift battery bank and its on a 45 foot tower. The furl or over speed control is handled by the electronics which will put a heavy resistance using the dump load. It seemed to work very well as the turbine did not fly apart and still runs smooth. I have designed this varible pitch hub that will also help with the over speed. cut and paste the youtube link. not sure why this link will not work on this forum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgYXZ2R7uMY
Edited by mroy0404 2013-03-07
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333
Posted: 04:16pm 05 Mar 2013
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impressive work, it must be nice to have a workshop with some good toys in it to work with, it makes my hammer and cold chisel look a little out dated
Keep the photos coming as we all like to drool over nice builds by others.
I would like to make larger turbines with F&P or LG motors, maybe some of you more knowlegable guys could work with me to come up with a design I could machine. And with your expert opinions we could all benifit.
What do you guys think about this?
Ok, Pete you asked for it, get ready for ALOT of photos
Here is a vertical turbine I made for the local college. The students use it to test in there wind tunnel. The blades are ajustable as seen in the photos. There is no gen. mounted to this unit as its only used for testing start up wind speeds with different blade pitch settings.
Edited by mroy0404 2013-03-07
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333
Posted: 04:45pm 05 Mar 2013
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Drool, drool, even though i dont like vertical mills (Vawts) but i do appreciate very nice work.
You inspire me to put the hammer and cold chisel away and find my file now.
Pete to be honest, I also dont like the vertical turbines either. The wind tunnel test showed very poor results. This is still a great tool for the students. They will now know Vawts are not the way to go!
These photos are of the 3 blade variable pitch hub.
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 05:14pm 05 Mar 2013
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Now that is very sexy. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333
Posted: 10:19pm 05 Mar 2013
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I had to go get a bucket to catch the drool, bugger! why cant you be located just down the road from me, then i could put my hacksaw and file away.
Again its a work of beauty, i'm sure i'm not the only one here who admires your skill and work.
Bet there is a few who's taking notes on your design methods, they might not be saying much, but are watching or bedazzled by your standard of work.
In some ways it makes the rest of look like we constructed our mills using two flat rocks to pound the construction to shape
My personal thoughts are the Raptor blades might not be the best blade for your mill, but they will be power limiting and perhaps why it survived the strong winds easily.
You mentioned working with the F&P to design a mill around, I think that would be a mere waste of time and your skills.
It would be far better to design around a much better and higher output alternator, for around the same size stator, something like the OEM alternators, or even make your own, as its just copper windings and good magnets.
At the end of the day is this a hobby for a few mills or something you want to do a production run on?
The other point of view i have with moving up to higher output mills is the current lack of furling, i have worked with a manufacturer of downwind mills (no furling) and yours is a upwind, no furling mill, so basically the same, personally i dont like either without furling.
To me to have a simple mechanical furl is worth its weight in gold to help protect the mill.
In saying that, should you get the variable pitch blade design right then furling is negated, and variable pitch control would be a far better way to design to.
If you can control pitch then a much greater powerful blade can be used and still maintain mill control.
Pete.Sometimes it just works
Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904
Posted: 04:27am 06 Mar 2013
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Your impressive machining skills have been mentioned, let me add my praises for the excellent pictures to show your work. Something more for my list of things to strive for but unlikely to achieve.
I did watch the U-tube of your pitch control, it shows nicely how you work it by hand but how is it adjusted up on the tower when its spinning?
I guess a hollow shaft with centrifugal actuation perhaps?Klaus
Pete, thank you for all your kind complements, I dont need to be located down the street, we can still work together.
This is mostly a hobby for now, I just really enjoy walking out to my home shop having afew beers and making art work on the CNC machines. The design of this turbine probably is not the best and I realize the blades are also of a poor design. I have afew friends that want these turbines now, so im in the process of making up 7 more units. They are aware of the limitations of this unit. It takes 15km winds just for start up. But this could be a good feature if your in a high wind area. I have attached photos of the power output display, the wind was 30km gusting to 40km.
Pete it sounds you have some experience with the F&P motors, do you figure it would be a better idea to just make axial flux gens? I want to make an really nice CNC Machined high output turbine, you know something to be proud of. What is your idea about OEM alternators? could you send me afew examples, maybe links to web pages?
As I mentioned this is mostly a hobby for now, if we can come up with a great design for a high output turbine, I will do a small production run. This is my offer to all you knowledgeable guys on this forum. If we all work together and come up with a great design, I will offer all my machining services at cost. We will all benefit from this.
What are your thoughts on this idea for us to work together and come up with a design we all agree would work best?
Lets see some post replies guys!
Thank you for you complements.
As for the variable pitch hub, this is not a finished unit yet, it is designed so I can either use centrifugal weights and spring preload, of I can machine it slightly different and use servo drive from the rear of the turbine housing.
Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498
Posted: 11:03am 06 Mar 2013
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Can I ask what equipment you are using, I too would like to be able to make my own parts like you have done. I am not sure about putting beer into the equation though.There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
I use a 2006 Doosan 2000sy 6 axis mill/turn CNC lathe to make most of the parts, and use a 1987 Tree/Kira 3 axis CNC machining center to make the block type parts. Here are photos of the Lathe. Im the guy with the black shirt, an my wife well she is the girl!!
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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