Wind Turbine Design – Puts money in your pocket while reducing your carbon footprint.
We all know that the world is suffering an energy crisis, demand is simply starting to out strip supply. As any economist would tell you, when the demand is greater than the supply the price goes up. So how do you generate a cheaper energy supply? Wind turbines. Not only will this be putting money back in your pocket but you will be reducing your carbon footprint thereby helping to reduce Global Warming.
The basic wind turbine design is quite simple and can be varied in size depending on what you want to power. The first thing to consider when using a wind turbine is location, for a wind turbine to be most efficient you need it to stand 4.5 meters above any obstruction within a 9 meter radius of the turbine. You also don’t want it mounted to your house because, although when the blades are balanced properly they don’t make much noise, they do make vibration and that moving through your house you certainly will notice! Also bear in mind the size of your turbine, if you are in a residential area, as a massive contraption in your front lawn won’t endear you to the neighbours and might have your local authorities knocking at your door!
Three blades is the most effective blade configuration, this will give you the best compromise between power, speed and torque ( All vital when you are trying to generate power for home use.). Blades can be made out of most materials although the best for DIY design is generally wood with a thin layer of water resistant tape or fiberglass over the leading edge to provide some protection. The tip of your blade can get up some high speeds and could suffer some hurt from debris. The blades need to be shaped to resemble an aircraft wing, and have a slight twist, this will give the best lift into the wind, driving the blades forward.
Next you will need your blades to be turning some sort of motor which will provide the current to charge the batteries. The best motor for this sort of application is a high voltage DC permanent magnet motor, the best place to find one of these? Electric treadmills, although washing machine motors and those used in computer equipment can make excellent alternatives. Just make sure if you are using a DC motor that you also fit a blocking diode to ensure that your current is flowing into your battery and not out of it!
You will need to attach a tail fin, again this can also be made out of pretty much anything so long as the size is in proportion to the blades you are attaching.
Your motor can then be connected to your 12 volt batteries, car batteries are usually ideal.
One thing to remember is that household appliances very often need a regular voltage, fluctuations can cause hurt. A excellent thought is to install a regulator to maintain a consistent current supply.
For the less adventurous DIYers out there, you can buy numerous wind turbine kits that give you detailed instructions and step by step guides. By Ashley Weyers
