29 ms·

$30 DIY Kilowatt Wind Turbine (2017)

183 points by simonpure 6y ago

tomcam 6y ago
I don’t live in a windy area so I haven’t built it, but this looks like a brilliant approach. The idea of using recycled aluminum offset printing plates for the vanes is inspired.
JacKTrocinskI 6y ago
Seems like an awesome project, where is the best place to mount this sort of thing and is it useful to people who live in the city surrounded by buildings?
- nl 6y ago
  I believe most are quite noisy if you have windows close to them. It should be possible to design a quieter one and I'd be interested in seeing any references for a design like that.
- anonuser123456 6y ago
  >where is the best place to mount this sort of thing and is it useful to people who live in the city surrounded by buildings? On a very high tower, 90ft or so above the nearest structure.
wayanon 6y ago
I can imagine a few of these on the roof of a bar on a beach getting the sea breeze - possibly the vanes can be decorated too.
xenadu02 6y ago
Hmmm 60km/h winds are not exactly common and I'd like to see independent testing before I'm willing to accept you can get 1kw out of it even at that speed. It isn't impossible... wind speed and turbine size have an exponential relationship to power generated. This site has various maps of average wind speeds at 30m: https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data?category=residential https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data?category=residenti... Parts of the bay are are in the 5-5.5 range, which is only around 18km/h. That isn't a huge amount of power - assuming you could get permission to put up a 30m tall pole (LOL not a chance). If you live in the sticks and if your location happens to have good average wind speeds this can be useful but as I noted: wind generation is not linear scaling like solar. You get exponentially more energy as you scale up wind. Solar is probably a much better fit for almost everyone at the residential and small commercial level. Solar is basically not sensitive to height at all. Solar can be deployed at small but useful scales and expanded over time.
- xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
  Solar can be a lot trickier at small scales at in harsher climates, than wind. Obscured by trees, snow build up, overcast skies, etc.
- marktangotango 6y ago
  Of the three main types of micro/diy renewable energy solar is the least dependent on geographic features as you say. Wind requires high ground in a preferably high wind corridor (try using google maps drive around dodge city Kansas). Micro hydro requires a stream or spring with high head and a lot of flow. I spent a lot of time researching land in my area to find either of these and they just don’t come available very often. Certain areas are well suited for one or the other obviously, Kansa for wind, Appalachia for micro hydro. But with solar you can put it any damn place. A fourth way is burning agricultural waste or wood (net zero carbon emissions) to run a steam turbine to generate electricity. I don’t know if anyone really does this in practice. It takes quite a lot of fuel (and storing the fuel) to generate meaning full power continuously. Plus high pressure steam is dangerous.
  - toast0 6y ago
    > A fourth way is burning agricultural waste or wood (net zero carbon emissions) to run a steam turbine to generate electricity. I don’t know if anyone really does this in practice. It takes quite a lot of fuel (and storing the fuel) to generate meaning full power continuously. Plus high pressure steam is dangerous. I've seen links to wood gas generators, which seems a lot more tractable than a homemade steam plant, although this is more micro and less diy; you could diy the wood gas part, but then you'd most likely put it into a commercially sourced generator. There are some commercially available all in one setups too (wood bits in, AC out). I haven't done this, be careful with carbon monoxide and icky condensed liquids. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas_generator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas_generator
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
louwrentius 6y ago
Not clear to me how much Watt the device produces.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  This kind of turbine is not very efficient. Its rated speed is approximately equal to its maximum speed because the blades will shade each other quite effectively and there is a very large amount of drag. They are reasonably safe to operate though because their RPM is limited due to the very large drag factor.
  - jmiskovic 6y ago
    I dislike these getting-in-details explanations without giving even ballpark numbers. The project cites 350W to 1000W depending on wind speed, which roughly corresponds to microwave oven consumption on different settings.
    - jacquesm 6y ago
      So, here is my short take on that: forget it. A 1KW mill based on this principle might give you that power in a storm but not under normal circumstances.
qz2 6y ago
I couldn’t build that for $30 even if I had the tools already.
black_puppydog 6y ago
Is it just me or is the page layout horribly broken? I see the video on the left, and the actual constrained to a box on the right, and this is without script- or adblockers...
- SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
  Same for me, on current chrome. Actual content is in about a quarter of the page, at top right. It's bad.
tommilukkarinen 6y ago
This is really inspirational, according to the instructions it would also take only a day to make with a friend. A day well spent I would say. Does anyone know what kind of generator setup you should get for charging a car battery? A link would be helpful. If used car generator is ok, how to get one from aftermarket? The video is awesome, how it is made?
- a_crc 6y ago
  If you're looking for a complete solution, there are a decent number of small wind turbines designed for charging 12v batteries (car batteries) on yachts. Here's the 1st company I found on google. I can't personally vouch for the product, but it should give you an idea of what's available. https://www.leadingedgepower.com/le-450-wind-turbine-12-24-48v-1226975.html https://www.leadingedgepower.com/le-450-wind-turbine-12-24-4...
bArray 6y ago
It's great, but is that really $30 worth of materials? Maybe for a company doing this on some small scale, but an individual sourcing these parts? Especially building a tower! It feels like the flaps exist to reduce the need for welding or rivets, but then the thing has so many ?bolts? and drilled holes. Also the precision needed is quite high to get it to fit together like that. Personally I would look to remove the curved structures and use straight edges instead. I like the idea of using a bike - I think you could go further and use more bike parts. In the bike you may have useful parts such as: 1. 2 wheels - an extra wheel could give your wind socks more structure. 2. Bike frame - use as the structure to hold it upright. (Not as tall as those towers, but perhaps something that could be mounted on a roof.) 3. Brake cables - use to stabilize the structure. 4. Chain and gears - drive the DC motor. The other thing to really consider is taking that varying DC voltage and doing something with it. I think generally 13V or so would be sensible - you could use it to trickle charge lead batteries and 12V step down circuits are relatively easy to come by. I can't really think of something that could be sourced from other parts though... Technically I think the 12V ash-tray electrical output (between the driver and passenger) is directly connected to the battery - if so they should technically be able to handle automotive voltages which could be as high as 40+V (a battery lead bouncing on top of a battery terminal in conjunction with the battery charger can pulse high voltages throughout the car). Somehow though I doubt some cheap Chinese charger could be relied upon to have such electrical robustness.
wojciii 6y ago
What happens if the device shakes itself apart while rotating? This is not something that I would like to have in my backyard without any secure way of preventing parts of it from hitting people or my house (perhaps some kind of net). If I was living in a rural area away from people and had a lot of space I would set one or more up as an experiment ~150 m fra the house.
- rightbyte 6y ago
  It doesn't have blades like a fan so I guess it is abit safer? I mean the blades on this will not get an upwards trajectory if they fall off.
phpnode 6y ago
Wind turbines can be incredibly dangerous, I'd be worried if this was anywhere near my home. jacquesm wrote up his experiences making a wind turbine from scratch here: https://jacquesmattheij.com/how-to-build-a-windmill/ https://jacquesmattheij.com/how-to-build-a-windmill/
- risyachka 6y ago
  Pretty much anything can be incredibly dangerous if not used/done properly.
- lxe 6y ago
  How are they dangerous?
  - jandrese 6y ago
    If there is an accident you'll have a giant wind spill to clean up. But more seriously large chunks of spinning metal can turn into deadly flying knives when things break. With a properly engineered windmill this is extremely rare and usually requires a severe amount of neglect. With some DIY project built from scraps you probably shouldn't mount it anywhere near people.
ppf 6y ago
Neat design (especially the blades), but I have these issues: 1. It's only $30 of parts if you get most of the parts for free (especially if you consider the mounting hardware). 2. You're screwed if you can't get hold of those alu sheets from a printers shop - I have no idea where I would find them. 3. There's little info on how to turn the rotary motion into electrical power, and no info on expected power output. 4. The published design, with one bicycle wheel, does not look strong enough (a later video shows a new design with two wheels, but then you have alignment issues). There's a big bending moment on the axle, and those old-fashioned freewheel hubs are known to snap axles (I've snapped one myself). 5. None of the electrics are weatherproof, but that's par for the course for homebrew stuff!
- sokoloff 6y ago
  2. Sheet aluminum is readily available worldwide. Used litho plates are some of the cheapest source of large sheet aluminum but those are far from the only source. Any industrial metal supplier will be able to supply this part, but the price per sheet is likely to be higher than $30.
  - ppf 6y ago
    Many things are "readily available worldwide", if you ignore the cost.
- Vrondi 6y ago
  You could get sheet metal at any place that sells HVAC supplies.
  - ppf 6y ago
    I don't live in a country that has such broad adoption of HVAC supplies.
- jackhack 6y ago
  for future reference McMaster-Carr (https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/) sells almost any mechanical thing a DIYer could ever want. Shipping on big items might be prohibitive but the selection is vast.
jacquesm 6y ago
VATs are terribly inefficient. For very little money more you should probably build one of these: https://www.otherpower.com/turbineplans.html https://www.otherpower.com/turbineplans.html It will make a lot more power and will teach you far more about turbine and blade design than the one on display here. It is a fun project and as such you can't really go wrong as a starter project but if you intend to actually use it to make meaningful electrical power then please go with another design.
- thdrdt 6y ago
  I believe you are right. As far as I know VATs are a solution for areas with turbulent wind only. To generate at least some wind power.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    Their big advantage is that they do not need to be pointed into the wind, and appear conceptually simple, they also have their generator on the ground which is an advantage. But they suffer from oscillation and vibration and such low TSR designs as the one in the article will suffer from shading. The concept can work, but typically the machines end up requiring a lot of maintenance and extremely careful design. The biggest of these, the Cap Chat Aeole ran for an embarrassingly short time before destroying its main bearing. http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=506 http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=506 It was a most impressive machine though. A more successful project was run in the Rocky Mountains where a number of such Darrieus rotors were in operation for quite a while. Even so, the concept is problematic and will likely never see widespread use, even though you'll see a flare up every couple of years when people new to the matter think they have found gold.
- codetrotter 6y ago
  That page was a little confusing to me because the navigation is in the sidebar only and the sidebar is styled so that the subpages for the project all appear visually at the same level of indentation (or should I say lack of visual indentation) as the page you linked to. From navigating to other pages on the site and from inspecting the HTML of the page as well I found and confirmed that the pages belonging to the "Build our 10 foot diameter wind turbine!" are the ones starting with "Stator Mold" and inclusively ending with "Rectifier". Aside from that confusion the pages look interesting. Here are the links for the subpages: Stator Mold – https://www.otherpower.com/statormold.html https://www.otherpower.com/statormold.html Coil Winder – https://www.otherpower.com/coilwinder.html https://www.otherpower.com/coilwinder.html Stator – https://www.otherpower.com/stator.html https://www.otherpower.com/stator.html Metal Work – https://www.otherpower.com/metalwork.html https://www.otherpower.com/metalwork.html Metal Work part 2 – https://www.otherpower.com/metalwork2.html https://www.otherpower.com/metalwork2.html Blade Carving – https://www.otherpower.com/bladecarving.html https://www.otherpower.com/bladecarving.html Magnet Rotors – https://www.otherpower.com/magnetrotors.html https://www.otherpower.com/magnetrotors.html Alternator Assembly – https://www.otherpower.com/alternatorassembly.html https://www.otherpower.com/alternatorassembly.html Blade Assembly – https://www.otherpower.com/bladeassembly.html https://www.otherpower.com/bladeassembly.html Rectifier – https://www.otherpower.com/rectifier.html https://www.otherpower.com/rectifier.html
sgt 6y ago
Very cool, although I think the price is a tad optimistic. It can also depend where you live. I have a lot of sun where I live, and I think that a solar panel system and batteries would be a better fit for me. Yes, batteries are expensive but there are no moving parts. I adore the concept of no moving parts because my time is already limited when it comes to DIY stuff and it makes it likely to still work 5 years from now.
FooHentai 6y ago
>YOU WILL NEED Power drill, Metal Drill Bits, Craft Knife or Stanley Knife / Box Cutter, Tape Measure, 26 Inch Bike Wheel Cool cool cool >11 Aluminium lithographic offset printing plates the. WHAT. I actually laughed out loud when I got to that bit. It's a bit... mental... if I'm honest.. that whomever wrote this up included that. After reading through I can see this can just be substituted for general thin metal sheets which you can pick up from pretty much any hardware store. I assume it blows the $30 price point up a bit but that's far preferable than having that one, show-stoppingly esoteric essential item on the list. This kind of thing is very cool weekend project fodder. I suspect it'll take me a bit longer than the couple of hours they reckon.
- snakeboy 6y ago
  I assume it has to be aluminum since the weight is going to be a big factor in the efficiency, no ?
  - leakybit 6y ago
    well aluminum wont rust.
- jandrese 6y ago
  I think the author happens to live near a printing plant or something that commonly tosses these in the trash or sells them for peanuts once they're worn out. You can substitute any large sturdy sheets of free aluminum that you happen to have nearby, as people do.
- Daniel_Connell 6y ago
  Yeah I might update that with a little more info. Essentially it's just a matter of ringing round all the offset printing companies in your area til you find one that will sell you their used plates. I've only so far not managed to find them in the deep Australian outback, and the high Himalayas. Otherwise tho any ~0.3mm aluminium sheet will do. Weight and oxidisation are certainly issues, but mostly it's that the alu is easy to bend and cut by hand, and is more than strong enough to withstand high winds.
MrsPeaches 6y ago
For anyone interested in actually building this def check out the facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/windturbinemakers/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/windturbinemakers/ Hugh Piggot [1] is pretty active in the goup and he is an OG in the DIY wind turbing game. Def worth checking out his book as well [2] For anyone who is interested in a deeper dive into wind turbines the Wind Energy Handbook [3] is worth your time. Also Daniel who built this also built a pretty cool DIY wifi dish [4]. I couldn't speak to efficacy but still interesting. [1] https://scoraigwind.co.uk https://scoraigwind.co.uk [2] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wind-Turbine-Recipe-Book-hands/dp/B004E6IIQY https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wind-Turbine-Recipe-Book-hands/dp/B... [3]https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wind-Energy-Handbook-2e-Burton/dp/0470699752 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wind-Energy-Handbook-2e-Burton/dp/0... [4] https://opensourcelowtech.org/wifidish.html https://opensourcelowtech.org/wifidish.html
ck2 6y ago
Could you make a dyson fan work backwards as a generator and avoid the blade problem?
- tsmarsh 6y ago
  Dyson fans substitute one large, slow fan, for a small fast fan and then hydraulically gear that down. Its an interesting idea. You would definitely create an uplift if air was blown through the fan and that could drive a turbine, and that turbine would be experiencing a much higher air speed, so you might be able to avoid the mechanical gearing. You'd have less moving parts, but probably lower efficiency. You could also combine the fans with ducting and use a single generator. Ducting also has significant losses when compared with wiring, but if the generator is your biggest expense maybe its worth it?
jungletime 6y ago
Does it kill all the birds?
Daniel_Connell 6y ago
Hi all, this is my turbine build process, based on Ed Lenz's design. Thanks for the attention and input. I can answer any questions you have.
- mabbo 6y ago
  Two questions: 1 - how are you converting the energy into electricity? The materials don't seem to mention that piece. 2 - How do you convert variable energy like wind into something stable and usable? IE: how do I hook this input into a household power system? Edit: Ah, there are some answers to these questions at the bottom- I missed that part.,
  - Daniel_Connell 6y ago
    1 - There's a couple options in terms of alternators / generators. Hoverboard wheels are good in terms of cost and availability (in Western countries at least) and do a decent job tho will need to be geared up with a belt or similar to produce 12V charge voltage in realistic winds. Direct drive washing machine motors are usually high enough voltage to direct drive, tho can be a little tricky to source. Motorbike alternators will usually do a sufficient enough job, and are highly available in most parts of the world. 2 - The electrical side of things, ie charge control, batteries, load diversion, inversion, etc really needs to be tailored to each individual situation. We've got this Facbook group going: https://upload.facebook.com/groups/windturbinemakers/ https://upload.facebook.com/groups/windturbinemakers/ for figuring out that side of things and others.
    - mrfusion 6y ago
      Maybe a broken gas generator would be a good option too? I’d guess the ICE component normally fails well before the generator part.
      - Daniel_Connell 6y ago
        Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I've not come across any, but sure they'd be sourceable if specifically looked for.
fortran77 6y ago
Is it bird friendly?
- hmaxwell 6y ago
  no this kills all the birds
- Daniel_Connell 6y ago
  Birds don't fly into this for the same reason they don't fly into chimneys; it's a fairly solid shape that they can see. Horizontal axis turbines are more dangerous as the blades are thinner and fast moving.
geocrasher 6y ago
This is what I call "empty content". It gives a promise: 1KW of DIY wind power for $30. And then it shows a bunch of pictures and some extremely basic instructions. From the page: "Attaching [the DC generator] is mostly just a matter of stripping everything off the motor, attaching a pulley to the shaft, running a toothed timing belt around the wheel rim (with a layer of nylon strapping bolted to the wheel to protect the belt and give it something to grab onto) and attaching the motor to the pole frame as shown, with long bolts so you can easily adjust the tension on the belt." Strip motor, attach pulley, build a tensioner. The text makes it sound trivial, but those are non-trivial steps. Attaching a pulley to a scrap motor can be quite an ordeal. Building a tensioner that works requires fabrication. I'm not saying it's super complicated, I'm saying it's not "oh by the way make a tensioner" or "attach a pulley- done!" Glossing over details like that with a magic wand is what makes such projects appear even more unapproachable.
- londons_explore 6y ago
  For those wanting to avoid complex fabrication, this [1] kind of turbine is much simpler anyway, since it requires no gearing or complex mechanical bits. Simply make that out of a big stiff plastic or metal sheet, and bolt it onto the front of a motor. Then point it in the direction of the prevailing wind and you're done. The electrical side is complex or expensive if you want to feed into the grid, but if you just hook up a car lightbulb you can see it working easily. [1]: https://w7.pngwing.com/pngs/511/987/png-transparent-toy-toy-beach-photography-flower.png https://w7.pngwing.com/pngs/511/987/png-transparent-toy-toy-...
- udev 6y ago
  Well it is DIY after all. I vastly prefer such content being available, with its imperfections, than it being held back unpublished because of lack of simplified IKEA style guide for less experienced/handy people.
  - geocrasher 6y ago
    I don't disagree with you- what I am making a point of is that it glosses over hard things without explaining that this is in fact non-trivial. It's that "magic wand" approach to DIY that I find irritating.
FiatLuxDave 6y ago
This seems like a good thread to ask this question: does anyone know a good place to find turbine curves/turbine maps for small fans used a turbines? It's pretty easy to find a fan curve for a small fan (e.g. under 12 inch diameter) but very very few will also have an available turbine map. As far as I know, there is no way to convert a fan curve to a turbine curve (I'd be very interested if such a thing existed!). Does anyone have any help or suggestions?
- chrisdalke 6y ago
  JavaProp is a very powerful tool for generating propellers and numerically calculating performance characteristics. You can get some great results if you’re willing to push through the arcane UI. http://mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/javaprop.htm http://mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/javaprop.htm The tool works for any fluid, you have to configure the fluid density and viscosity for air. It can auto generate props based on some initial state, or if you have an existing prop you can measure the various parameters and feed that in.
lazzlazzlazz 6y ago
This is great and makes me excited and curious about the idea. If it was much more thorough and demonstrative of the details (ex: I have no clue how to build a tensioner) I might actually do it. I would pay more for a kit of these parts with helpful documentation so that I could realistically built it myself.
jakuboboza 6y ago
Open source low tech has a good Youtube chan. Here: https://www.youtube.com/user/SolarflowerOrg https://www.youtube.com/user/SolarflowerOrg You can get inspired a lot, if anyone is in to Warhammer 40k it looks like watching an Ork Mekboy.
mbushey 6y ago
While people are commenting that $30 in materials is not very realistic, I find that's nothing compared to stating that 2 people can build this in 4 hours. I don't think it could be built in that amount of time if you used a large cnc router and had all the G-code already prepared. Looks to me like a week of work. I love the animations. Also the chain drive going around the bicycle rim is downright silly, you would have to weld gear teeth on the rim which would be extremely difficult.
- Daniel_Connell 6y ago
  I can confirm that I can make the three vane version myself from scratch in 3.5 hours. 90 minutes with pre-cut sheets. And is usually $20-30 all up including the alternator. The chain drive concept is indeed no longer what I'm using. It kinda worked, but not as well as I would have liked so now it's either a automotive alternator belt or direct drive to a Smartdrive unit or equivalent.
lxe 6y ago
That's like $300 worth of materials at least.
carapace 6y ago
This is better I think: > A vaneless ion wind generator or power fence is a device that generates electrical energy by using the wind to move charged particles across an electric field. Ion wind generators are not commercially available, though working prototypes and proofs of concept have been created. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaneless_ion_wind_generator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaneless_ion_wind_generator
jwillmer 6y ago
I currently also looked into a DIY wind turbine design and found the following design worth trying out: http://mumris.eu/bumerangai/dekoratyvus%20bumerangai1_files/index.htm http://mumris.eu/bumerangai/dekoratyvus%20bumerangai1_files/...
geogra4 6y ago
For diy green energy it really seems that solar is a lots less hassle than wind

183 points by simonpure 6y ago

I don’t live in a windy area so I haven’t built it, but this looks like a brilliant approach. The idea of using recycled aluminum offset printing plates for the vanes is inspired.

JacKTrocinskI 6y ago

Seems like an awesome project, where is the best place to mount this sort of thing and is it useful to people who live in the city surrounded by buildings?

nl 6y ago
I believe most are quite noisy if you have windows close to them. It should be possible to design a quieter one and I'd be interested in seeing any references for a design like that.
anonuser123456 6y ago
>where is the best place to mount this sort of thing and is it useful to people who live in the city surrounded by buildings? On a very high tower, 90ft or so above the nearest structure.

wayanon 6y ago

I can imagine a few of these on the roof of a bar on a beach getting the sea breeze - possibly the vanes can be decorated too.

xenadu02 6y ago

Hmmm 60km/h winds are not exactly common and I'd like to see independent testing before I'm willing to accept you can get 1kw out of it even at that speed. It isn't impossible... wind speed and turbine size have an exponential relationship to power generated. This site has various maps of average wind speeds at 30m: https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data?category=residential https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data?category=residenti... Parts of the bay are are in the 5-5.5 range, which is only around 18km/h. That isn't a huge amount of power - assuming you could get permission to put up a 30m tall pole (LOL not a chance). If you live in the sticks and if your location happens to have good average wind speeds this can be useful but as I noted: wind generation is not linear scaling like solar. You get exponentially more energy as you scale up wind. Solar is probably a much better fit for almost everyone at the residential and small commercial level. Solar is basically not sensitive to height at all. Solar can be deployed at small but useful scales and expanded over time.

xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
Solar can be a lot trickier at small scales at in harsher climates, than wind. Obscured by trees, snow build up, overcast skies, etc.
marktangotango 6y ago
Of the three main types of micro/diy renewable energy solar is the least dependent on geographic features as you say. Wind requires high ground in a preferably high wind corridor (try using google maps drive around dodge city Kansas). Micro hydro requires a stream or spring with high head and a lot of flow. I spent a lot of time researching land in my area to find either of these and they just don’t come available very often. Certain areas are well suited for one or the other obviously, Kansa for wind, Appalachia for micro hydro. But with solar you can put it any damn place. A fourth way is burning agricultural waste or wood (net zero carbon emissions) to run a steam turbine to generate electricity. I don’t know if anyone really does this in practice. It takes quite a lot of fuel (and storing the fuel) to generate meaning full power continuously. Plus high pressure steam is dangerous.
- toast0 6y ago
  > A fourth way is burning agricultural waste or wood (net zero carbon emissions) to run a steam turbine to generate electricity. I don’t know if anyone really does this in practice. It takes quite a lot of fuel (and storing the fuel) to generate meaning full power continuously. Plus high pressure steam is dangerous. I've seen links to wood gas generators, which seems a lot more tractable than a homemade steam plant, although this is more micro and less diy; you could diy the wood gas part, but then you'd most likely put it into a commercially sourced generator. There are some commercially available all in one setups too (wood bits in, AC out). I haven't done this, be careful with carbon monoxide and icky condensed liquids. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas_generator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas_generator
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

louwrentius 6y ago

Not clear to me how much Watt the device produces.

jacquesm 6y ago
This kind of turbine is not very efficient. Its rated speed is approximately equal to its maximum speed because the blades will shade each other quite effectively and there is a very large amount of drag. They are reasonably safe to operate though because their RPM is limited due to the very large drag factor.
- jmiskovic 6y ago
  I dislike these getting-in-details explanations without giving even ballpark numbers. The project cites 350W to 1000W depending on wind speed, which roughly corresponds to microwave oven consumption on different settings.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    So, here is my short take on that: forget it. A 1KW mill based on this principle might give you that power in a storm but not under normal circumstances.

qz2 6y ago

I couldn’t build that for $30 even if I had the tools already.

black_puppydog 6y ago

Is it just me or is the page layout horribly broken? I see the video on the left, and the actual constrained to a box on the right, and this is without script- or adblockers...

SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
Same for me, on current chrome. Actual content is in about a quarter of the page, at top right. It's bad.

tommilukkarinen 6y ago

This is really inspirational, according to the instructions it would also take only a day to make with a friend. A day well spent I would say. Does anyone know what kind of generator setup you should get for charging a car battery? A link would be helpful. If used car generator is ok, how to get one from aftermarket? The video is awesome, how it is made?

a_crc 6y ago
If you're looking for a complete solution, there are a decent number of small wind turbines designed for charging 12v batteries (car batteries) on yachts. Here's the 1st company I found on google. I can't personally vouch for the product, but it should give you an idea of what's available. https://www.leadingedgepower.com/le-450-wind-turbine-12-24-48v-1226975.html https://www.leadingedgepower.com/le-450-wind-turbine-12-24-4...

bArray 6y ago

It's great, but is that really $30 worth of materials? Maybe for a company doing this on some small scale, but an individual sourcing these parts? Especially building a tower! It feels like the flaps exist to reduce the need for welding or rivets, but then the thing has so many ?bolts? and drilled holes. Also the precision needed is quite high to get it to fit together like that. Personally I would look to remove the curved structures and use straight edges instead. I like the idea of using a bike - I think you could go further and use more bike parts. In the bike you may have useful parts such as: 1. 2 wheels - an extra wheel could give your wind socks more structure. 2. Bike frame - use as the structure to hold it upright. (Not as tall as those towers, but perhaps something that could be mounted on a roof.) 3. Brake cables - use to stabilize the structure. 4. Chain and gears - drive the DC motor. The other thing to really consider is taking that varying DC voltage and doing something with it. I think generally 13V or so would be sensible - you could use it to trickle charge lead batteries and 12V step down circuits are relatively easy to come by. I can't really think of something that could be sourced from other parts though... Technically I think the 12V ash-tray electrical output (between the driver and passenger) is directly connected to the battery - if so they should technically be able to handle automotive voltages which could be as high as 40+V (a battery lead bouncing on top of a battery terminal in conjunction with the battery charger can pulse high voltages throughout the car). Somehow though I doubt some cheap Chinese charger could be relied upon to have such electrical robustness.

wojciii 6y ago

What happens if the device shakes itself apart while rotating? This is not something that I would like to have in my backyard without any secure way of preventing parts of it from hitting people or my house (perhaps some kind of net). If I was living in a rural area away from people and had a lot of space I would set one or more up as an experiment ~150 m fra the house.

rightbyte 6y ago
It doesn't have blades like a fan so I guess it is abit safer? I mean the blades on this will not get an upwards trajectory if they fall off.

phpnode 6y ago

Wind turbines can be incredibly dangerous, I'd be worried if this was anywhere near my home. jacquesm wrote up his experiences making a wind turbine from scratch here: https://jacquesmattheij.com/how-to-build-a-windmill/ https://jacquesmattheij.com/how-to-build-a-windmill/

risyachka 6y ago
Pretty much anything can be incredibly dangerous if not used/done properly.
lxe 6y ago
How are they dangerous?
- jandrese 6y ago
  If there is an accident you'll have a giant wind spill to clean up. But more seriously large chunks of spinning metal can turn into deadly flying knives when things break. With a properly engineered windmill this is extremely rare and usually requires a severe amount of neglect. With some DIY project built from scraps you probably shouldn't mount it anywhere near people.

ppf 6y ago

Neat design (especially the blades), but I have these issues: 1. It's only $30 of parts if you get most of the parts for free (especially if you consider the mounting hardware). 2. You're screwed if you can't get hold of those alu sheets from a printers shop - I have no idea where I would find them. 3. There's little info on how to turn the rotary motion into electrical power, and no info on expected power output. 4. The published design, with one bicycle wheel, does not look strong enough (a later video shows a new design with two wheels, but then you have alignment issues). There's a big bending moment on the axle, and those old-fashioned freewheel hubs are known to snap axles (I've snapped one myself). 5. None of the electrics are weatherproof, but that's par for the course for homebrew stuff!

sokoloff 6y ago
2. Sheet aluminum is readily available worldwide. Used litho plates are some of the cheapest source of large sheet aluminum but those are far from the only source. Any industrial metal supplier will be able to supply this part, but the price per sheet is likely to be higher than $30.
- ppf 6y ago
  Many things are "readily available worldwide", if you ignore the cost.
Vrondi 6y ago
You could get sheet metal at any place that sells HVAC supplies.
- ppf 6y ago
  I don't live in a country that has such broad adoption of HVAC supplies.
jackhack 6y ago
for future reference McMaster-Carr (https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/) sells almost any mechanical thing a DIYer could ever want. Shipping on big items might be prohibitive but the selection is vast.

jacquesm 6y ago

VATs are terribly inefficient. For very little money more you should probably build one of these: https://www.otherpower.com/turbineplans.html https://www.otherpower.com/turbineplans.html It will make a lot more power and will teach you far more about turbine and blade design than the one on display here. It is a fun project and as such you can't really go wrong as a starter project but if you intend to actually use it to make meaningful electrical power then please go with another design.

thdrdt 6y ago
I believe you are right. As far as I know VATs are a solution for areas with turbulent wind only. To generate at least some wind power.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  Their big advantage is that they do not need to be pointed into the wind, and appear conceptually simple, they also have their generator on the ground which is an advantage. But they suffer from oscillation and vibration and such low TSR designs as the one in the article will suffer from shading. The concept can work, but typically the machines end up requiring a lot of maintenance and extremely careful design. The biggest of these, the Cap Chat Aeole ran for an embarrassingly short time before destroying its main bearing. http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=506 http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=506 It was a most impressive machine though. A more successful project was run in the Rocky Mountains where a number of such Darrieus rotors were in operation for quite a while. Even so, the concept is problematic and will likely never see widespread use, even though you'll see a flare up every couple of years when people new to the matter think they have found gold.
codetrotter 6y ago
That page was a little confusing to me because the navigation is in the sidebar only and the sidebar is styled so that the subpages for the project all appear visually at the same level of indentation (or should I say lack of visual indentation) as the page you linked to. From navigating to other pages on the site and from inspecting the HTML of the page as well I found and confirmed that the pages belonging to the "Build our 10 foot diameter wind turbine!" are the ones starting with "Stator Mold" and inclusively ending with "Rectifier". Aside from that confusion the pages look interesting. Here are the links for the subpages: Stator Mold – https://www.otherpower.com/statormold.html https://www.otherpower.com/statormold.html Coil Winder – https://www.otherpower.com/coilwinder.html https://www.otherpower.com/coilwinder.html Stator – https://www.otherpower.com/stator.html https://www.otherpower.com/stator.html Metal Work – https://www.otherpower.com/metalwork.html https://www.otherpower.com/metalwork.html Metal Work part 2 – https://www.otherpower.com/metalwork2.html https://www.otherpower.com/metalwork2.html Blade Carving – https://www.otherpower.com/bladecarving.html https://www.otherpower.com/bladecarving.html Magnet Rotors – https://www.otherpower.com/magnetrotors.html https://www.otherpower.com/magnetrotors.html Alternator Assembly – https://www.otherpower.com/alternatorassembly.html https://www.otherpower.com/alternatorassembly.html Blade Assembly – https://www.otherpower.com/bladeassembly.html https://www.otherpower.com/bladeassembly.html Rectifier – https://www.otherpower.com/rectifier.html https://www.otherpower.com/rectifier.html

sgt 6y ago

Very cool, although I think the price is a tad optimistic. It can also depend where you live. I have a lot of sun where I live, and I think that a solar panel system and batteries would be a better fit for me. Yes, batteries are expensive but there are no moving parts. I adore the concept of no moving parts because my time is already limited when it comes to DIY stuff and it makes it likely to still work 5 years from now.

FooHentai 6y ago

>YOU WILL NEED Power drill, Metal Drill Bits, Craft Knife or Stanley Knife / Box Cutter, Tape Measure, 26 Inch Bike Wheel Cool cool cool >11 Aluminium lithographic offset printing plates the. WHAT. I actually laughed out loud when I got to that bit. It's a bit... mental... if I'm honest.. that whomever wrote this up included that. After reading through I can see this can just be substituted for general thin metal sheets which you can pick up from pretty much any hardware store. I assume it blows the $30 price point up a bit but that's far preferable than having that one, show-stoppingly esoteric essential item on the list. This kind of thing is very cool weekend project fodder. I suspect it'll take me a bit longer than the couple of hours they reckon.

snakeboy 6y ago
I assume it has to be aluminum since the weight is going to be a big factor in the efficiency, no ?
- leakybit 6y ago
  well aluminum wont rust.
jandrese 6y ago
I think the author happens to live near a printing plant or something that commonly tosses these in the trash or sells them for peanuts once they're worn out. You can substitute any large sturdy sheets of free aluminum that you happen to have nearby, as people do.
Daniel_Connell 6y ago
Yeah I might update that with a little more info. Essentially it's just a matter of ringing round all the offset printing companies in your area til you find one that will sell you their used plates. I've only so far not managed to find them in the deep Australian outback, and the high Himalayas. Otherwise tho any ~0.3mm aluminium sheet will do. Weight and oxidisation are certainly issues, but mostly it's that the alu is easy to bend and cut by hand, and is more than strong enough to withstand high winds.

MrsPeaches 6y ago

For anyone interested in actually building this def check out the facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/windturbinemakers/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/windturbinemakers/ Hugh Piggot [1] is pretty active in the goup and he is an OG in the DIY wind turbing game. Def worth checking out his book as well [2] For anyone who is interested in a deeper dive into wind turbines the Wind Energy Handbook [3] is worth your time. Also Daniel who built this also built a pretty cool DIY wifi dish [4]. I couldn't speak to efficacy but still interesting. [1] https://scoraigwind.co.uk https://scoraigwind.co.uk [2] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wind-Turbine-Recipe-Book-hands/dp/B004E6IIQY https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wind-Turbine-Recipe-Book-hands/dp/B... [3]https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wind-Energy-Handbook-2e-Burton/dp/0470699752 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wind-Energy-Handbook-2e-Burton/dp/0... [4] https://opensourcelowtech.org/wifidish.html https://opensourcelowtech.org/wifidish.html

ck2 6y ago

Could you make a dyson fan work backwards as a generator and avoid the blade problem?

tsmarsh 6y ago
Dyson fans substitute one large, slow fan, for a small fast fan and then hydraulically gear that down. Its an interesting idea. You would definitely create an uplift if air was blown through the fan and that could drive a turbine, and that turbine would be experiencing a much higher air speed, so you might be able to avoid the mechanical gearing. You'd have less moving parts, but probably lower efficiency. You could also combine the fans with ducting and use a single generator. Ducting also has significant losses when compared with wiring, but if the generator is your biggest expense maybe its worth it?

jungletime 6y ago

Does it kill all the birds?

Daniel_Connell 6y ago

Hi all, this is my turbine build process, based on Ed Lenz's design. Thanks for the attention and input. I can answer any questions you have.

mabbo 6y ago
Two questions: 1 - how are you converting the energy into electricity? The materials don't seem to mention that piece. 2 - How do you convert variable energy like wind into something stable and usable? IE: how do I hook this input into a household power system? Edit: Ah, there are some answers to these questions at the bottom- I missed that part.,
- Daniel_Connell 6y ago
  1 - There's a couple options in terms of alternators / generators. Hoverboard wheels are good in terms of cost and availability (in Western countries at least) and do a decent job tho will need to be geared up with a belt or similar to produce 12V charge voltage in realistic winds. Direct drive washing machine motors are usually high enough voltage to direct drive, tho can be a little tricky to source. Motorbike alternators will usually do a sufficient enough job, and are highly available in most parts of the world. 2 - The electrical side of things, ie charge control, batteries, load diversion, inversion, etc really needs to be tailored to each individual situation. We've got this Facbook group going: https://upload.facebook.com/groups/windturbinemakers/ https://upload.facebook.com/groups/windturbinemakers/ for figuring out that side of things and others.
  - mrfusion 6y ago
    Maybe a broken gas generator would be a good option too? I’d guess the ICE component normally fails well before the generator part.
    - Daniel_Connell 6y ago
      Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I've not come across any, but sure they'd be sourceable if specifically looked for.

fortran77 6y ago

Is it bird friendly?

hmaxwell 6y ago
no this kills all the birds
Daniel_Connell 6y ago
Birds don't fly into this for the same reason they don't fly into chimneys; it's a fairly solid shape that they can see. Horizontal axis turbines are more dangerous as the blades are thinner and fast moving.

geocrasher 6y ago

This is what I call "empty content". It gives a promise: 1KW of DIY wind power for $30. And then it shows a bunch of pictures and some extremely basic instructions. From the page: "Attaching [the DC generator] is mostly just a matter of stripping everything off the motor, attaching a pulley to the shaft, running a toothed timing belt around the wheel rim (with a layer of nylon strapping bolted to the wheel to protect the belt and give it something to grab onto) and attaching the motor to the pole frame as shown, with long bolts so you can easily adjust the tension on the belt." Strip motor, attach pulley, build a tensioner. The text makes it sound trivial, but those are non-trivial steps. Attaching a pulley to a scrap motor can be quite an ordeal. Building a tensioner that works requires fabrication. I'm not saying it's super complicated, I'm saying it's not "oh by the way make a tensioner" or "attach a pulley- done!" Glossing over details like that with a magic wand is what makes such projects appear even more unapproachable.

londons_explore 6y ago
For those wanting to avoid complex fabrication, this [1] kind of turbine is much simpler anyway, since it requires no gearing or complex mechanical bits. Simply make that out of a big stiff plastic or metal sheet, and bolt it onto the front of a motor. Then point it in the direction of the prevailing wind and you're done. The electrical side is complex or expensive if you want to feed into the grid, but if you just hook up a car lightbulb you can see it working easily. [1]: https://w7.pngwing.com/pngs/511/987/png-transparent-toy-toy-beach-photography-flower.png https://w7.pngwing.com/pngs/511/987/png-transparent-toy-toy-...
udev 6y ago
Well it is DIY after all. I vastly prefer such content being available, with its imperfections, than it being held back unpublished because of lack of simplified IKEA style guide for less experienced/handy people.
- geocrasher 6y ago
  I don't disagree with you- what I am making a point of is that it glosses over hard things without explaining that this is in fact non-trivial. It's that "magic wand" approach to DIY that I find irritating.

FiatLuxDave 6y ago

This seems like a good thread to ask this question: does anyone know a good place to find turbine curves/turbine maps for small fans used a turbines? It's pretty easy to find a fan curve for a small fan (e.g. under 12 inch diameter) but very very few will also have an available turbine map. As far as I know, there is no way to convert a fan curve to a turbine curve (I'd be very interested if such a thing existed!). Does anyone have any help or suggestions?

chrisdalke 6y ago
JavaProp is a very powerful tool for generating propellers and numerically calculating performance characteristics. You can get some great results if you’re willing to push through the arcane UI. http://mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/javaprop.htm http://mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/javaprop.htm The tool works for any fluid, you have to configure the fluid density and viscosity for air. It can auto generate props based on some initial state, or if you have an existing prop you can measure the various parameters and feed that in.

lazzlazzlazz 6y ago

This is great and makes me excited and curious about the idea. If it was much more thorough and demonstrative of the details (ex: I have no clue how to build a tensioner) I might actually do it. I would pay more for a kit of these parts with helpful documentation so that I could realistically built it myself.

jakuboboza 6y ago

Open source low tech has a good Youtube chan. Here: https://www.youtube.com/user/SolarflowerOrg https://www.youtube.com/user/SolarflowerOrg You can get inspired a lot, if anyone is in to Warhammer 40k it looks like watching an Ork Mekboy.

mbushey 6y ago

While people are commenting that $30 in materials is not very realistic, I find that's nothing compared to stating that 2 people can build this in 4 hours. I don't think it could be built in that amount of time if you used a large cnc router and had all the G-code already prepared. Looks to me like a week of work. I love the animations. Also the chain drive going around the bicycle rim is downright silly, you would have to weld gear teeth on the rim which would be extremely difficult.

Daniel_Connell 6y ago
I can confirm that I can make the three vane version myself from scratch in 3.5 hours. 90 minutes with pre-cut sheets. And is usually $20-30 all up including the alternator. The chain drive concept is indeed no longer what I'm using. It kinda worked, but not as well as I would have liked so now it's either a automotive alternator belt or direct drive to a Smartdrive unit or equivalent.

lxe 6y ago

That's like $300 worth of materials at least.

carapace 6y ago

This is better I think: > A vaneless ion wind generator or power fence is a device that generates electrical energy by using the wind to move charged particles across an electric field. Ion wind generators are not commercially available, though working prototypes and proofs of concept have been created. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaneless_ion_wind_generator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaneless_ion_wind_generator

jwillmer 6y ago

I currently also looked into a DIY wind turbine design and found the following design worth trying out: http://mumris.eu/bumerangai/dekoratyvus%20bumerangai1_files/index.htm http://mumris.eu/bumerangai/dekoratyvus%20bumerangai1_files/...

geogra4 6y ago

For diy green energy it really seems that solar is a lots less hassle than wind