Friday, July 12, 2013

PC Fan Wind Turbine - How to turn a PC Fan into a small Wind Turbine

This post is not about Embedded Systems. But it is about a DIY project of mine. Old cheap PC Fan to a small Wind Turbine.

I looked at the some old PC Fans I have and thought that they can be used as Small Wind Turbines.



PC Fan From Amazon US

PC Fan at Jumia Egypt

PC Fan at Aliexpress

PC Fan from Banggood

PC Fan From Amazon UK

PC Fan From Souq Egypt    But this one is very expensive. Believe me








                  



The PC Fan is Brush less DC ( BLDC ) Motor. It can be converted to a generator in 5 Minutes.

The concept is simple. You can skip this part and start directly with the conversion.

The BLDC motor used here has a stator winding and a Permanent Magnet Rotor. The motor is supplied by 12V DC. But the magnetic field rotation is generated by electronics ( Electronic Commutator ) . As the name implies , the electronics components convert DC into AC which makes the magnetic filed in the stator rotate.



The electronic commutation is achieved by a small IC.


To get the induced current from the motor used a generator , you must remove this IC .





This is what I 'll show you how.


All what you'll need is this tool

crocodile clip




First remove sticker on the back of the fan.




Then you 'll find a small piece of plastic lock that holds Fan shaft secured , Don't brake it. Remove it with a crocodile clip .


PC Fan From Amazon US


PC Fan from Banggood
****************




PC Fan From Amazon UK

PC Fan From Souq Egypt    But this one is very expensive. Believe me












You may like some vidoes from my YouTube Channel AeroArduino






You can see 4 poles of winding connected in series and have only 2 terminals. To get the induced current ,  connect supply wires to those terminals and let the fan rotate.
With  a solder iron , gently remove solder under IC pins and then remove the IC.









Remove this IC.





PC Fan From Amazon US


PC Fan From Amazon UK


PC Fan from Banggood



PC Fan From Souq Egypt    But this one is very expensive. Believe me

PC Fan From Amazon UK

PC Fan From Amazon US

PC Fan at Jumia Egypt

PC Fan from Aliexpress

You can see that the winding is connected to the board at three points. One common and tow other terminals.



 Remove the supply wires form there place to put them in the points where the tow winding wires are connected to the board.






Now , you have the stator ready to generate current. Now install the fan.




PC Fan From Amazon UK

PC Fan From Amazon US

PC Fan at Jumia Egypt

PC Fan from Aliexpress
        
PC Fan from Banggood

PC Fan From Souq Egypt    But this one is very expensive. Believe me

Assemble the fan in its place and lock it with the piece of plastic I told you about.

Put back the sticker.


Connect LED terminals to the Supply wires. Don't worry about +ve and -ve terminals , the LED will light if you connect it any way , trust me.


Roll the Fan

This video can give you a step by step quick guide





This video shows the fan in action.












PC Fan From Amazon US

PC Fan From Amazon UK


PC Fan at Jumia Egypt

PC Fan from Aliexpress

PC Fan from Banggood

PC Fan From Souq Egypt    But this one is very expensive. Believe me







Here is the project on instructables.com

http://www.instructables.com/id/Old-PC-Fan-Wind-Turbine-in-10-Minutes/


You can read this article in Arabic

يمكنك قراءة هذه المقالة باللغة العربية 


http://idea-arabic.blogspot.com/2014/11/blog-post_26.html Done


You may like one of my new books on Amazon

Check Them Out. You can buy or either read for free with Kindle Unlimited Service









Embedded Systems, Electronics: My Projects Collection From Instructables by [Ebeed, Ahmed]








PC Fan Wind Turbine: How to turn an old PC Fan into a small wind turbine the easy way by [Ebeed, Ahmed]















PC Fan From Amazon UK



PC Fan at Jumia Egypt



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