Embedded Systems in Egypt: 2016

Thursday, February 11, 2016

TurbineOne - Basic Wind Turbine That Anyone Can Make

Have you ever wanted to have a wind turbine like this one ?

Did you really like it so much that you always wanted to make it yourself ?

This is my first working practical wind turbine. I really love green projects and renewable energy stuff. Last year I 've made a small modification on an old PC fan to convert it into a small wind turbine. It had enough output power to light an LED. It was a huge project for me at that time because I 've always wanted to much to get even little power form wind.

The huge number of people on instructables who successfully built different sizes and shapes of practically working wind turbines has motivated me to build my own next level wind turbine to have higher scale of power output.

That 's where TurbineOne came from.

TurbineOne is my first practical power generating wind turbine.

I named it TurbineOne because I intend to build many other turbines.

I 'll explain how I built it in the next steps.

I know, when it comes to technical appeal ,engineering calculations or technology practices TurbineOne is not very awesome.

Believe me, I'm not so handy when it comes to mechanics and using power tools.

Please make good comments and productive criticism.

Thank you for spending time reading my instructable.

Generator eBay or From Banggood

This is the most important piece of equipment for your wind turbine.

Actually, it was the first thing I started to look for when I decided to build my own wind turbine.

I thought to buy a DC motor from any hardware store who sells this kind of motor as a spare part for any appliance

( e.g dishwasher , blender ... etc ) .

Then I found an old blender motor that has a permanent magnet inside it.

The motor generates electricity when it is turned by hand.

I measured the output and found to be nearly 14 Volts on the Voltmeter.

If you don't have an old motor to use as a generator, you still can buy a new one from eBay , I got this one and it was useful.

Material :

This wind turbine is 100% recycled. I got all parts from scrap and used stuff.

It took me a long time to collect some of the materials used for building it, but you can just buy them or be lucky to find them easier than I did.

Motor . From Banggood

PVC pipe --------- I found an old PVC pipe of suitable length to be used as turbine blades.

5 CD roms ------- I used old CD Roms and DVD as wind turbine hub.

Fax paper plastic roll ----- > used as a coupler between CD roms and motor shaft.

Old Plastic bottle ------ > used as a cover for the generator

Some screws.

Some wires.

Old metallic rod used as a tower

Plastic tie raps

Tools

This project is made using fairly power tools. Please be careful when using these stuff.

- Saw

- Screw Driver

- Sand paper

- Pliers

Hub Assembly :

I started by the turbine hub.

Cut the plastic fax tube to 5 cm long .

I put the plastic tube around the motor rotating shaft .

Use the sand paper in cdrom center to make the plastic tube fit into it.

Put CDroms and DVDs around the plastic pipe and motor shaft.

Step 5: Blades Assembly :

I wanted to cut the turbine blades into the usual turbine blades shape.

I really liked the idea of using PVC pipe as a fan blade. I got this idea from the internet.

But when I got the old PVC pipe I stated by drawing the fan blade on a template to draw it on the PVC pipe.

Then I couldn't get the tools to cut pipe in the fine shape of the fan blade.

So I've chosen to make the easy way and cut the PVC pipe into straight three equal pieces.

But how are these pieces going to generate rotational motion from the wind.

I decided to install each blade on the hub so it becomes nearly perpendicular to the hub and the round shape of the pipe does the rest.

Step 6: Turbine Assembly :

I installed the hub around the motor and secured them together using the fax paper plastic tube. Then I cut the extra piece of plastic from the small plastic tube. I drilled the metallic tube to install screws to fix the two tubes together. I installed the turbine with its pole on the roof of my apartment. It really rotates when the wind is fairly blowing.

TO DO : I 'll make a battery charging circuit and connect a sealed Lead-Acid battery to make a steady supply power source.

I posted this project on the DIY website instructables.com

The post got featured on the website and in the weekly news letter.

I 've participated at the Leftovers Contest on the website and got a runner prize.

http://www.instructables.com/id/TurbineOne-Basic-Wind-Turbine-That-Anyone-Can-Make/