diy solar

diy solar

Portable 3d printed wind turbines

Fun but I didn't see enough voltage on that meter to charge a battery, it was barely hitting 13v while free spinning.
fun indeed, but we seem to be forgetting that wind does not scale in favor of small sizes.

I must admit it looks amazing, mesmorizing even.

But nah, this is not going anywhere reallllly fast.
 
this whole thread does allow me to yet again have a rambling.

Why is it that so many cool and fun small scale projects are never scaled and thus never see the light of day. I know, because it is all bullocks.

Look I will admit that showing off modeling abilities and printing abilities is half the fun. I am guilty and admitting to it.

However, I have a great responsibility so I am not fond when newcommers just randomly come in here and dump videos like this.
 
Fun but I didn't see enough voltage on that meter to charge a battery, it was barely hitting 13v while free spinning.
Well, I suggest you to watch from 1 minute 12 seconds and it reach 19 amps and when voltage is taken it reach 19 volts, but clearly you should watch the amperage. Watch the multimeter in one take measures volts and in another just amps. And if you want more volts, changing the dc motors you can have more than 150 volts in this link
. It is important to mention that this type of wind turbines are in the range of the portable, that means that it is made for outdoor activities like beach, camping, mountain etc and if an array is done, it can generate with strong winds an important amount of electricity. But as said, this devices are classified in its own category, can use multiple dc motors and it is in development to build more stages to obtain in less horizontal space the maximum amount of electricity.

https://www.kolibriwindstorm.com/

 
Drag type device, leaf blower directed at cupped side.
Can it (and your campsite) withstand 150 mph winds?
"Strong Winds"?!!! ?️?️

What to expect from wind or what wind turbines require,
- a minimum wind speed (generally 12-14 km/h) to begin turning and generate electricity
- strong winds (50-60 km/h) to generate at full capacity
- winds of less than 90 km/h; beyond that speed, the turbines must be stopped to avoid damage (150mph is a hurricane of category 5, not even a house would resist that intensity Lol)
http://www.hydroquebec.com/learning/eolienne/

Tests done outdoors, it uses a gearbox of 10x1 btw,

Presentation from a group of students at the Munich University of applied sciences for their construction class project of our multi-stage & multi-generator vertical wind turbine system. I have attached their pdf with 107 pages (german)
UniAleman6.png

 

Attachments

  • Projektarbeit 2.pdf
    10.8 MB · Views: 2
- winds of less than 90 km/h; beyond that speed, the turbines must be stopped to avoid damage (150mph is a hurricane of category 5, not even a house would resist that intensity Lol)

Tests done outdoors, it uses a gearbox of 10x1 btw,

Tests done indoors, with a leaf blower.
The outdoor test you linked, it can't even decide which way to turn. Much less put out 19A.

1676266377386.png
 
Tests done indoors, with a leaf blower.
The outdoor test you linked, it can't even decide which way to turn. Much less put out 19A.

View attachment 134592
It is a visual effect, it spins so fast that seems to be static. Put your eyes in the big gear and you will notice that spins. Maybe you want to see this other one to see that spins at lower rpm, so you are able to view it.
You should know that companies that make devices as this, usually they use wind tunnels. Any way,as I saw in your threads you are more focused in solar systems than wind turbines!!!
 
Last edited:
It is a visual effect, it spins so fast that seems to be static. Put your eyes in the big gear and you will notice that spins. Maybe you want to see this other one to see that spins at lower rpm, so you are able to view it.

You should know that companies that make devices as this, usually they use wind tunnels. Any way,as I saw in your threads you are more focused in solar systems than wind turbines!!!

I am familiar with that effect, but the video I commented on didn't seem to show that.
The one you posted with this message, it rotated. Under no load.

Well, I suggest you to watch from 1 minute 12 seconds and it reach 19 amps and when voltage is taken it reach 19 volts, but clearly you should watch the amperage. Watch the multimeter in one take measures volts and in another just amps.

Do you mean short-circuit it measures 19 amps, and open circuit 19 volts?

How much power does it generate?

Any way,as I saw in your threads you are more focused in solar systems than wind turbines!!!

My background and experience is such that I can make observations and ask questions about technical performance in many areas.

What you have here is slightly larger than an anemometer. With generator attached it could be used for instrumentation, to measure wind speed. That would be useful to estimate what a wind turbine might produce. It's measurement alone might be sufficient predicting what another drag-type device would to. For a lift-type device (one with airfoils), turbulence is a major factor, something this measurement doesn't show. The distinction is important, because for the same area, a drag device produces considerably less power than a lift device.

While these things can be interesting to tinker with and learn from, they are not ...
... for outdoor activities like beach, camping, mountain etc and if an array is done, it can generate with strong winds an important amount of electricity.

One of these will not produce enough to charge a cell phone, except in very strong winds.

Secure it to the roof or hood of your car. Connect a load resistor. Simultaneously record volts & amps, and graph that vs. speed.
 
I will just answer you the last one, because this discussion is not really constructive, sorry you got offended. A cell phone need really not lot to get charged, 5 volts and very low amperage, so again with all respect, no matter what I can say or show, you will always have a comeback because you have a preconceived idea.I suggest to 3d print it and test it by yourself, I give you the links if you are into 3d printing as interest. Watch the video below, it is static or moving!!!
 
Last edited:
Not offended, just challenging your apparent claim this "anemometer" can produce any practical amount of power.

OK, it is moving in this case. Usually, I see a blur plus the stop-action of stroboscope.

Not sure what meter in this latest video reads. How many watts are being produced? That is what is needed for a constructive conversation. Otherwise, spinning object is just a decorative whirligig.

My cell phone either charges fast using a charger it digitally communicates with over USB, or more slowly otherwise. Not sure, but think it expects at least 0.5A at 5.0V, and I don't know how it behaves if source voltage drops under such load.

I'm betting your device produces less than 2.5W, if strapped to the roof of your car and tested at 30 mph.

While powered with a leaf blower - what wind speed is that? My quick lookup indicated some deliver 150 mph. And I think you're directing it on the concave side of the buckets, so not representative of the device sitting out in wind.

People here are primarily focusing on solar/battery/inverter. Some have various experience with wind and hydro.
We know that there is a maximum amount of energy that can be captured from wind, based on area and velocity. We also know that drag devices don't capture as much as lift devices. And that lift devices drastically lose performance with turbulence. Wind turbines work best at elevation, 10's of feet to 100's of feet above the ground. You will find hobbyists and professionals in many subjects here.
 
Not offended, just challenging your apparent claim this "anemometer" can produce any practical amount of power.

OK, it is moving in this case. Usually, I see a blur plus the stop-action of stroboscope.

Not sure what meter in this latest video reads. How many watts are being produced? That is what is needed for a constructive conversation. Otherwise, spinning object is just a decorative whirligig.

My cell phone either charges fast using a charger it digitally communicates with over USB, or more slowly otherwise. Not sure, but think it expects at least 0.5A at 5.0V, and I don't know how it behaves if source voltage drops under such load.

I'm betting your device produces less than 2.5W, if strapped to the roof of your car and tested at 30 mph.

While powered with a leaf blower - what wind speed is that? My quick lookup indicated some deliver 150 mph. And I think you're directing it on the concave side of the buckets, so not representative of the device sitting out in wind.

People here are primarily focusing on solar/battery/inverter. Some have various experience with wind and hydro.
We know that there is a maximum amount of energy that can be captured from wind, based on area and velocity. We also know that drag devices don't capture as much as lift devices. And that lift devices drastically lose performance with turbulence. Wind turbines work best at elevation, 10's of feet to 100's of feet above the ground. You will find hobbyists and professionals in many subjects here.
It reached 172 volts in the last second of the video. As it has a gearbox of 10x1 it used a Hilitand 31ZY 24V 3500Rpm and this DC motor at 24 volts.
WM-Screenshots-20230213163515.png
Above you can view that the DC motor type used for the test was a type like the last column and if it reached 172 volts it has gone let say six times over 24 volts (remember the gearbox that uses range 10x1) and for 24 volts it is stated a rated current A of 0.3Amp, so it has gone above 0.8 AMP being very humble and this device uses 4 DC motors that can be choose from the panel above as required and for bigger loads it has extension units,
243399351_901451537130532_486575397643052738_n.png
You have a good video in the link below, that shows you how good are these devices in their range if you compare it to others vertical/horizontal portable micro wind turbines.
And about your bet (I'm betting your device produces less than 2.5W, if strapped to the roof of your car and tested at 30 mph). And if you compare it to another prototype we have, it creates more than 2,5 watts as you can view in LED prove!!!
Here are some voltage done to the horizontal device. The device is just 200gr so you can see that despite the leaves bluffer is used its quite far. This one used another dc motor an Uxcell RF-500TB- 12560 DC5v-12volts 2.3000RPM-5.6000RPM 32 mm diametre
The video that you say it looked not moving, it really makes me laugh. Below the red turbines you can see a gear with some white spots ( lubricant for 3d materials) and you can see how it spins, so how can it spin if as you say the red blades are static?
Sans titre.png
It is important to mention again that with few wind speed not a significant amount of electricity can be generated,
http://www.hydroquebec.com/learning/eolienne/
 
Last edited:
The blades have special shapes and we have done to tests comparing the patented blades with flat ones, and there is a difference of the double when the test was measured in voltage to calculate the rpm. The test was done with very small dc motors.

with average drag type turbines,

Compared with pending patent special designed blades

This are the flat ones
244411421_618825865920726_1341605480168643547_n.png
compared to the innovative ones
218389881_353541796292969_416563812342369926_n.png
 
Last edited:
Above you can view that the DC motor type used for the test was a type like the last column and if it reached 172 volts it has gone let say six times over 24 volts (remember the gearbox that uses range 10x1) and for 24 volts it is stated a rated current A of 0.3Amp, so it has gone above 0.8 AMP being very humble and this device uses 4 DC motors that can be choose from the panel above as required and for bigger loads it has extension units,

I think you are quoting open circuit volts and short circuit amps.
Have you measured voltage and amps at the same time, with a load?

And about your bet (I'm betting your device produces less than 2.5W, if strapped to the roof of your car and tested at 30 mph). And if you compare it to another prototype we have, it creates more than 2,5 watts as you can view in LED prove!!!

That's your HAWT, not VAWT.
This time it is driving a load, so that is more meaningful than open/short circuit tests.
I can't tell that it is producing more than 2.5W. How many volts across the string of bulbs, and how many amps through?

How does HAWT perform under same conditions?


It is good that you are doing fabrication, mechanical, and electrical experimentation.
But you need to measure watts produced. And correlate it with wind speed.

I did some similar tests using a stepper motor as a generator. I was thinking of micro-hydro application, and thought the large number of poles would be good for low RPM. I was disappointed how little it generated in bench tests. Obviously a different motor would work better.
 
Wind power is measured by swept area. There is almost no swept area with the one design that looks like a water wheel especially when one side will have to push against the wind. And as Hedges alluded to it is basically meaningless to measure a wind turbine under no load. With no load a lot of "small" wind turbines will have huge voltage spikes and spin so fast they could eventually fly apart, hence the reason why many require a load of some sort at all times to prevent that.
 
Wind power is measured by swept area. There is almost no swept area with the one design that looks like a water wheel especially when one side will have to push against the wind. And as Hedges alluded to it is basically meaningless to measure a wind turbine under no load. With no load a lot of "small" wind turbines will have huge voltage spikes and spin so fast they could eventually fly apart, hence the reason why many require a load of some sort at all times to prevent that.
I have showed the amperage 19 amps, using 8 dc motors, that is the reason of why it is so high, but the video was old and did not use 2 multi meters, but even as that, the speed of the spin indicates that there is a voltage, maybe not 20 volts but let say 10 volts being humble, it is amazing for a portable wind turbine even. (When you place a multi meter to measure amps it is more hard to spin, if you say it is free load, sorry but very limited information you have about that applied to wind turbines when you measure in amps a turbine spin)
Rhino, do not simplify your arguments to misleading statements as (With no load a lot of "small" wind turbines will have huge voltage spikes and spin so fast they could eventually fly apart, hence the reason why many require a load of some sort at all times to prevent that.) it was measured in voltage and in amps, so do not pick just voltage to decorate your 2 sentences. When you measure amperage there is a load!!!! If you have ever measured a turbine spin with your hands just change from voltage to amperage and you will notice that it is more hard to spin. Another thing you have not taken in consideration, it used a gearbox of 10x1 so that have more resistance, usually those portable small wind turbines do not even have gearbox so it fly away as you said. An empty paragraph for the gallery does not give more credibility to your commentary

Can I measure amps with a multimeter?
A digital multimeter is a test tool used to measure two or more electrical values—principally voltage (volts), current (amps) and resistance (ohms). So if you are saying that when the multi meter was measuring voltage ignoring that it measured also amperage then sorry but you have a lack of information or you did not thought about it and you preferred to concentrate in voltage so your reply was having more sense. The term amp load is used to indicate the power you get from the main electricity source or transformer. Amperage is the official term used for the measurement of the total electrical capacity.

Here is again a 3d picture showing the extension unit. You can extend them up to 1.20 meters, and it will do not bend if it is done with poly carbonate filaments. You can unit extension with extension and even link the turbine with each other with let say copper coil cables so it do not bend if you want to extend it much further than 1.20.
15.png
Rhino, there is another version of a multi-stage system that you can use more blades so more swept are, anyway this system can use up to 18 dc motors, and it has been in the project of the students of applied sciences of Munich university (Engineering students).
UniAleman7.png
WM-Screenshots-20221231213349.png
WM-Screenshots-20221231213916.png
 

Attachments

  • kick10.png
    kick10.png
    63.4 KB · Views: 1
Last edited:
Back
Top