Home Made Wind Generator
In order to avert the cost of a state-of-the-art wind system, many residential users opt to build their own wind turbine. The process is time consuming and labor intensive but for people dedicated to cleaner energy sources, it is an investment in the future.
Wind turbines have several parts:
• Rotor with blade assembly
• Tower
• Wind generator
• Wiring
• Control system
• Shaft
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Each one of these components plays a role in the conversion of energy to electricity. Basically it works like this. The wind currents come in contact with the rotor blades. Three blades are usually used for maximum energy usage and balance in the rotor. Any wobbling can cause a loss of valuable wind current energy.
Wind turbine systems are tested for an average of twelve miles per hour wind speeds. With any wind system even a homemade wind turbine, the winds in your area have to reach an average of seven miles per hour in order to generate any electricity. And, that is the reason for using the system. Most areas can generate wind speeds above that so it is not a concern. If you by some chance live in an area with no appreciable winds, solar energy would probably be a better choice.
How Do These Parts Work
Let’s get down to what happens inside of a wind turbine that generates electricity for the residence. The wind currents hit the blades and turn them. The kinetic energy of the wind is harnessed by the turbine. The rotor turns on a horizontal shaft that contains a gearbox and a motor or wind generator. The housing for these components is sometimes called the nacelle.
The generator for the wind turbine is a DC motor. There are many different types of motors that can be purchased for your wind turbine. A DC motor uses power for operation but it also generates power when it
is operated in reverse.
The motor of the wind turbine generator operates with magnets. It produces an electromagnetic field that in turn produces electricity. Magnets are rotated around a conductor like an electrical coil as the way of producing the electricity.
All motors are not the same. Each has different amperage, shaft size, rpm, and voltage. Choose your motor based on these four criteria. For the first step, look for a motor that has a low rpm. The motor will need to spin faster than what is rated on the motor to produce the desired electricity. The motor runs in both directions: one for using power and the opposite for generating electricity.
As far as the other criteria, we need a high voltage motor rating, say twelve volts. The current should also be high. A generator fitting the profile of what a homemade wind generator needs can be found on eBay for less than $100. Look for DC motors in the range of 400 rpm for thirty volts. Ametek makes a DC motor that has an rpm around 1100 with a voltage under forty.
What Happens to the Electricity
Once the electricity is produced it has to be stored unless your wind generator is directly fed into the electrical system of the house. Batteries are used to store the DC current produced by the generator. Batteries can be found on eBay as well. Choose a deep cycle battery to store your power. A control panel can keep track of the electricity stored in the battery.
From there the electricity is fed into the grid if you use utilities from a company. An electrician can wire the wind turbine system to feed into your home. As more electricity is produced by the homemade wind generator, less is needed from the utility grid. Homeowners that enter into an agreement with power companies to sell them surplus electricity will have a different wiring setup.
Cost Savings
It requires a lot of work to build your own wind powered generator. The actual generator can be built for less than the thousands an installed system would cost. Finding as many items as possible on eBay can reduce the cost to about $200. That doesn’t include funds for the labor of installing the system in the ground. But, once installed, the energy savings to you will be around eighty percent.
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Constructing a homemade wind generator is an ultimate DIY project. The benefits are worth the challenges to get the system up and running.