This wind turbine allows anyone to generate electricity

[Bliss149]

 

[JuanKnucklehead]

I was thinking the other day, "Why cant i put a windmill on top my van to generate electricity as i go down the road?? Then my next thought was "If you could, Somebody would be doing it & you would see Rvs & vans with little birdies on their roofs" Then I quit thinking about it until i seen this thread just now

 

[bullfrog]

There is no free lunch but there is a lot of wasted food. Wind power generation works great when you don’t have to supply the wind. A few have used a wind mill to pump water to a higher elevation tank then use regulated water flow to turn a water turbine down stream to generate electric power at night when solar isn’t available on their homesteads. One of the problems with wind power is it is difficult to deal with wide variations in wind speed without tearing up or wearing out mechanicals.

 

[jimindenver]

Wind power is great in a area of consistent high winds, otherwise it is about as useful as solar in a area that is almost always cloudy. The turban that I have needs 24 MPH to produce its rated 400 watt output. In two plus years I have rarely seen 24 MPH gust much less consistent speeds that high. In the end a 100 watt solar panel would produce more power over a years time. I also would not want to be in 24 MPH winds constantly.

 

[RvNaut]

I have been watching a ton of various folks sailing about the ball of water in floating RVs with pointy fronts and the sheets on the line all the time.... odd folk... they all have solar and most have wind... the wind is noisy and creates a hazard so has to be mounted up and away... they work but they are annoying... another way they do it is when they have their laundry up the mast, they tow a spinning prop on a rope that runs a generator... also works... also noisy but way less hazardous... the solar always works well, when there is sun... from there down the systems they use are the same as the RV community...

wind gennys also create vibrations that will transmit to what ever it is attached to, and if you have one in proximity of others, they will have to listen to the whirring and any other noises they make....

I wish had money .. I live on top of a hill ( until i sell the house) and it would have been a good spot for wind...stick up a rohn tower out back and bob's yer uncle....

 

[highdesertranger]

Bliss we need a description of what your linking too. the rules are very clear on this. highdesertranger

 

[Sofisintown]

The short answer is NO
it is too small/weak to turn gears, and you need a whole lot of wind to generate electricity from wind, even with the real turbines. Small wind turbines of any kind are generally a failed concept. Not only the wind has to be over 17 miles/hr, but if it is too windy, they tend to come down or stuff you'd rather they didn't.
Get solar.


P.S. If that thingy had nice vibrant colors, it would be an ok yard decoration though.

 

[theBest]

Wind power is great in a area of consistent high winds, otherwise it is about as useful as solar in a area that is almost always cloudy. The turban that I have needs 24 MPH to produce its rated 400 watt output. In two plus years I have rarely seen 24 MPH gust much less consistent speeds that high. In the end a 100 watt solar panel would produce more power over a years time. I also would not want to be in 24 MPH winds constantly.

 Wind generators are great sources of electrical generation. If you design your own system you can get the numbers in a usable area.
1. is the generator design producing AC or DC ?
AC generators have high magnetic friction to overcome in order to rotate.
For local power generation DC is the best; For transmitting power over long distance AC is the best.
Design your wind generator accordingly.
2. What is used to capture the wind and spin the generator?
Is it a propeller blade design? Is a propeller design the best for capturing wind or is it designed for creating wind for propulsion?
Propellers are not very useful for capturing wind, why does your weather station use cups?
Because the cups create a larger surface area with which to collect wind force, see. The larger the surface area to collect wind force and transform it into a rotating force is better.
Look at these helical wind turbine blade designs in Finland, large surface area to capture wind force and convert to rotating force.

Vertical Axis Helix Wind Turbine ( Drag Type ) VAWT

 

[B and C]

All the wind turbines I see are huge and have 3 propeller blades.

 

[theBest]

Think about how much surface area is exposed to the wind in a propeller (3 blade) design.
The only way to get more surface area from this design is to make the blades LONGER, see?
To make the blades long enough you have to put the generator way up in the air with 100 foot blades.
All of this design style does is to go bigger you must have unlimited money. This means only wealthy people can play in this market.
No need. Design a structure that will capture the wind with a large surface area from any direction, other than propeller blades.

Midnight Solar has an optimized setting for wind generators in their Classic.

Hawks flly faster in vertical updrafts when morning sun heats the mountain side, why?
Some glider pilots try and replicate what the hawks do.
Amazing physics.

 

[MrAlvinDude]

The main challenge with wind mills is to rotate at low wind speeds, and NOT rotate too fast at high wind speeds.

This challenge makes it necessary to be able to adjust something in the windmill design, as the wind speeds get above the numbers that the particular design can survive.
This challenge has been at the core of windmill designs, for ever.

Living in a country that frequently produces 100% of needed electricity by windmill power, and living in the city where the worlds first official windmill test station has been up and running for more than 30 years. Has given me ample opportunity to see a number of different windmill designs being tested.

Currently the airplane-blade design, has proven to be the design that is "easiest" to produce (for very large scale windmills) - while at the same time being "easy" to integrate several methods to ensuring that blade speeds will not get too high at higher wind speeds.

These methods of limiting blade speeds are however costly to implement, and they require maintenance.
So smaller household-size-windmills will typically be designed to include a different set of methods to limit runaway situation, and these simpler methods will nearly always be something that will lower the range of wind speeds where these small windmills can generate power.

In some off-grid situations, it is however very interesting to be able to generate power at all.
So the choice between no power, or not-so-efficient generation of power, becomes an acceptabe compromise in order to have very low maintenance, on a lower-cost unit.

 

[RVTravel]

John Daniels youtube channel has some good stuff on wind turbines.

 

[theBest]

The main challenge with wind mills is to rotate at low wind speeds, and NOT rotate too fast at high wind speeds.

This challenge makes it necessary to be able to adjust something in the windmill design, as the wind speeds get above the numbers that the particular design can survive.
This challenge has been at the core of windmill designs, for ever.

Propeller blade wind generators suffer from:
1. Need of sufficient wind force to move them, a higher MPH value, these are High RPM generators.
2. Rotating too fast at high wind speeds will burn out the coils in the generator.
3. Need to be perpendicular to, facing, the wind to receive sufficient force.
When the wind changes direction these wind generators, stop producing while turning, until they are again facing the wind.
In high wind situations the output circuit is shorted to prevent overspin, overspin can burn out the coils in the generator.

Currently the airplane-blade design, has proven to be the design that is "easiest" to produce (for very large scale windmills) - while at the same time being "easy" to integrate several methods to ensuring that blade speeds will not get too high at higher wind speeds.

These methods of limiting blade speeds are however costly to implement, and they require maintenance.
So smaller household-size-windmills will typically be designed to include a different set of methods to limit runaway situation, and these simpler methods will nearly always be something that will lower the range of wind speeds where these small windmills can generate power.

Helical Generator Propulsion "Blades"
1. Will function in low MPH winds.
2. Operate between 300RPM-1400RPM, they do not overspin. Generator must be designed to produce at lower RPMs.
3. Accepts wind from any direction, no need to rotate, thereby increasing efficiency in generation.

In some off-grid situations, it is however very interesting to be able to generate power at all.
So the choice between no power, or not-so-efficient generation of power, becomes an acceptabe compromise in order to have very low maintenance, on a lower-cost unit.

DIY, Build it yourself. So many voices tell you it can't be done, generating electricity from the wind is not a good option...etc. And yet there are many DIYers who have built their own systems and post their statistics on community sites or on their own websites, their offgrid energy production numbers (including solar for those who have that also), some even include their DIY wind generator design. Many of these people have built 1kw and 2kw wind generators themselves and are producing useful energy in contrast to what negative commenters say about wind generation, disproving their position.

 

[jimindenver]

Like most things you should buy/design and build to your needs and situation. In my case where I stay in the winter I would be better off with a 1600 watt 7 blade turban that will produce a usable amount of power at lower speeds.

 

[nature lover]

Our Amish communities across the country have been using wind power for over 100 years. At one time say 1950-ish almost every Amish farm had a windmill to pump water. That has been replaced by the diesel engine put in the barn for milking due to state regulations. So there are very few Water pumping windmills left. But there are plenty of windmills that are producing 12 V electricity for various things. Some of our Amish businesses specialize in building wind power And solar systems systems not just for our people but for many “English” (that’s what we call you). God bless the nomads all of them.

 

[bagabum]

Wind power operates under the cube power. Lets say you have a wind generator that is rated at 100 watts in a 30mph wind. Now when the wind drops to 10 mph , a factor of 3. Three cubed is 9.  100/9 =11 watts. If your not in an area where on any given day you step outside and your hat is not blown off, your wasting your time.