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    2F Wind Turbine Construction Manual
    2F Wind Turbine Construction Manual
    2F Wind Turbine Construction Manual
    Ebook176 pages47 minutes

    2F Wind Turbine Construction Manual

    By Hugh Piggott

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    About this ebook

    The latest in a lifetime series of wind turbine construction guides, this is the first that has been specifically written as an ebook. There are numerous colour photos and diagrams.
    This is a step-by-step description of the of the various tasks including a new and simpler blade carving process, a new concept alternator using lower cost, more durable magnets, and details of how to weld the frame and erect the machine on a tower.
    Readers of my previous works (for example A Wind Turbine Recipe Book) will already be familiar with many of the idea presented here, but years of experience building, installing, maintaining, and explaining this technology have lead to some significant new ideas and better presentation of the old.
    There is something magical about working with one's own hands to produce a machine that quietly and efficiently converts the free energy in the wind to electricity for our use. My design ideas have also been taken into developing world situations to bring electricity where there was none before, and to empower the locals with the ability to build and maintain the necessary technology.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHugh Piggott
    Release dateJun 6, 2014
    ISBN9781311884305
    2F Wind Turbine Construction Manual
    Author

    Hugh Piggott

    Born in 1952, educated in Edinburgh and Cambridge. I have lived off-grid on the remote Scoraig peninsula in the Scottish Highlands since the mid 1970s. I have designed and built a lot of wind turbines, and also teach courses and write books so that others can learn how.I am still very active building, installing and maintaining wind, hydro and solar systems for neighbours and other clients.A number of organisations around the world have adopted my designs and teach courses themselves or build wind turbines. (http://www.windmepowerment.org) I spend a lot of time helping people with their projects and answering questions over the internet. I rely on sales of my books for income but to a large extent my work has become "public domain" or "open source" which is great so long as I continue to make some kind of income.

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    Book preview

    2F Wind Turbine Construction Manual - Hugh Piggott

    2F wind turbine construction manual

    by Hugh Piggott

    (author of A Wind Turbine Recipe Book)

    Copyright 2014 Hugh Piggott

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    Introduction

    Carving the Blades

    Welding the frame

    Making the Alternator parts

    Assembling the Turbine

    Installing the Turbine

    Appendix

    Introduction

    The 2F wind turbine is a 2 metre diameter, 400 watt wind turbine for battery charging, with ferrite magnets in its alternator. Ferrite magnets are not so powerful as NdFeB or neo magnets, used in my Recipe Book, but they are immune to corrosion, low cost and robust.

    Together with Jon Leary of Sheffield University I have measured the power curve of the turbine as shown below. It will produce about 800kWh of energy per year on a site with 5 m/s mean windspeed.

    The blades

    Wood is the perfect material for producing a set of blades, being light and strong, fatigue resistant, and a pleasure to work with. Wooden blades last for many years. The blades are carved using a simplified procedure that is quicker than my previous blade designs. The pieces of wood are approximately 95 x 45 mm in section, which is a very common size. It's important to choose pieces that are clear of knots but it can be expensive and troublesome to find larger pieces that are clear. My idea in this book is to try to simplify the task of producing an efficient and reliable wind turbine for long term use.

    The three blades are clamped together between two plywood triangles, using a pattern of heavy wood screws to form a single blade rotor.

    The back of the blade is curved, with a sharp trailing edge.

    You will fit the blades to the alternator and balance them.

    Alternator

    Each magnet rotor is a steel disk with 12 magnets placed on it and set in resin. The magnets are each 50 x 50 x 20 mm, and they only just fit on the disk. The idea is to achieve the maximum amount of flux in a given space.

    The turbine runs at 650 rpm for 400W output, so the centrifugal force on the magnets is 60 times the force of gravity. To prevent them flying off, the resin casting needs to be reinforced. Stainless steel wire rope is placed around the outside of the magnets to hold the casting together at high rpm. We use stainless because it is non-magnetic, or at least less magnetic than normal steel wire rope.

    You will wind the coils that produce the output power and cast them in resin to form a stator between the two magnet rotors.

    You will make a simple coil winder, and wind the 9 coils.

    The rotating parts (magnet rotors and blades) are supported by the wheel hub of a car or trailer.

    Welding the frame

    You will need to do some arc welding to construct the frame of the alternator and the structure of the turbine. The alternator frame is welded to a vertical pipe (known as the yaw bearing) that swivels on the tower top so that the blades can face the wind. It's simple but effective technology that has stood the test of time.

    In this shot the tower is lying down, but ready to erect.

    The tail is designed to steer the machine to face the wind but it also serves an important protective function. When the wind is too strong, the tail allows the turbine to face away to the side so as to protect itself from overload and damage.

    Frontal view of the wind turbine on a tower.

    How the furling works

    Seen from the front, the blades and alternator are offset to the left by 100mm from the centre of the yaw bearing. The pressure of the wind is therefore always acting to try to yaw the machine to the left, facing away from the wind. The tail balances this force with a counter force, pulling the blades to face

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