Posts tagged "how to build your own wind turbine"

Learn How To Build Your Own Wind Turbine

Want to know how to build your own wind turbine?

A small wind turbine can even be built by a complete novice. You will not only be fulfilling your own energy requirements, but you can also earn money by selling electricity back to your  energy supplier.

Believe it or not, learning how to build your own wind turbine is relatively simple. You can either purchase a ready made kit, or you can build the whole project yourself, including carving your own windmill blade.

Before you choose your construction method, a little investigation into the wind potential for the site is a good idea. Wind atlas details are available online, and you can also monitor the prevailing winds using a small wind meter on anemometer over a period of months. This will give you all the information needed to decide where a windmill could be located.
Before  continuing with your project, an eco-audit of the entire home’s energy usage may show that savings can be made that reduce demand substantially.

The basic parts needed to build your own wind turbine include the structure to support the blades and generator, a means of connecting it to a generator, the tail assembly to keep the unit facing into the prevailing wind, and the various electrical pieces needed.  You’ll also need a strong enough roof of course!

It may only take a matter of days to build your own wind turbine. Once all the parts are together, limited knowledge of electrical circuitry will suffice to get it properly connected. However, if the unit is to be designed to return any surplus to the grid, more sophisticated charge controllers and qualified electrical assistance must be used.

What happens when the wind stops blowing? The energy produced will need to be stored in a battery for slow release. These batteries can pose environmental issues when it comes to their disposal, but battery technology is continuing to evolve so these days it is less of a problem.
Learning how to build your own wind turbine is not just about impressing the neighbours and watching the utility bill drop, its also about creating a green sustainable power source for the years to come.

Modern wind generators are exceptionally efficient, and one of the most exciting power sources for the future. Anyone wanting to build wind turbine will soon discover that they have tapped a free source of power that will give them an enduring supply, and with little or no maintenance needed.

Build Your Own Wind Turbine

More and more folks are seeking out new and innovative methods for reducing their overall home energy consumption and their monthly power bills. Recently, home wind power generation is becomming a more popular solution to this problem. Today, almost anyone can build their own reliable and inexpensive wind turbine with the proper guidance and information.  

Before you build your own wind turbine, you need at least a high level overview of how these machines work and their major components. Most wind turbines consist of the same few basic parts. None are terribly complicated on their own, and all are easy to find and inexpensive. Assembling these components is farily straightforward and uncomplicated. However, your results can be negatively impacted if any single part isn’t properly sized and optimized to work with the others.

Find out how to build your own wind turbine here.

The blades, which we’re all used to seeing, are attached to a hub in the center of the machine. The hub is secured to an alternator which generates the electrical current. WInd force and their shape causes the blades to turn the hub. This rotational movement produces current in the alternator which is directed through the wiring into your power system.

The turbine’s blades are shaped into a “twist” that produces a greater pitch at the ends and a lesser pitch as the blade approaches the hub. The degree of pitch along the length of the blade must be specific to the blade length and to the speed of rotation required by the alternator. The blades must also be balances (sort of like the wheels on your car) to prevent wobble.

As already noted the alternator is responsible for creating the energy.  It most often includes magnetic rotors and copper wrapped coils inside a stator. current runs through wiring from the alternator to your energy collection or distribution system. Once again, compatibility of parts is important because efficiency, (the amount of produced energy that can actually be used) can be reduced by several factors including the wire gage used, the total length of wire run, the batter banks or inverter.

The tail assembly consists of a horizontal boom to which the tail vane is attached. The entire wind turbine is installed onto a pivot point (called the yaw bearing). As wind direction shifts, the tail and yaw bearing allow the turbine to turn as needed to maintain maximum speed. Wind turbines must also turn out of the wind when their maximum speed has been exceeded, but just enough to still produce full or near full power. Once maximum speed is exceeded though, the turbine must also turn slightly out of the direct wind to reduce the speed down to just below full. This is known as “furling”. The turbine will not furl when it needs to unless the weight and size of the tail are correct.

Finally, it is highly advisable that every turbine should have some kind of electrical or mechanical shut off device for times of very high wind and/or maintenance. Multiple options exist including a switch that shorts out the alternator or a mechanical breaking system. However it is accomplished, there should be some fast and easy way to shut the machine down when necessary .

While this may all sound a little complicated, it really isn’t. In fact building your own reliable and inexpensive home power generating wind turbine is very simple with the right instructions and guidance to follow.

Please stop by our site for more advice, information and great instructional resources on how to build your own wind turbine.