hello daniel?? i am ready with the printing, and starting to assemble the windmill. the bearings i ordert by the site you reccomendet but i can not find any webshop to buy the moter. can you reccoment me an adres.

friendly greetings

john

Hi, I´m trying to make the wind turbine, but I don´t understand well the part of the power circuit. I´m not sure how it has to be connected the voltage regulator L78S12CV in the circuit, because I bought that regulator but it has 3 pins: input, output and ground, but in the paper I saw that it has to be connected in a positive and a negative pin. Please help me, thank you.

If anyone would like parts printing i'd be happy to help here:

https://www.3dhubs.com/service/214799

MkII available here:

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/mkii-5-watt-3d-printable-wind-turbine

Thanks Dan

Hi Sepio,

You will need the same self tapping screws for the Structure to Nacelle. I will have a look at a different il when I take it apart for the MKII upgrades, thanks for the tip and the link to your vid.

Dan

A tip. The nose cone tip uses a left handed screw. So you have to turn it counter clockwise to mount it on the nose cone.

It did cost me 15 minutes to figure this out. I though some support material prevented me from mounting it.

Hi Dan,

I have printed almost all parts, except the ones you are going to change. I used M4 self tapping screws to mount the axle and nose cone on the disc instead of the M3 12mm in your instruction manual.

Did you re-oil the bearings before usage? In my VAWT I removed the thick grease and replaced it with a light sewing machine oil. It needs about 3 or 4 Beaufort wind speed to start spinning.

As requested a Link to a video of my VAWT. https://goo.gl/bbYCSS

The STL's can be found here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:948401

Sepio

Cool that's a great idea!

I'm going to release the Mk2 in the coming days, it uses the same rotor so

if you print the rotor parts of the Mk1 and the rest of the parts from Mk2

you will make the latest and greatest without wasting any plastic, I plan

to get some video of it running this weekend as well :)

Cheers Dan

I'm loving this idea. I've started printing the parts and going to test it out before I make one for the school which I work in.

Hi Sepio, your VAWT looks really cool, do you have any videos of it running?

I'm going to run each of the coil wires through the slip ring before combining them so each should transfer no more than 0.1-0.15A and the cable is rated to 1.5A per strand I believe. The M6 pole to the tail will be many orders of magnitude stronger than it need to be, the yaw load is very low but as always will need testing :). Ah yeah I used Self tapping screws I overlooked this in the assembly model (got tired towards the end).

Just pulling the documentation and models together now should be available soon.

Cheers Dan

Hi Dan,

One more question. Is the rod between the structure and the tail strong enough for the high winds?

I made the following windmill (http://www.thingiverse.com/make:265199). It uses a m8 stainless steel rod. A few day ago it was really windy and the rod bent a little bid. I am going to replace it with a carbon fiber one.

Sepio

Hi Dan,

I like the idea to use a printed shaft.

But I'm going to use another slip ring. The one you linked uses AWG 30 wires. They are to thin to transfer enough current. I bought this one instead https://goo.gl/PakfP3 The rotor part will fit (with an adapter ring) in the shaft you designed. I will mount the stator plate in the tower.

I started to print the rotor assembly parts. Are the screws to mount the nose cone on the disk really m3 screws. The holes in the disc are to big so you can't tighten the m3 screws. I think I have to use m3.5 or m4 screws instead.

Sepio

Hello Sepio,

I measured the NEMA11 and its 32mm deep and has 2 coils, 4 wires. The pitching bearings will fit no problem and the sealed ones would be ideal as the outer bearing is exposed to the elements.

The MkII will need 6 pitch bearings and 4 main location bearings, 2 for the main rotor and 2 for the tower. The fixing between the structure and the tower header is now a Printed part, its a 18mm Dia shaft with a hollow section to hold the slip rings and a route for the wires. The threaded bar between the structure and the tail fin is an M6x300mm.

Slip Ring link http://www.dx.com/p/4-wires-1-5a-240v-d12-5mm-micro-capsule-slip-ring-for-cctv-monitoring-robot-black-388255#.WDXzrHcTmRu

I uploaded a section view so you can get a better idea how the MkII all fits together.

Dan

Hi Dan,

Can you provide me with a link to the Nema11 motor you bought. There are different kinds of Nema11 motors. Some have 6 wires, some have 4 wires, some are a few centimeters longer.

I was searching for the F689 (9x17x4) Pitch Bearings. There is only one webshop in the UK and they are very expensive.

I am going to use the F689-2RS (9x17x5 mm) Flange Rubber Sealed Ball Bearing. This bearing is one mm longer in width. There is enough room for it in the "disc". 10 Of these bearings will cost 10.85$ including shipping on eBay.

For the main location bearing I am going to use the F6805ZZ Metal Shielded Flanged Bearings. 5 Of these cost 11.38$ including shipping on eBay.

For the tower structure I bought the F6900zz (10x22x6mm) Metric Metal FLANGE Ball Bearing. 10 pieces for 14.85$

But I don't know the diameter of the shaft and bearings your are going to use. I was planning to use the following Hollow M10 shaft (https://www.allekabels.nl/searchresult.php?keyword=6704). They are also available on eBay (https://goo.gl/GyCfpN)

I really like the MKII design. I can't wait to print it.

Sepio

Hello gerdal91,

Going to an NEMA17 would result in a significant redesign, the turbine has been designed for a specific power output and therefore a specific turbine diameter, RPM, Pitching Speed, Gear Ratio with matching Power Electronics. To balance all the parameters required calculation using first principles and refined through testing You can see the test results in the documentation.

If your desire is more POWER :) you could simply run the turbine faster by increasing the stiffness of the Pitch Return Spring (Rotor Assy, Item 20) increase above 0.17N/mm. What I think you will find is when the turbine speed passes 600 RPM it will very quickly pick up speed, I measured RPM's >1300 RPM with about twice the voltage output. BE CAREFUL!!! when the turbine passes 600 RPM its pretty scary to be in close proximity to it and the vibration increases significantly so you will need to consider how to improve the rotor balancing and system damping.

Good luck, let me know how you get on...

Dan

Hello all,

I’ve uploaded a preview picture of the MkII Wind Turbine! The MkII has three design improvements, the first is an all important tail fin to allow the turbine to turn into the wind and extract the maximum wind energy in changeable conditions, the second is a stiffer tower structure with bigger bearings and increased diameter locating pin to support the increased loads from the tail whilst allowing for the third improvement which is the inclusion of Split Ring Electronics. The Split Ring Electronics allows the turbine to spin around the tower axis without any limitations it brings the power electronics into the tower where there is more space and its easier to access.

The MkII requires the following new parts:

- Structure

- Rear Structure

- Tower Header

- Nacelle

- Tail Fin

I’m going to manufacture, assembly and test the new components over the coming weeks. Once i’m happy with the MkII I will make all the parts and documentation available for you to download as a new project.

Thanks for the support guys!

Dan

Could you modify it for nema 17 ?

It might be possible to use a hollow screw to connect the assembly to the tower.

For example a cable adjuster from a brake or derailleur.

Then you can guide two electrical wires from the assembly into the tower.

In the tower the wire is rotating. So I would use a slip ring to create a rotating electrical connection.

It would be even better if the screw could be a little bigger. This makes it sturdier and give more room for the wires.

Slip ring: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Capsule-Slip-Ring-2-Wires-15A-250Rpm-240V-for-Wind-Turbine-Wind-Power-Generator-/252362204923?hash=item3ac1f5a6fb:g:SoEAAOSwAoRXF4~3

Hollow rod: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Lamp-lighting-rod-connector-screw-the-whole-tooth-section-tooth-pole-M10-hollow-screw-teeth-of/32355542904.html?spm=2114.40010308.4.2.EqJKWc

Hello Sepio,

Very good observations, I've been running the turbine into a prevailing wind and have restricted the direction of the wind turbine by increase the tightness of 'Tower Drawings' Item 6, this holds the turbine stationary (I live on an old airstrip). The turbine would benefit from a tail to suit all wind conditions I agree, I will have a think about how this could best be achieved and post an upgrade package (without changing any of the existing parts).

The power cable goes through a gland not drawn but shown in the pictures, the Nut of the gland is captive in the Nacelle. When the gland is tightened this stops the cable being pulled through and protects the more delicate electronics from being damaged. I'm using it to charge batteries and I've made a bracket to hold the batteries above the pivot point, so there isn't a trailing cable but you are right it would wrap around the tower if used that way. I'll also have a think about this and see if I can come up with a solution.

Thanks for your input! and if you have any ideas about how to solve/improve the design let me know?

PS I will get some video footage of the turbine running and post them up.

Cheers Dan

Hi Daniel,

I really like the well documented design.

I am planning to build one. I was looking at al the documentation and I calculated that the non printed parts will cost about 125,00 euro. The bearings are the most expensive.

But before I start building one. I really want to make sure that this is actually working. This wind turbine doesn't have a large tail. Is it stil able to adjust itself to the direction of the wind?

And what happens with the power cable which exits on the back. How do you prevent the power cable on the back to go around the tower pole?

Sepio

Thanks Dan!

Hi Dennis, i've uploaded the SolidWorks files called Tower Header and Tower Footer.

Cheers Dan

Absolutely, would really appreciate that as I do use SW at work and this would allow me to make changes if required.

Thanks again,

Dennis

Hey Dennis, thats a very good point I didn't even think about that. The OD is 69mm, I can upload the SolidWorks file for you to edit if that would help?

Cheers Dan

Very cool design and great work! Question, I am in the US what is the pole size / dims as you call out standard drain pipe but might be tough to get here in the states?

Thanks,

Dennis

Hello Anton, thank you for your kind words.

I'm moving house at the moment and the turbine is packed away, I will record a video as soon as the move is complete. The good news is the average wind speed at the new house is twice that of my current house as its on an airfield :)

Thanks Dan

Amazing, my compliments for your great work. I believe that this kind of initiatives are going to make the change. If i can get it to work i will definitely send you some cash (if possible) for the great work that you have done. Thanks!

Is there a video somewhere online where i can actually see it in action?