Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (sometimes called VAWT) , is mounted vertically  just like what was shown on the video above.   One thing I like about vertical axis wind turbine is that the motor is positioned usually at the base, unlike the propeller types where the motor is positioned usually at the back of the rotating blades which sits high above the pole.    It would be easier to do maintenance on VAWT.

This vertical wind turbine from mariah power is rated at 1.2Kw of power.   It will start rotating at wind speeds of about 9mph and can withstand 100mph winds.  It also has a built-in wireless zigbee modem.  This means your computer can access the turbine’s data such as wind speed and power produced.   Now that’s cool.

[via  mariapower.com ]

Post from: Blisstree

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine – Mariah Power

I was browsing CNN.com and found this story about John Yancey and the wind turbines on their family’s farmland.    Yancey lives with his wife and children on the Tug Hill plateau, half a mile from the old  farmhouse in which he and his seven siblings were raised.

John Yancey’s dad  Ed Yancey signed a contract with the power companies to erect several wind turbines on their land at a lease price of at least $6,600 per annum.

“It’s better than a nuclear plant,” he says. “And it brings in good money.”

Ben Byer, a 75-year-old retired dairy farmer, feels the same way.

“It sure beats milking cows,” he says of the seven turbines on his land.

However, the young Yancey  hates the sight and  hates the sound.   According to him, “he can’t stand the gigantic flickering shadows the blades cast at certain points in the day”.

I don’t know about you but for $6,600 per wind turbine annually, I could just “sound proof” my house and live off the “passive income”.   Five of those would bring me an easy $33,000 a year.   Not bad for something that didn’t cost me anything.

How about you?  Should you have a farmland and a power company offered you $6,600 annual for each wind turbine they erect on your farmland,  would you take it?

[via cnn.com]

Post from: Blisstree

Wind Power Sucks!

1.  Detailed  Video Instruction on how to make your own wind turbine

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

2.  Astronomer Michael Davis’ Home made wind turbine

Mike used an old DC motor from those old computer tape drive motors.  Not those recent tape drive motors but those old mainframe days that spin those huge reel to reel magnetic tapes.    He has made a well documented webpage with lots of picture of each of the parts.    It even has a schematic diagram of the charge controller.

3.  Homemade Wind Generator from smallwind.co.uk

What’s great about this one is that there are CAD files available for download.  The files are in .IGES, also some DFX files are included.  I believe you can just send these files to a fabricator and they can load it up to their machine which can fabricate it according to the exact specs and measurement in those files.

4.  Homemade Wind Generator from otherpower.com

This one is a bit complicated and required one to make your own magnet rotor.  It is pretty detailed though.   It has 5 pages worth of very useful instructions complete with photos.

a. page 1 – metal work

b. page 2 – magnet rotors

c. page 3 – stator fabrication

d. page 4 – assembly and blades

e. page 5 – tower and erection

5.  Invention Nation Guys

One episode of Discover Science’s  Invention Nation,  the guys went to a guy who runs his entire house off-grid.  They learned about the concept of how a wind turbine generator works and created a homebrew wind generator themselves.

Check it out (see video below)

Post from: Blisstree

Top 5 Homemade Wind Turbine Instructions