I am building my own electric generator/wind generator

[JoeFrizzle]

Hey, I am new, but I think this is a good site for this topic. I am building a small electric generator (more geared as a science project) that will show how the generator inside a wind turbine uses electromagnetic induction to produce electricity. I want it to produce as much power as possible, but as this is for demonstration purposes, its efficiency is not the most important thing. I used what I saw in some of these sites as a model:
http://otherpower.com/alternatorassembly.html
http://www.windstuff.org/
http://www.instructables.com/i...000-watt-wind-turbine/

Here are some pictures I have from what I have done today:
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen1.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen2.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen3.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen4.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen5.JPG

Tech specs:
-Magnets have about a 23lbs. pull force (12 per disk, 24 total) (1"x.5".3/8" dimension)
-Disks are about 9.5 inches in diameter
Obviously, I hope that this thread will allow many of you to comment on my project with suggestion on what I can do to improve this project, but my main purpose was about my next step, the stator. I am probably going to use a three-phase setup and have 9-coils to my 12 magnet on each disk. I heard that 9:12 is the correct ratio for this setup (3 coils per phase). I need to know what gauge wire I should use. I was thinking around a 17 gauge.
The small coil in the last picture is about 22 gauge with only like 40 wraps. I was thinking of making many more wraps on a thicker gauge wire. With this poorly wrapped coil with a high gauge, it said about .03 volts when I spun the rotors and help it in between. I knew it would be low considering the coil and its design, and this was done just to see if anything happened.

I know I will have more questions, and I will give anymore information that you folks need, but here are my main questions:

1.) Based on what I am working with, what gauge wire would you recommend? Any suggestions for online retailers?

2.) How many volts do you think I can get from this machine? I was hoping on lighting a low voltage bulb, will this be possible?

3.) How should I line up the rotors? I have the magnets alternating South-North-South-North on each rotor, when I line the two rotors up, do I have the opposite poles facing each other? Or the same poles? Or do I stagger them between the two rotors?

Thanks!

 

[RESmonkey]

This looks interesting. Will come back to this thread.

 

[JoeFrizzle]

Bump.

 

[trOver]

hmmmm very interesting. Please keep this updated.

 

[sdifox]

how are you winding this? winding is critical.

 

[herm0016]

i have seen some good websites detailing how to build those parts, but i do not remeber the addresses, i will search a bit for you. good luck and keep us updated. right now I am working on the real thing, a 1.5MW turban housing where i work. It has sparked my interest.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Originally posted by: JoeFrizzle
Hey, I am new, but I think this is a good site for this topic. I am building a small electric generator (more geared as a science project) that will show how the generator inside a wind turbine uses electromagnetic induction to produce electricity. I want it to produce as much power as possible, but as this is for demonstration purposes, its efficiency is not the most important thing. I used what I saw in some of these sites as a model:
http://otherpower.com/alternatorassembly.html
http://www.windstuff.org/
http://www.instructables.com/i...000-watt-wind-turbine/

Here are some pictures I have from what I have done today:
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen1.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen2.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen3.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen4.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/JoeFahey/gen5.JPG

Tech specs:
-Magnets have about a 23lbs. pull force (12 per disk, 24 total) (1"x.5".3/8" dimension)
-Disks are about 9.5 inches in diameter
Obviously, I hope that this thread will allow many of you to comment on my project with suggestion on what I can do to improve this project, but my main purpose was about my next step, the stator. I am probably going to use a three-phase setup and have 9-coils to my 12 magnet on each disk. I heard that 9:12 is the correct ratio for this setup (3 coils per phase). I need to know what gauge wire I should use. I was thinking around a 17 gauge.
The small coil in the last picture is about 22 gauge with only like 40 wraps. I was thinking of making many more wraps on a thicker gauge wire. With this poorly wrapped coil with a high gauge, it said about .03 volts when I spun the rotors and help it in between. I knew it would be low considering the coil and its design, and this was done just to see if anything happened.

I know I will have more questions, and I will give anymore information that you folks need, but here are my main questions:

1.) Based on what I am working with, what gauge wire would you recommend? Any suggestions for online retailers?

2.) How many volts do you think I can get from this machine? I was hoping on lighting a low voltage bulb, will this be possible?

3.) How should I line up the rotors? I have the magnets alternating South-North-South-North on each rotor, when I line the two rotors up, do I have the opposite poles facing each other? Or the same poles? Or do I stagger them between the two rotors?

Thanks!

if you are so new, why are you using the bbzzdd account of an established (and banned) (ex) member?

 

[SuperjetMatt]

Eh.....that resin is going to shatter horribly under stress.
Resin by itself is not strong (especially that polyester resin you're using) - it must be used with a matrix material to hold it together, such as fiberglass, kevlar, or carbon.

Cool project.

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: sdifox
how are you winding this? winding is critical.

Perpetual FTW!

 

[JoeFrizzle]

I am thinking about going with either 18 or 19 gauge wire.

 

[FoBoT]

why are you building this from scratch? just for fun (i hope)

unless you are just doing this for the fun of it, you should buy a commercially built generator

building your own wind mill thingy is one thing, but use a commercial generator inside your home made wind mill thingy and skip trying to build a genertor from scratch

 

[herm0016]

< should have looked at the pics. the resin should be ok if you keep to low rpm's. but superjet is right, you should have some sort of matrix. even one layer of 1 or 2 oz per sqf chop mat would give you plenty of strength. It looks like you should think about using larger magnets also.

the housing i am working on right now is about 12ftx12ftx28ft. all made of fiberglass.

 

[JoeFrizzle]

Yeah, I put a circle of fiberglass cloth inside (you can't see it).

Any final suggestions on the gauge wire? I am actually thinking about going with 20 gauge so I can get more wraps. Thoughts?

 

[Bryophyte]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
if you are so new, why are you using the bbzzdd account of an established (and banned) (ex) member?

That's a good question.

 

[Eli]

I see duct tape and cardboard.

This thing will last about 5 minutes in the wind.

 

[JoeFrizzle]

Originally posted by: Eli
I see duct tape and cardboard.

This thing will last about 5 minutes in the wind.

Look again.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Bryophyte

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
if you are so new, why are you using the bbzzdd account of an established (and banned) (ex) member?

That's a good question.

JoeFrizzle is an extremely popular intarweb forum user name...I was thinking of changing mine to that actually.

 

[l0cke]

I am interested in this, my state (CO) just passed a bill saying that the power company has to pay us for any excess power we make.

I will keep an eye on this to see how it goes.

 

[Casawi]

Originally posted by: JoeFrizzle
Yeah, I put a circle of fiberglass cloth inside (you can't see it).

Any final suggestions on the gauge wire? I am actually thinking about going with 20 gauge so I can get more wraps. Thoughts?

Yeah you want more wraps. Thicker wire will give you less resistance, which means less magnetic force needed to induce the current. More wraps will conduct more current, which will get you more voltage. I haven't really thought too much about this, I subscribed and will be revisiting.
pretty cool, I wish I had the time to build stuff.

 

[Casawi]

Actually there is a formula for this now that I remember. It includes length, thickness, wraps ... all that. The formula is of course theoretic, but can be used as a model. I will search .... here some good read prolly.
Link

 

[WingZero94]

kewl

 

[Ramma2]

I have a question, please forgive the idiocy if required...

Can't you just use an existing electric motor, and by driving the shaft with wind it would in turn generate electricity?

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Ramma2
I have a question, please forgive the idiocy if required...

Can't you just use an existing electric motor, and by driving the shaft with wind it would in turn generate electricity?

A conventional induction motor will NOT produce electrical output on its terminals if the shaft is turned. A permanent magnet motor will, however. This is good for low demand applications and even instrumentation (aerovane anemometer) but will not produce much more than a few hundred watts reliably.

 

[TheSiege]

there is no 19, and i would use 12 AWG at least, you can't over size with wire, and 12 AWG is cheap

 

[futuristicmonkey]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: Ramma2
I have a question, please forgive the idiocy if required...

Can't you just use an existing electric motor, and by driving the shaft with wind it would in turn generate electricity?

A conventional induction motor will NOT produce electrical output on its terminals if the shaft is turned. A permanent magnet motor will, however. This is good for low demand applications and even instrumentation (aerovane anemometer) but will not produce much more than a few hundred watts reliably.

The induction motor will generate if you a) start it off the grid first and b) connect a sufficient amount of capacitive support to its terminals to supply the reactive load. Regulating the voltage in this case would be a supreme pita unless the load was nearly constant. The math is left for competent engineers. I know you know that, Ruby, but I hope others find it interesting.

Oh, and OP, don't expect to get a serious amount of power from this. There's a reason why all electric machinery is based on steel and copper. The steel presents less of a resistance to the flux from your magnets (the term is called reluctance). You'll want to get in as many turns of the wire as you can. 18-20 gauge is probably your best bet.