Uploaded byGeorge Chalatzoglidis
Building a wind turbine
The document describes the process of making wind turbine blades out of PVC pipe. It explains how to quarter the pipe into four equal sections to make blades. It also discusses attaching the blades to a hub and mounting a 30V motor that acts as a generator when spun by the wind. Finally, it mentions using a wooden mount, aluminum tail, and iron pipe tower to support the turbine head unit above the ground.
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Building a wind turbine
- 2. First we tooka PVC pipe. The pipe was about 1/5 as thick as it is long . We have 50 cm blades so the PVC pipe should have a diameter of 10 cm. One length of pvc pipe can make four blades.
- 3. We wanted toquarter the pipe. Drawing straight line and measuring on round surfaces is hard, so the best method is to get a large sheet of paper.
- 4. For each threeof four quarters we did two things: 1) Cut out a rectangle from the base about 5 cms in, so we can easily attach it to whatever we want to. 2) Cut from the high tip of the base to the point.
- 5. Then we wereall done. We had three blades ready to use.
- 8. Here is another viewof the hub with blades attached.
- 9. 30 volt motorwas in good shape and worked great. Even just giving the shaft a quick turn with fingers would light a 12 volt bulb quite brightly. we gave it a real test by chucking it up in a drill press and connecting it to a dummy load. It works great as a generator, putting out easily a couple hundred Watts with this setup.
- 10. Next we needed amounting for the turbine. Keeping it simple, we opted to just strap the motor to a piece of wood. The turbine snaps right around into the wind every time it changes direction. For a tail to keep it turned into the wind, we just used a piece of heavy sheet Aluminum.
- 11. Next we hadto begin thinking about some sort of tower and some sort of bearing that would allow the head to freely turn into the wind . 1 inch diameter iron pipe is a good slip-fit inside 1 1/4 inch diameter. We could use a long piece of 1 1/4 inch conduit as our tower and 1 inch pipe fittings at either end. For the head unit we attached a 1 inch iron floor flange centered 7 1/2 inches back from the generator end of the 2X4, and screwed a 10 inch long iron pipe nipple into it.