Generator Blog

Wind generators are perfect if you live in a windy place or your solar panels are no longer enough to cover your energy needs. But before you start buying the materials for one, it’s imperative that you do a wind assessment test beforehand to see if the wind current is enough to produce the desired output. Without these tests, the risk of ditching the entire project and losing your initial investments are at an all-time high.

First, you need access to GIS (geographic information system). These are public data sets collected and maintained by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Using their specialized tool, the said data sets can be used to calculate the potential amount of electricity that can be produced within the area of concern. Once you have the green signal to build a wind generator, the next task is to know the right resources or manuals to start out the project.

If you want to save money, consider building your own wind generator; the cost of finding your own materials than buying a ready-made windmill is comparatively lower. The only obstacle you will be likely to face is when the manuals are not readily available, or you are not a technically-inclined person.

To build a wind generator, you will need the main parts such as the blades, DC motor and the mast, all of which can be purchased from your local hardware stores. You also need batteries where you store the generated energy. If the budget is limited, use recycled batteries instead of buying new ones.

The majority of today’s homemade wind generators are built in horizontal axis. This is a popular design, and you see lots of them when you go to the countryside or farms. Since the blades rotate horizontally on an axis, a mast or vertical tower is needed to hold the whole structure. Ideally, the higher the mast, the faster the wind and the more energy can be generated. However, in real practice, this isn’t feasible for a homemade one due to the cost of building a mast to support it.

A better solution would be to build multiple smaller units outputting just 1000 to 3000 watts rather than one complicated and pricey wind structure. A single unit cannot supply your entire power needs, but eventually, as you build one generator after the other, you will be able to cover all your energy needs.

Most wind generators consist of 2 to 4 blades, which is already efficient in terms of power generation. Two blade turbines are generally cheaper but are less efficient while having four blades are the best but are costly. Either way, building a wind generator can save you lots of money over time, and will let you go green while doing it.

When you’re first starting out with a wind generator I recommend DIY PVC wind generator blades. The reason being that they are quite easy to build and they can be built fairly cheaply as well.

When I was building my first wind generator I really didn’t have the money for a nice set of blades, so I had to find a way to make some decent blades. After doing quite a bit of research I found that PVC is widely used to make decent quality wind generator blades.

You may be asking “why not wood?”. Well, I did make some wooden blades once which worked very well. The only problem is that they would always get a little chip in them which would pierce the watertight coating. The blade would start to absorb moisture and the wind generator was very unbalanced. I have heard of people letting this go on to long and the blade would snap off. For this reason I don’t recommend anybody build wooden wind generator blades… they’re just too dangerous.

Back to DIY PVC wind generator blades though. These blades work pretty well for wind generators with a diameter of less than 6′. That means that each blade is 3 feet long or less. I’ve found that if you try to go any bigger the blades bend and wobble to much.

The PVC is actually cut off centered. What I mean by that is a centerline is drawn down the pipe and the blades are off centered from that. After quite a bit of experimentation I’ve found that they are quite a bit more efficient with this design.

After your blades are cut you do need to sand them down. If you smooth the blade and the edges so that they’re nice and rounded they will move through the wind better (which will produce more power). It doesn’t take that long to do, but the results are worth it.

Before you can mount your blades you will also need to apply a couple coats of UV protective paint (Tremclad works good). Pretty much any paint will work fine as long as it’s rated for exterior and has the UV protection. Why do you need this paint? Well, PVC is strong, but the suns rays make it brittle. After a long time your blades are liable to break (I know this from experience); however, by applying this coat of paint you solve this problem.

Now you can mount your blades to your hub. It’s a fairly straightforward job… simply drill a couple holes and bolt everything together.

Before you mount your blades on your motor you should balance them first. I usually mount them on something that spins (steel rod with some pillow block bearings) and just spin and mark which blade is on the bottom. If it’s consistent I’ll remove a little weight and repeat the process.

Build a wind generator to supplement the power produced by the solar panels. Finding plans that were easy to read and complete turned out to be quite a bit harder than I expected. After trying out a bunch of different plans and finding them all to be garbage I decided to make my own wind generator plans.

The first thing that I decided to do was set out my own requirements for the project. The first step was to figure out how much power I wanted to produce. I kind of went overboard and decided on a 1kw wind generator. There is also the option of a vertical or horizontal axis wind generator (I chose horizontal because it’s simpler… they’re the ones on top of towers that have 3 blades).

Now that I had the requirements for my project I had to figure out how to fulfull them. The wind generator had to be fairly cheap because I didn’t really have a lot of extra money at the time. I found out that you can cut PVC pipe up and it makes pretty good blades so I started on them. They took a couple hours to build (and balance) and afterwards I coated them with a coat of paint (UV protective because PVC becomes brittle when exposed to sunlight for long periods of time).

I had heard that people were using old Ametek motors as generators in wind generators so I decided to use one as well. I mounted it onto my body (piece of 2×4) using something called all-round. The motor still needed to be covered to protect against the weather so I made one cut down some PVC pipe and slipped it over the motor. I broke down and bought a hub because they aren’t that expensive and I didn’t really know how to balance them.

After connecting the blades to the hub and mounting the entire assemble to the shaft of the motor I was almost finished. All that I needed to finish was add a tail and a flange. The tail was made from some steel rod from the hardware store and some plexiglass that I had leftover from building solar panels. The tail actually looks pretty neat because it’s clear.

The last step was to put a flange on the underside of the body and attach some steel pipe to it. This would allow me to drop the wind generator into the top of the tower and would allow it to move as well.

I thought that finding a tower would be the hardest part of the build, but it was pretty easy. I was over at a friends helping him re-shingle his roof and noticed he still had his TV tower up despite having switched to satellite a couple years ago. It looked quite sturdy and it even had a hole in the top that I could use to mount the wind generator on. I asked him if I could have it and he said “sure, I never use the thing anymore and it’s an eyesore”. If only he knew how valuable it was to me!

I got the tower home (it can be disassembled) and promptly built a good concrete foundation and got it up. After mounting the wind generator on top and praying it would work I hooked it up to the charge controller only to discover that I had a huge fan.

That’s when I learned that you need to hook a diode inline with the wires that come from the wind generator so electricity can only move in one direction. After fixing that little mistake of course it wasn’t windy for a couple days. We were out getting groceries though and the wind had kicked up so I rushed home to see if the wind generator was spinning.

I couldn’t believe it! I got home and it was sitting on top of the tower spinning away happily producing power for the house.

A Magnetic Generator has been talked about as an alternative energy source, but exactly what is it and what does it do? Also frequently called a magnet generator, this machine has the capability to produce electricity from magnets. Once there is a small amount of power supplied to get the magnetic power generator going it will supply power, and does not require any additional external power source over the life of the machine. This type of generator can last for a number of years, and a single unit may supply around one third of the energy needed to run a typical home each year.

It is not usually possible to purchase a magnetic generator, and if one can be found they may be quite expensive. A better option is to build one of these machines instead, which can be done for a small cost and a little knowledge. There are many different versions of these plans online, and a quick search for them will reveal many results. Magnet generators uses the powerful pull of magnetic attraction to continue operating the motor of the generator, but a small initial power supply is needed to get the motor started at the beginning.

A magnetic generator can last years, and two or three of them are usually enough to supply all of the electricity required for a typical home. The machine is basically simple, and includes a small motor that has a disc shape. Outside of the motor there are many magnets, which are placed in strategic locations around the motor exterior. Once the small amount of energy is supplied to get the motor started then the magnetic attraction will continue the operation of the motor, and electricity is produced. You do not have to be a specialist to build a magnetic electricity generator, but it will help if you are handy with tools and have the ability to read construction plans.

Before you choose a plan to create a magnetic electric generator plan there are some things that you should examine closely. Look at the actual components involved, and look for testimonials of real people who have actually had one of the machines work. There are some who say that a magnetic generator is a scam while other believe in these machines, and the science behind the operation is sound. There are some websites out there that will try to charge you to access plans to build a magnetic electricity generator, and this fee may be as much as fifty dollars or more, while others offer free plans if you sign up or perform some other action.

Building magnetic generators will not be done in just a few hours, so you should make sure you have at least a weekend set aside for this project. Models which actually work can save you a thousand dollars or more each year, while one of the many scams out there could cost you a significant amount of time, effort, and money, and leave you with nothing to show for your generator project except broken dreams.

A Magnetic Generator is just one of the alternative energy options that are available, but unlike the other types this power source does not rely on any thermal or wind energy. These devices are intended to work no matter what the weather conditions are, and can last from two to five years, or even more according to the information offered by some plans available. A magnetic energy generator may not be the right energy choice for everyone, but this device may be the right answer for some homeowners who want to conserve energy and cut their utility costs.

Wind power could meet about a fifth of the world’s electricity demand within 20 years, an industry group and environmental watchdog Greenpeace predicted in a new report released Tuesday.

The global market for wind power grew 41.7 percent on year in 2009, beating average annual growth of 28.6 percent over the past 13 years, said Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, or GWEC.

Chinaranked second in the world in installed wind generating capacity in 2009 and was the largest buyer of wind technology, Sawyer told reporters at the launch of GWEC and Greenpeace’s Global Wind Energy Outlook 2010 report.

“We would expect China to continue to be the largest market and perhaps even be the (overall) largest market in the world by the end of this year,” he said.

The report’s “advanced scenario” — its most optimistic outlook — projects the world’s combined installed wind turbines would produce 2,600 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity by 2020 — equal to 11.5 to 12.3 percent of power demand.

By 2030, wind energy would produce 5,400 TWh — 18.8 to 21.8 percent of the world’s power supply, the report said.

The more conservative “reference” scenario based on figures from the UN’s International Energy Agency saw wind power triple in the next decade to cover up to 4.8 percent of electricity — equal to Europe’s current total production.

The “moderate” scenario based on current industry figures would see wind power meet up to 9.5 percent of the world’s power demand by 2020, the report said.

“For more than the last 10 years, the actual performance of the wind industry has exceeded our advanced scenario every time,” said Sawyer.

Under the advanced forecast, 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions would be saved each year, the report said.

This would increase to 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 saved each year by 2030.

The cumulative amounts of CO2 saved would be 10 billion tonnes by 2020 and 34 billion tonnes by 2030, the report said. – AFP

The thing that burns, never returns. In other words, using fossil fuels is unsustainable for the next 20 years. While we still have time we would better invest in sustainable, clean energy resources, such as wind power. Noticing that more and more people show an interest towards wind energy, I made a through research on the web and would like to share with you what I’ve found.

Wind Mill, Wind Generator, Wind Turbine… what are these?

Don’t get confused with the names. A wind generator is a device that generates electrical power from wind energy. Wind generators have been in use for a long time in the form of windmills. Years ago, when electricity was not invented, windmills were used to pull boats and pump out water. Contemporary electricity-generating versions are referred to as wind turbines.

In otherwords, all three words are interchangeable today.

How does it work?

A wind turbine converts wind energy into mechanical energy for mechanical work. Such a wind turbine is generally referred to as a windmill. A wind generator is a wind turbine that further converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy.

A wind turbine consists of blades, a tower, a shaft, a base, and a generator. The blades of the wind turbine rotate by the wind to generate mechanical energy. So, you can use wind energy to run your electrical and electronic appliances, to pump out water ot grind grains and stones.

What are the advantages?

Free source – The wind power makes use of wind energy which is absolutely free, and with modern technology it can be captured efficiently, helping us conveniently save the non-renewable sources of energy for the last resort.

Minimal environmental hazards – Once a wind turbine is built  the energy it produces is clean. It does not emit harmful gases, nuclear ores, or other pollutants.

Cost-effective – Using a free energy makes the wind turbines you installed extremely cost-effective.

Self-sufficiency – Making use of wind power makes you off the grid, thus independent. You no longer depend on the government and its agencies for power. Remote areas that are not connected to the electricity power grid can use wind turbines to produce their own supply.

Small base – Although wind turbines can be very tall each takes up only a small plot of land. This means that the land below can still be used and in agricultural areas as farming can still continue.

Availablity in a range of sizes- Single households to small towns and villages can make good use of range of wind turbines available today.

What are the disadvantages?

The strength of the wind is not constant, varying from zero to storm force. In other words, there can be times when they produce no electricity at all.

Some people feel that the landscape of the countryside should be left untouched, without these large structures being built.

Wind turbines are noisy. Each one can generate the same level of noise as a family car travelling at 70 mph.

When wind turbines are being manufactured some, even minimal, pollution is produced.

Large wind farms are needed to provide entire communities with enough electricity. For example, the largest single turbine available today can only provide enough electricity for 475 homes, when running at full capacity.

What are the requisites?

A large area of at least one acre

A consistent average wind speed of 11 miles per hour

Can you Do It Yourself?

This is the most relevant part for our handy reader. It is widely accepted that setting up a home wind generator does not need professional help and individuals can easily set it up with the help of numerous guides available in the market.

The most highly recommended guides are unsurprisingly those that come from reliable websites with money back guarantee and a sound payment merchant account. Testimonials from other satisfied customers are also good indicators of trustworthiness. I can recommend you either of two such guides; Earth4Energy or Homemade Wind Generator.

What is a wind generator?

A wind generator is a machine that uses wind energy to produce electrical energy. It captures wind energy and converts it into mechanical energy that moves the blades of a motor to produce electrical energy. Wind generators help produce thousands of megawatts of electricity. They are also a very popular power solution for individual farms. They are ideal for large areas with good wind speed.

Setting up a home wind generator does not need professional help; individuals can easily set it up with the help of numerous guides available in the market. The components of a wind generator are also easily available in the market.

How does a wind generator differ from a windmill or wind turbine?

Wind generators have been in use for a long time in the form of windmills or wind turbines. Years ago, when electricity was not invented, wind turbines were used to pull boats and pump out water.

Even now, the terms, wind generator, windmill, and wind turbine are used to refer to the same device.

What are the advantages of using a wind generator?
The advantages of a wind generator are many. Let’s look at a few of them.

Environment-friendly: Wind generators prove to be environment-friendly in two ways:

• They do not emit harmful gases in the atmosphere nor do they leave any harmful residual component.

• They do not use any fuel to produce electricity, thereby helping the cause of the environment.

Power-saver: Wind generators are an alternative power solution. They do not use any non-renewable sources of energy, thus helping in times of energy crisis.

Economical: Though the initial cost of setting up a wind generator seems high, the cost of generating electricity in the long run becomes nil. So, you will be getting electricity absolutely free after a few years.

Independent option: Wind generators do away with the dependence on power plants and the government for electricity. With a wind generator in your land, you have your own power plant for life.

24/7 power: With wind generators, you can say bye to power outages forever. You will get continuous, uninterrupted power supply for your entire house and land.

Power storage: A wind generator also allows you to store power for use later. This feature makes it an amazingly lucrative power solution.

If you want to help the world and fight the current energy crisis, invest in a wind generator.

How cute I am !

    As is known to all, Holand is famous for using wind as a kind of energy. It can provide power which we have a great demand of, otherwises,it doesn’t cause any pollution to environment, so it is the cleannest energy which can be used forever.

    British company Wind Power Limited has unveiled its new offshore wind generator, the 10MW Aerogenerator X, with  twice the power and half the weight of Wind Power’s original Aerogenerator design.
 
    According to the company, it doesn’t have same weight constraints as a normal wind turbine and the blades do not suffer weight induced fatigue. Aerogenerator X is half the height of an equivalent horizontal axis turbine and its weight is concentrated at the base of the structure. The generator is huge; stretching nearly 275 metres from blade tip to tip.
 
   The Guardian reports each 10MW Aerogenerator X turbine has the potential to generate enough electricity to provide 5,000-10,000 homes - the energy equivalent to 2 million barrels of oil over their 25-year lifetime.
 
   Theo Bird of Wind Power Limited says: “Offshore is the ideal place for wind power but is also an extremely tough environment. The US wind researchers who worked on vertical axis projects have always regarded the technology as great to work with at sea because it can be big, tough and easily managed.”
 
    Wind Power’s Aerogenerator project was originally developed in 2005. The first Aerogenerator X units will be constructed  in 2013-14 after two years of testing.
 
    Several companies are in the race to build a 10MW wind powered generator. According to Wikipedia, the world’s largest turbine is currently the Enercon E-126, with a rated capacity of 7.58 MW, an overall height of 198 m and a diameter of 126 m.
   

    Due to the rapid development of wind technology, we will use this kind of clean energy and make it useful for people’s daily life.

Wind turbines are used to generate electricity from the kinetic power of the wind. Historical they were more frequently used as a mechanical device to turn machinery. There are two main kinds of wind generators, those with a vertical axis, and those with a horizontal axis. Wind turbines can be used to generate large amounts of electricity in wind farms both onshore and offshore. So wind energy can be produced form wind through using wind turbine, because of its cleanness and low cost, it is widely used in our daily life.

Wind energy is undoubtedly one of the cleanest forms of producing power from a renewable source. There is no pollution, there is no burning of fossil fuels, and unless something very drastic happens, you don’t run out of wind. But it’s not like you can erect a wind turbine anywhere and it will start generating power for you. There are lots of factors that can make an impact on the amount of energy you can generate out of wind.

l Wind

It being a wind turbine, its output first most depends on the wind. Both the speed and force of the wind can be deciding factors. The more wind speed and force you have got, the greater is the amount of power your wind turbine generates. Different regions have different wind speeds. You can gather the available wind dynamics data and using a model like Webull Distribution you can calculate how effective the wind of a particular region is going to be.

l Height

Places of higher altitudes have more wind due to various atmospheric factors. Besides, at higher places there is less obstruction from the surrounding hills, trees and building. In fact the height is so important that alternative energy scientists and engineers are trying to use kites (due to the heights they can easily reach) to tap the wind power.

l Rotor

The amount of energy produced by your wind turbine is proportional to the size of the rotor used, when all other factors have been taken into consideration. A bigger rotor certainly generates more power. Although it may cost more, in the long run, whenever you are getting a wind turbine erected, go for a big a rotor as possible.

America’s eyesores are becoming the hot places to install renewable energy for electric power generation. The land is cheap, often abandoned but properly zoned. They’re usually close to necessary infrastructure such as power lines and roads, and no other developers are rushing to erect anything on them. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is evaluating sites for renewable energy potential on behalf of the EPA.

Brownfields could be former industrial sites abandoned when the owners went bankrupt. There might have been paint or fuel spills there, but the exact source of contamination may be unknown. However, superfund sites usually have a responsible party identified. Some brownfields are ready for redevelopment, but others need a lot of work first.

Photographing the sky for its solar potential
Salasovich and other traveling NREL engineers start with a device called a SunEye, which has a fish-eye lens to photograph the sky above the landfill. “We point it south and take a photo,” he says. “It puts out a spherical graph and shows where the shade will be by what time of day and what time of year.” An algorithm built into the device can detect differences between the sky and a tree.

If a site has wind potential, the engineers install a meteorological tower with instruments to read wind speed and direction, according to Joseph Roberts, an engineer with the National Wind Technology Center at NREL. After 12 months of measurements, they can find an average speed and see how it compares with data from nearby airports. Crew members also check the distance to the nearest roads and transmission lines, evaluating the sites’ potential for generating renewable energy and making it work economically.

NREL Engineers select potential plots from the EPA’s list of superfund and brownfield sites, as well as those identified by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). In some cases, the renewable energy apparatus in construction is powering the ongoing clean-up efforts at the sites. In other cases, the wind turbine, solar array, or hydro power is sending power to nearby cities. This is most feasible when the site is close enough to transmission wires to tie into the grid. There are about 11,000 sites in the U.S. with some past or current environmental contamination problem that may hold potential for renewable energy, according to Gail Mosey, senior energy analyst in the Strategic Energy Analysis Center. She says it’s a great opportunity to reuse land for power generation without help from fossil fuels.

Erecting devices without disturbing the contamination
Some sites, particularly superfund sites, are so contaminated with toxic chemicals and heavy metals that the earth should not be disturbed. However, Mosey explains, “There are a lot of others that can endure a slight intrusion. There are workable solutions for installing renewable energy on the surface or outside the contaminated area.” For example, solar arrays fit comfortably on top of the two feet of dirt and liner that typically cover a condemned landfill.
There are even wind turbines (supported by surface-mounted concrete footing) that can generate energy without burrowing into the muck of a superfund site. “These are places where you wouldn’t necessarily want to put a housing development, pour a foundation, or have people plant backyard gardens,” Mosey says, “but they are excellent sites for renewable energy.”