Best DIY wind turbine motor?

alo1587

Hi all,i'm toying with the idea of building a wind turbine as a bit of a diy project,I'm just wondering what is the best motor to use? I have been reading up a bit on treadmill motors,they seem to be what is used most for diy wind turbines,and there's a lot of them on ebay etc. for handy money.Ideally a motor that produces 1 volt for every 25 rpm is what 'm after.Has anyone on here built one and if so,what motor did you use? Thanks in advance!:)

fergus.wheatley

Build your own axial flux generator. CAT in wales does good courses by the famous Hugh Piggott from Scoraigwind . Be very very careful putting up a mast. Badly build and erected wind turbines have the ability to remove limbs...

drunken_munky52

Hey Alo,

Heres the answer you were looking for. The best motor you can acquire is a Ametek 99VDC but these are as common as hairs on a beauty model's face.

Your best bet is the next best thing; the Ametek 30VDC.

These are PM motors and can pump out some serious current in mild breezes.

Let me know if you need any further advice; I built one myself using the 30VDC.

PS. Decide weather you are going for an AC or DC load? DC motors are handy for charging batteries; no need for rectifiers. AC usually require high torque and high RPM to get the same voltage, usually more expensive and alot more complicated to apply.

quentingargan

drunken_munky52 wrote: »

DC motors are handy for charging batteries; no need for rectifiers. AC usually require high torque and high RPM to get the same voltage, usually more expensive and alot more complicated to apply.

If you take up Ferguswheatley's suggestion to produce your own AFPMG, you can determine the ratio between revs and voltaage for your blades. Rectifiers are not expensive by the way, in the context of the total project.

drunken_munky52

quentingargan wrote: »

If you take up Ferguswheatley's suggestion to produce your own AFPMG, you can determine the ratio between revs and voltaage for your blades. Rectifiers are not expensive by the way, in the context of the total project.

I built a wind turbine for a project and had limited time. Making my own generator was out of the question for me, due to time constraint and added complication. Therefore I chose to buy a PM DC motor as use it as a generator instead.

When the OP opened the thread, I'm sure he looked into the possibility of building his own generator, but realized he wanted a PM motor instead. After narrowing his research down, he asked a specific question on the subject of using treadmill motors as wind generators and therefore deserved an answer within the scope of what was asked. If he wanted to be told to build his own generator I am sure he would have asked something within that context.

Harley D

I would like to know what type of charge controller could I use with a Ametek 30V DC turbine motor, Regards Harley D.

Harley D

Harley D wrote: »

I would like to know what type of charge controller could I use with a Ametek 30V DC turbine motor.

Depends. What kind of batteries do you have?

Wind turbines use diversion controllers after the batteries to dump loads as they rely (usually) on the batteries to voltage clamp the turbine and reduce risk of over-spin.

Charge regulators use high frequency switching to remove the power delivery to batteries from things like solar panels that aren't dangerous to run unloaded.

TriStars are robust and versatile. Best charger I've ever seen, I've been through a few and I collect data (for my own purposes) on their performance. I'm running a current limited PSU through mine these days and it's knocking the socks off my Victron back-up mains charger..that and everything else in it's wake so far.

If you have the dosh MidNite Classic from all accounts I've seen are the business for MPPT.

Motors....I know what not to use :
Anything with iron in the windings.
High RPM motors.
Alternators: internally regulated too far from battery, bearing won't take decent blade moments.
Drills; Gearing losses
Stepper motors: heavy cogging, high coil resistance.
Hub dynamos: low output, light cogging, poor magnets.

I've given up on the notion of turning a motor into an alternator (I'm on Mk-5), I'm eventually going to try a built-down Hugh Piggott ferrite magnet alternator.

Whatever you find, the larger challenge is figuring how it can take the blade strain on the axis.

Three phase generators have the advantage of being able to add an electronic brake with a few wires.

For a basic setup you can just use a programmable voltage sensing relay driver and appropriately sized resistive loads.

I think a PLC driver or PIC could do much the same but I haven't researched them.

My 7W turbine uses a shottky bridge rectifier, a capacitor, and a zener diode triggering a transistor triggering a resistor...zener's are a bit annoying but it does the job for what it's worth (one light bulb).