Convert table fab to turbine

Villan11

Might be wrong forum, so apologies in advance if so.....

So I'm working on a nice little project of putting a light in a shed and have decided that it will be wind powered. I am looking at putting a 3W LED bulb from a battery controlled with a switch. The battery would be charged by the fan blades and motor. Well that's the theory anyway.

So I found myself a little table fan and thought it would make the perfect turbine. But when I stripped it and looked at the motor I was a little surprised at the wiring... Is this motor suitable???

Bruthal

It looks like a shaded pole motor, a type of induction motor which won't generate anything much. Maybe a few mili volts if the rotor has become slightly magnetized, but more than likely nothing.

A DC motor you want, with permanent magnets in it.

maxamillius

I would imagine you need a DC motor in order to charge the battery. Where did that motor come from?

Villan11

Thanks for the replies, the motor was from a desktop fan, excuse my typo in thread title.

Will go back to the drawing board so.

crasy dash

Cant help you persoanly but Sir Liamalot if he reads this will help you out try a pm maybe i know he is fairly active on other forums on here like motor homes and camper vans he knows his stuff with regards this and will guide you

Very interested myself so keep us updated how you get on:)

Permanent magnet motor is what you're after.

This will produce 7watt peak in 7m/s wind with an upgraded dynamo.

Ametek >30VDC motors are pretty good.

Better off winding your own alternator though. You need better magnets and less/no iron.

fwiw I'd go for solar PV first. Wind only makes sense November to February.

Villan11

Wow!! Thanks for the replies again. Fantastic stuff there. The reason I am going for wind is because the shed I want to light is basically just a store for logs and coal and is only used from October to March anyway.

Will have a proper read of it later and might (almost certainly) have some questions.

freddyuk

Go solar and it will be so easy!!

Wavin blades are pretty crap on a scale of possible materials, they are quick and easy to work though and fine for prototyping. They need to be painted to UV stabilise and inspected often for fatigue.
This is a handy template generator for nice quiet blades.

A hand made alternator of the same scale I expect would produce maybe 10 times more than that bicycle dynamo with the same wingspan.

It'd be a good idea to stick up an anemometer that records data first. It you're not averaging 5m/s clean non-turbulent air at hub height then there's not much point flying a turbine.