Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

While surfing the net I ran across some videos on generating electricity from the wind and/or solar panels. This idea really intrigued me and I started looking for more information about this green power. I'd always considered wind and solar energy way too expensive for me to try at this point but to my surprise I found many videos of homemade generators using recycled materials found around the house! (for wind anyway)

I figured, what the heck. It would be kind of cool to generate my own electricity, however humble. If I could light just one light bulb I'd be happy! The only thing I know about electricity is when you flip the switch up, the light turns on and when you flip the switch down the light goes off. Other than that, I know nothing.  But I'm going to learn! 

Having watched lots of videos on youtube I decided the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) seemed to be one that I had a chance at building and maybe even have some success at lighting that bulb. 

So, yesterday I started building my prototype. I spent the entire day trying to get my band saw to work. Very frustrating. The first step of my VAWT project hit a giant snag. I needed to cut two circles of plywood for the top and bottom of my turbine. I always use my band saw to cut circles. It's quick and easy to get perfectly round pieces of wood on any other day. But yesterday, my band saw decided to be the temperamental  diva of my shop. After cleaning the entire machine, replacing the tires, blade and fine-tuning the tension, the darn thing still wouldn't work. After about 6 hours of tweaking and adjustments, I decided that the best course of action at that point was to have a couple beers and relax in the living room for the remainder of the day. 

Undaunted by yesterdays lack of production I headed straight to the shop to dive into the band saw without care. Well, for some reason, today, my good old band saw was back. I still had a couple of hiccups but I just closed my eyes and plowed forward! Finally, after a day and a half, I had two circles of plywood!! 

Now that the plywood was cut I layed out the position of the roters on the plywood. The total height of my turbine is 27". It is a little shy of 24" round. I have 16 roters, each 4" wide. I'm trying a 45 degree angle for each roter, I don't know how well that angle will work but this is just a prototype so I'm expecting to make adjustments based on the RPMs . Since I don't have a wind tunnel I have to use the trial and error method! 

Below is a picture of my prototype. The next step is to 'dry mount' it for some field testing. That will probably be next weekend because I still need to work out how to mount this beast to get the best performance. 

Any comments and or tips would be appreciated! 

Picture of Prototype Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Saturday August 13,2011
Today I rigged up a frame to hold my wind turbine. I used a wooden pallet for the base and some 2x4's for the verticals. Crude but effective. Since this is a prototype I'm not spending much time making everything tidy. I used wooden dowels into bearings for the axles on both ends. Seemed to work ok for now. When I build the permanent turbine these will be metal.

Here's a shot of the turbine in action. We had some weather coming in so there was a nice breeze and the turbine worked fairly well considering it was close to the ground and about 30 feet from the wood line. I need to find a more open area to install it for good. And raise it up, maybe only 8 feet in the air but I think it will catch a lot more wind there.

http://www.virginiabird.com/Other/Vertical-Axis-Wind-Turbine/18425485_mHQxZF#1429005231_s8sMqvS-A-LB

Until I can find a motor I'll be tweaking the turbine. I was expecting the turbine to start turning with lighter winds. We don't get much wind here so the lower it can start turning the better. I'm guessing that I got about 60 rpm (peak) today. I'll need more than that to start generating power. I may have to start thinking about gearing.  I'm also thinking of making the blades longer and maybe add some 'scoops' on the back of the blades.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the turbine. It did turn after all. I was a bit afraid when the bearings were not turning very smoothly when I hand tested them. They were used and very dirty. I'll get new ones for the real turbine. Should be perfect!