UshaWoods Blogs

Wind Power @ UW

Our plot at Usha Woods (UW) is located along the slope of the hill and is a likely spot to locate a wind generator. This was also a factor in us deciding on that particular plot, no. 39.

I was already having some plans for a wind generator similar to the one that is featured in the link below;

http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/index.html

So once we booked the plot, I immediately started working on a basic wind wane device that would indicate the wind direction and the variation in the same at the spot planned for the wind generator, I also started building a prototype model to test the wind strength at the spot before building the actual production version.

On the next weekend, i.e. on the 8th August, I landed up at UW  with the wind wane device and we set it up on a long pole. Actually in the end, the pole is longer than what was required, but anyway, the wind wane was up and working perfectly.

It was properly indicating the wind direction continously indicating any variation in the wind direction. The wind direction was mostly from downhill blowing across the road and going uphill. The wind at the spot also seemed to be quite adequate and strong enough to spin a regular wind generator.

You can see the wind wane setup at the site in the pictures below;

 

 

 

 

Over the comming weekend, I hope to test our prototype wind generator at UW provided I am able to complete the device in time.

 

I will post updates on that soon.

Salil.

Update: 17th August 2009

I managed to complete the prototype in time for our next visit. One good thing was that the school was closed due to the H1N1 scare going on, so the kids were free and no exam pressure.

Photo of the in progress device;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our drive down, we stopped at a nursery ( Bandal) which is just before KAdav village and picked up some tree saplings. They have a great variety of plants and tree saplings and you can find any plants of your choice out here.

At UW, we got help from the workers readily to plant the saplings and also to install a wodden pole to mount the wind generator for testing.

In around 2 hours,we had completed planting all of the saplings and the wind generator was also all mounted and ready on it’s pole. However, the wind was totally missing at that point and the Wind generator was not spinning at all.

We had a lot of fun in the stream and waterfall and also had a very tasty lunch at the stream itself. See pics;

After lunch, we found that the wind had picked up and the WG was spinning away.  I quickly got to work attaching the test bulb and connecting the multimeter to measure the current that was getting generated.

 

 

 

The current was not all that good, it was only a trickle, but for a test it was fine and we are now sure that when the production WG is setup, we can definately to generate a good amount of power.

I am currently working on the production WG and will definately update you (if anyone is following this blog that is…) :0

 

 

 

 

Will update in a week or two…

Salil.

Update on 15th August 2010:

Hi,

The week or two has seen nearly 8 months go by, the project has been getting along very slowly, initialy there was a gap of 4-5 months of inactivity after which the work as been restarted with determination to complete it within the next 6 months.

Following updates:

The Wind generator: The nost important part of the system, the motor was very elusive as there are very few suitable motors available in the market and there are no clear guidelines or parameters readily available. So there was a long gap where I was cheking out various options and sources right from a winscreen wiper motor to threadmill motor to the regular use DC motors, finalyy after much delibration I was lucky to nail a genuine PMDC motor manufacturer who had the best options for PMDC motor which would fit the requirements and not result in  total washout. This company was also very technical and ready to discuss the requirement and fine tune the parameters as possible to meet my specific need for output / RPM.

After a wait of 2-3 weeks, the motor was finally in my hands. It is a pretty large device with following specs:

Length: 14 Inches / Diameter: 8 Inches / Weight: 14.5 Kgs.

The nextstep was the motor hub or sprocket on which the fan blades would be attached. For this I went to my regular machinist and after much planning the results were erally very good.

Here is a photo of the rotor hub:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a snap of the contraption with the rotor hub attached:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next… There are o many other parts that will complete the setup that need to be designed, fabricated, purchased, I will not be able to provide the complete details, but will definately upload some information as possible, some of the parts are:

1. The Base mounting and tower with supports.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The casing and mounting for the motor with pivot assembly.

3. The Tail or vane for the top assembly.

4. The support anchor pints and winch setup.

5. The battery charging circuitory and related circuits.

6. Finally the invertor and battery for drawing the power.

I wil keep updating the sections with details as the work progresses. 

Salil.