Appropiate Technology Projects -Wind Generator

How to build a Wind Generator

The rotor was made of two wooden disks assembled around two foils of aluminum shaped to form two half-cylinders. A plastic axis was used to separate the two wooden disks while the aluminum foil blades where securely fastened to the disks with regular screws and bolts. The rotor was then mounted onto what used to be a power drill axis (more precisely, the head of a power drill). This assured that the rotor could be securely mounted onto electrical engines on many different sizes as needed. The generator (or engine used as a generator) was salvaged from and old power drill. It is a 6 Volts magnet based DC engine (I was on a tight budget L! I would have preferred a 300 RPM 12 Volts engine). The mast was made of a plumbing tube, 3 inches in diameter. Four screws were driven into the mast to support a disk made of wood. This disk supports the engine's weight and secures the bottom part of it. Four bigger screws and bolts secure the top of the engine directly and allowed me to tune the stability of the construction and nullify any possible defects with the rotor 's alignment (none were found to nullify, but it's nice to know I could have…) A plumbing cap prevents the engine from taking on water on rainy days. The following are the parts I used for this project:

· Two wooden disks 5/8" thick and 30 centimeters in diameter. (Larger disks would make it more efficient but less stable) (From Oshman's)

· Two rectangles of aluminum foil 20 centimeters high and about 30 centimeters larger. Both were manually shaped to form half-cylinders. (From the Home Depot)

· One 1" plumbing tube with 3 corresponding caps (two for use between the disks, one for the bottom of the rotor and one for the top, mainly for the looks). (From Oshman's)

· One 3" plumbing tube with 1 corresponding cap used as a mast. (From leftovers from fixing the bathroom, can also be found at any hardware store)

· One 6 Volts DC magnet based engine. (From my old cheap rusty power drill)

· One power drill head. (From my old cheap rusty power drill)

· Bolts and screws as needed (From Oshman's)

The project's cost was about $30. It required four days of work, mainly because I did not have all the tools I needed. The design and assembly were very simple and can be done by children of age 12 and over (power drill involved).

This project could be greatly improved in two ways: by upgrading the engine used as a generator and by adding electrical circuitry to charge a set of 12 Volts car or truck batteries. As mentioned above, the ideal for most areas would be a 12 Volts 300 RPM DC engine (it has to be magnet based). The circuitry involved in charging a battery is simply a diode that prevents the current from the battery to drive the generator and an on/off circuit that stops the battery from over-charging. Both can be found in beginner electronics books at electronic stores like Radio Shack.

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