150lb Savonius Wind Turbine

[ariesseeks]

What is the link ?  The wind energy website you spoke of???

[werkloosdoorcrisis]

On top of that I realy love the "Mad Max factor" of it.

[werkloosdoorcrisis]

despite the "low" efficiency and all the negative stuff described here it's an easy to build device, cheap too and it will power your laptop, radio etc.

I'm working at home, have a flat roof and will try to make one to power my office.

[kc03300]

what does it do?

[ATOMsMasHER22]

it spins

[JamboyStu]

What kind of power output are you getting from this?

:o) nice design.

[utanja]

Using directional baffles, the Savonius is the most efficient design, up to 45% efficiency which is damned closed to the 59.6% hypothetical limit. It will begin turning in as little as 2m/s, will continue turning in turbulant winds even when direction changes, and is able to withstand hurricane winds: HAWTs cannot do this.

[UFOMAN618]

The beauty of these is that they operate even better in high wind and are compact.

[bg0821]

wind blows horizontal but is picked up either way by the turbine either way equally as well as the horizontal types can only catch wind from two directions where mounted vertical they will always catch the wind. I don't believe there is any difference in torque mounted either way.

[crock703]

Hey, maybe a dumb question, but if a turbine like this was affixed to a converted electric vehicle, where you're guaranteed to get 30-50mph winds, do you would the the gain cold be competetive with drag?

[josephdupont]

lift it up on top of a car or something.

old cars are ideal mounts for such things as the wind has to speed up to go over.

i wonder how two side by side would work?

[crock703]

I wonder if the gain would be worth the drag, if you were driving a really diy converted-to-electric truck or something.

(Don't know much about engineering or physics, but if anyone has a quick answer or guess, I'd like to hear it. Thanks)

[josephdupont]

I did not mean to drive with it on a car,

but to mount it ontop of an old junker.

that way the wind has to accelertate to go over the car. a mound of dirt would do too.

I've seen sails on bicycle which really scoot

.

[crock703]

oh. - Just to satisfy my curiosity, do you think the gain from any kind of turbine affixed to a car could outweigh the drag?

[skids7682]

Two cases where a turbine makes sense on a car: One is if you could figure out a way to use the turbine as an aerodynamic aid to make a more efficient vortex around the car so it has a tighter slip stream. Likely only to work in wind tunnels not in the real world.

The other is the tiny amount you can get from spinning an engine cooling fan backwards (google miev) -- only then because the air is going to go bounce into the vent anyway and the fan was already there so it costs no extra weight.

[keyanage]

wow congratulations you are one of few people who have built it properly although that gap in the middle could have been bigger

[jgizmo]

thanks...for some reason this video has been getting alot of views...The design came from a very interesting wind energy website. I just added the link to the description.

[keyanage]

thanks excellent I am studying renewable energy and they told us that these rotors are useless, up until recently the other design was the only one around and now they have made a comeback which prob explains hits to ur video..... Thanks 4 site....

[rbodell]

Better study some more, they are used a lot for pumping water.

[jgizmo]

Once you start adding mechanical gearing elements - friction greatly decreases the efficiency and requires very high start up wind speeds....I reckon!

[jgizmo]

All parts were found except the threaded rod and bearings...total cost $13. Never "hooked it up" to anything - No good for generating electricity - but good for mechanical water pumping.

[pickyouring]

The problem I see with this type of turbine is that the only reason it rotates is because of the relatively small difference between the wind force on the rounded portion of the blade and the wind force on the concave side. If this difference could be increased by some sort of mechanism to "feather" the blade that is advancing into the wind it seems reasonable to assume that the efficiency would be increased. Great project from salvaged materials. Congratulations.

[jgizmo]

thanks for the comments....I know it is not the most efficient design but this particular one is a modified savonius that allows much more push than pull during a wider range of rotation. Its a tradeoff on power adding a mechanical ( additional friction ) feathering system. Its amazing how this spins in the lightest of wind and in heavy wind it doesnt spin increadably fast but develops tremendous torque at the shaft.

[josephdupont]

nice solid unit he should put it on a small pyramid

to accelerate the air.

[jojo808]

power app ? great thing here is momentum.

[jgizmo]

This style turbine most usefull for attaching to a water pumping mechanism due to high torque but low rpm.