Wind Turbine Destroyed by high winds

[ilovejesus4evr]

It's apparent by the timeline that you have probably built another more efficient wind turbine by now. I don't use a furling system either and use a switch to short the 3 phase in the case of high winds. Like you I need to manually do this to save my own turbine. I have heard though that there is an automatic type of brake that can be implemented though don't know who designs it.

[billmalta1]

WOW!!!! am sorry for you buddy....

Check out my video for your futur wind turbine ideas... u might wana try to use a vawt for less trouble.

Happy to c that this wont discourage you from going on with it...

Take care and be carefull!

PEACE...

[ad3543]

Your wind turbine was awesome. I want one, with furling system I guess. I am subscribing to see how it is done.

[kieranmullen2]

And pictures of a new one? perhaps a weather stattion that monitors speed along with some type of furling activator? some gears that could be activated?

[Porterjebazillanator]

Dude, too bad for the loss. I'm sure the thing was nice before the storm

[thateldoo]

What RPM was the turbine going when it broke, any guesses?

[yegreskin]

You're lucky that you live somewhere that projects like yours are allowed and where wind is even viable. I particularly like the way you experiment with off-the-shelf stuff. That's what I like most about wind energy, it's that almost anyone can actually build something like you have. The homemade stator windings are particularly fascinating. Very few people can experiment with ocean or river currents. And few have the knowledge to make their own solar cells. Keep it up!

[harydave33]

soory dude. but at least you have a opportunity to improve you'r design:)

[mikedhane]

I am working on a direct drive VAWT made with a car alternator. I replaced the rotor and stator to make 12 volts at 150 rpm. I am working on the draft to help the eff. I am looking to put this vawt on the market. I think I can get it to spin fast enough in low wind to produce at least .5 to .8 kw.. Total build invest is looking about $400 - $500. think of it like a toy top spinning at high speed. It will just make more power and keep it self balanced.

good luck with you stuff man.

[DeanC993]

ahh crap that was a nice wind turbine and all please for your next one put an automatic furling systym good luck(:

[cupwithhandles]

RIP to your lovely contraption. My condolences

[ironlionkalo]

yo you said fortunately twice but i think you meant unfortunately because its not good that the turbine blow up right.

[miteymaximus]

Car hub? Front wheel drive car hubs require the shaft to remain in the assembly to hold the bearing together. I built a trailer once without the stub shafts in the hubs and it failed once I put a sizeable load on it.

[wind4watts]

Shame looks well made. I think with the tail boom extended outwards 2-3 ft more i think you would have been ok, would have had the leverage to swivel her rotor around out of harms way.

[pvsheridan]

A wind turbine that is not engineered to tolerate . . . the wind.

Sheer genius (pun intended).

The notion that Malthusian lowtech garbage is our "road to energy independence" is like saying George Bush represents the "road to peace."

Pathetic backward-looking JUNK like windfarms will soon be relegated to the ash heap of history.

What a total joke.

[GreenEngineer07]

Your correct this is not the answer to energy independence, its a hobby. Do you really want a guy who can't build a furling system to be experimenting with fusion?

In all fairness I don't know why you would consider this a Malthusian solution? Wouldn't the Malthusian solution be to let people run out of energy. . .

I like wind compared to current technologies because, as I understand it wind is a transient energy, resultant from solar energy(fusion).

Thanks for the post that needed to be said

[artgoat]

I think I'll be working towards fiberglass blades. If/when they fail at least the chunks are lighter.

[rudly]

at a wind speed as that great do you suppose an object hit the wood blades (60 m.p h) hmmmmm 5 star idea/project

[captncaveman81]

ever look into microcontrollers? i have a homebuilt 8052 based Atmel microcontroller that im going to use for my turbine. it will be able to automaticly switch the coils from start /delta, read rpm and windspeed, and to control the furling system..

[gearhead937]

If your up for the challenge, I would look into making a constant speed prop as used on some aircrat. There are those that use engine oil pressure, but also some that are purely mechanical using springs and flyweights... This would benefit in terms of sound volume, efficicency, and life of the various components. Good Luck with the rebuild!

[xlqex]

*splinter* :(

[jackmonkey26]

sorry to see that your turbine ate it. At least now you know what it can take. 5 stars for letting us see!

[ibook133]

Cool, keep us updated!

[idontcare80]

Awesome turbine, very sad to see it destroyed. Those bearings are actually held together by the outer part of the axle. You could just cut the splined shaft off of the outer end of an axle and use it as a bolt to hold the whole mess together. It would probably support your next turbine project.

[keekuan]

thank a lot for giving me some ideal to implement my project.

[robert0joe]

sorry about your unlimited power supply

[iamnat666]

Sorry to see that your Project was destroyed.

However top marks for the Carnage!

[rtd5rtd]

Hi mate!

I have a question. Isn't it better to use a gearbox to slow down the circular speed once operation on hith wind. It will make keep that power is increasing with wind power.

because if you meke it parrarel to the wind you have no power generated once the highest power is arround to capture.

Sorry for the orthoghaphy I am serb.

[GreenEngineer07]

You taught me a new word orthography, Thanks!

Sorry I don't fully understand your question? I was raised in Nigeria so I understand the difficulty of learning the english language : )

On turbines this small the gearbox only makes the turbine less efficient. Electrical Generators are usually more efficient at high rotational speeds ~1000 rotations per minute. I hope that helps if not post again!

[vicmeuk]

Hi mate! I managed to blow mine up in a 60-70 mile wind as well. Problem I had was the pvc blades bent so much they hit the pole!! It was amazing to see how many bits of plastic were all over the place..Anyway the dynohub was in perfect condition,just the blades go it this time.

[snoopdog68]

Oh man, thats a bummer. It was sweet.

Better luck on the next one.

[h3adsh07]

Good Man! Thanks for the post...definitely factor this into my project!

[54luke]

What a crack up A++++

[mousepotato64]

Thanks for showing the bitter truth about wind turbines. Automatic furling systems are not just a good idea. They are MANdaToRy. Imagine having something like this with 400 ft dia. spinning over your house. Yes, they Blow up too.

Or you could just go with a VAWT.

The speed of the wind is not the only danger. I live in Hurricane country and I know that it is usually not high winds alone that do damage. It's THINGS carried along at high winds. your turbine could have been hit by a rock.

[josephdupont]

great design.. kieep up the good work.

[Georgieporgie1]

I learned to hang mine, rather than installing it on a post, my posts were damaged in the past ! hanging it from a post is more cumbersome, but it provide some safety.

[GreenEngineer07]

I have never seen that before, good thought.

[5point9straightsix]

I have my own experiences with wind turbines and high wind speeds. I live in southwestern Alberta - 60mph is not rare, we max out at 110mph winds. I lost a number of systems during such winds. Finally I developed a recipe for blades that works.

[5point9straightsix]

I have fibreglass molds for blades, I insert a steel frame, pour dense urethane foam into the cavity, cure it, take the mold off, and then coat the raw blade with three layers of fibreglass. Downside: you need to be very careful during every step to use the same amount of material for every blade, otherwise you will get an imbalance.

[mountfujiave]

lol, it was great. recycle all the empty beer bottles by the window. Good luck.

[zeno57]

I use mine for shootn practice

[AZURA888]

Hey try to use other materials for blades, and cover the alternator. Use fiber glass or UHMW polyethilene (tivar), Carbon Fiber or vectran, you are american, in USA you can get thats material easily from dupont, not like other countries where we only can use Fiber glass, wood, aluminium, lexan, PVC, PET, ultralene, nylon or teflon in the better cases. Use a control system too and less blades. good work!

[fitzyt999]

Hi have u made another one yet, and if so what have you made it outoff. Can u please tell me because im thinking of making one myself i live in the jungle, will it generate a gigawatt....regards the ratpoacher

[GreenEngineer07]

I have not made another one, though I hope to soon.

To generate a gigawatt at 17 km/h wind speed you would need aprroximately 10 million of these turbines : )

Last I checked the largest wind turbines on the planet are producing a maximum of 1.5 MW you would need about 700 of these to producce a 1 GW, sorry.

[Jsa84]

Hi. About size on wind turbines "on the Planet". I work at siemens Wind power in Brande, Denmark. we build 3 models. 1,3 MWH 2.3 WHM and 3,6 Mwh, so the turbines today, are bigger hvad 1,5 Mwh. try to check out, somthing about the Burbo Banks ofshore wind farm near Liverpool England, there are 25 3,6 Mwh operating there. By the way, i was part of producing them.

[Jsa84]

But the biggest turbines i know of today, is the NEG-Micon 4,5 Mwh Produced by vestas in Denmark. The , i think, 4,2 Mwh produced by Energon in germany, and the 5 Mwh produced by repower. You can find the 5 mwh here on youtube.

[GreenEngineer07]

Thanks for the info Jsa84.

[maxspeedex]

How many windings each coil of the 6 coils had, 200 windings? or what.

Where those magnets I saw on the rotor were Neodinyum magnets?

On your configuration how many voltage and amperate where you generating and on what RPM?

[GreenEngineer07]

I didn't count the windings on the coils I just made them the same size when I was wrapping them around the jig.

Yes those are Neodinyum magnets.

Not sure on the RPM but in a 40 mph wind I was getting 90V, 18A or 1700 VA (this was done with a voltmeter which only measured the amplitudes of the first harmonic)

[slipmatwax]

you need to use a pair of bearings - pillow block type would be best and cheapest

[1alopezpr]

Safety cause,(refering to the comment below),lets say a very strong wind tear the blade off or the whole top turbine off,and it hits someone,the chance(average) of survive the impact is more if the piece weight less than 1 or 2 pounds.I think,just saying,not an expert.

[1alopezpr]

Not an expert,just couple of things,first,keep on the good work,and I was just thinking in something lighter like fiber flass blades,(like someone mention before),or plastic,or foam?,and also try think small,lighter,to produce speed,to generate more power,also safety.Kudos!

[althiaby]

Hey William

Very nice vedioes

Regards,

Mazen Alotaibi

[Zitronekopf]

yeah, but it's a lot cheaper to make that way. if you're a college student or just looking to make a cheap turbine that still puts out a few hundred watts, then this is fine (and fun to make...you learn a lot, too...)

[tracer1118]

nice try, but don´t take wood! take a modern generator. you can buy it on ebay cheaper and better everytime dont waste your work!

[sumguijim]

Was the entire system dynamically balanced? Your Turbine may run very well at low speeds, however if it is not dynamically balanced then it will vibrate at higher speeds & disintegrate at VERY high speed. When you rebuild perhaps you could bring the assembly to the local garage & have them high-speed balance it on the tire machine. You can screw the lead weights onto the Plywood.

[toromartinez]

The face of this guy doing what he obviusly loves is worth a 1000 wind turbines.Does anybody really think that he will be discourage??? . The world needs more analogue-mecanic-lovers like you. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

[EdmundSquid]

The greatest thing about a set back like this is one of your last statments. "Im gonna build it again, only BIGGER and BETTER". Thats awesome keep up the good work!!!

[stuartmoffatDOTcom]

please dont let this discourage you, your videos are great and realy help for someone like me who wants to get into renewable energy, thanks alot :)

[MrTard]

vertical axis turbines are the way forward i think, im making one out of a 24v dc scooter motor and a dustbin cut in half, well thats the plan when i get around to it

[viinikka]

Glad you posted, GreenEngineer. Note to self: system must be auto-furling. Otherwise you can't go on vacation. It would be a shame to spend my time off babysitting a wind turbine. :)

[GreenEngineer07]

thanks for the comment. its funny but you make a good point, these things require maintenance dollars and time.

[veiwingav]

The reson that your turbine self destructed is because you use a hub of a front wheel drive car, it needs the drive shaft in the centre to hold the assembly together, next time use a front hub from a rear wheel drive car.

[martynbiker]

i hate to say this, but you said it is made from a CAR WHEEL HUB, if that is the case..60mph is NO PROBLEM, may i suggest, that either the bearing was a little loose, faulty, or the blades were ( in my opinion most likeley) NOT BALANCED causing the same "hammer" effect as an unbalanced tyre. just a thought....

[aliesneo]

lol i like that... true caution like an a true engineer "i always wear my bike helmet when i go out to inspect my wind turbine"

[spirogrinder2]

can u make it so that the blades fair off when it gets to a certain rpm? like the ones on yachts...

[OrganicDrew]

you should really focus on vertical axis turbines they are far more efficient and easier to build and far stronger, I am an electrical engineer with experience working on utility scale turbines, I would be happy to share my knowledge.

[Jibbie49]

Good thing you were wearing a helmet when it blew apart. LOL Smart guy.

[mytube8488]

Ive been running an Air 400 and two 120 watt Solar Panels for about 4 years now. Since Ive been running the system the Wind Turbine broke 1 blade and was hit by lightning twice which took out the inverter each time.Ive had no trouble at all with the Solar Panels.They have no moving parts,they can be mounted on your roof without noise or vibration,they dont require tall towers,wire runs to the house or batteries can be kept shorter.Have you tried solar?

[KevSkateDude]

It look like your nabor wacked it with a baseball bat. lol :)

[fredipicant]

try some more resistant materials

[no1bundit]

Keep on walking, it is good to learn from this.

[kawasakc]

Good job. Errors are one of the best ways to learn, although, like you say, it looks like the bearing was the problem. Keep up the interesting projects.

[4Mengineering]

Sorry about the damage, but how nice to be able to get a close look at how you had built your wind turbine... gives a whole new meaning to exploded view eh? a schematic diagram might be nice in your next version. Brave little wind mill held together just long enough to say good bye to you, in your pyjamas and bike helmet; or was that sight that which pushed it over the edge? Keep up the great work.