Please note that the material covered in this guide assumes that the people reading it are seeking to build their own wind turbine, for personal use, and as a stand-alone. Nothing in this guide will assist you in connecting to a commercial or residential power grid. Such action should not be attempted without the assistance of a licensed electrician and permission from your local power/utility company.

WARNING: We assume no responsibility for the use or misuse of these instructions. Follow these instructions at your own risk. These instructions have not been evaluated by an Engineer. These instructions are intended to be “guidelines” and may be incomplete. Wind turbines can be dangerous. Use caution.

Introduction #1:

If you recently purchased this quick guide to Wind Turbine Power, you are probably among millions of people world wide concerned about the ever-growing demand for energy. With the population growth having surpassed the amount of people that have ever lived on the planet total, concerns about state and federal governments and their abilities, and the over all cost of what everyone knows are limited resources; you have purchased this reading material in an attempt to do something to secure your energy needs

As you can see in the chart below, over 90% of the energy consumed in the United States alone is nonrenewable. What this means in simple English is that it will eventually – RUN OUT. The obvious question to ask is – WHEN?

There are thousands of estimates floating around out there; the bottom line is no one really knows when. We can only estimate what we’ve found, where other locations may be, and what we are currently and will use in the future.

For people like you and me, if you follow this guide and do some of your own research, the world could run out of oil tomorrow with little impact on our lives.

Though this is a little bit of an understatement, since everything we touch has some aspect of oil attached to it. The food you buy, the car you drive, the washing machine, your stove. All of these things need oil.

Even if you’re the type of person who plants their own garden and hunts for your own food. You still need oil. To get the seeds and soil, you probably had to drive to the store or market. To go hunting, you probably have to drive there as well.

This do it yourself guide book is not going to fix the worlds current or future problems with limited supplies, but it could be enough to get you started on the right track towards self sufficiency and reliance.

With that said, wind and solar are really the only two options an individual person or family have at this time. Please note that there or other alternatives in the works such as converting water into hydrogen and oxygen, and the creation of magnetic motors for homes and vehicles.

Wind Turbine Parts and Diagram:

Wind – It is the transfer of energy from one place to another.

Rotor blades – The blades are basically the sails of the system; in their simplest form, they act as barriers to the wind (more modern blade designs go beyond the barrier method). When the wind forces the blades to move, it has transferred some of its energy to the rotor. Blades can be built out of aluminum or PVC tubing.

Shaft – The wind-turbine shaft is connected to the center of the rotor. When the rotor spins, the shaft spins as well. In this way, the rotor transfers its mechanical, rotational energy to the shaft, which enters an electrical generator on the other end.

Generator – At its most basic, a generator is a pretty simple device. It uses the properties of electromagnetic induction to produce electrical voltage – a difference in electrical charge. Voltage is essentially electrical pressure – it is the force that moves electricity, or electrical current, from one point to another. So generating voltage is in effect generating current. A simple generator consists of magnets and a conductor. The conductor is typically a coiled wire. Inside the generator, the shaft connects to an assembly of permanent magnets that surrounds the coil of wire. In electromagnetic induction, if you have a conductor surrounded by magnets, and one of those parts is rotating relative to the other, it induces voltage in the conductor. When the rotor spins the shaft, the shaft spins the assembly of magnets, generating voltage in the coil of wire. That voltage drives electrical current (typically alternating current, or AC power) out through power lines for distribution.

Nacelle – The casing that holds:

Gearbox – increases speed of shaft between rotor hub and generator

Generator

Electronic control unit – monitors system, shuts down turbine in case of malfunction and controls yaw mechanism

Yaw controller/ Tail – moves rotor to align with direction of wind (the tail does the same thing)

Tower – supports rotor, generator, and nacelle up off the ground.

Slip Ring – this is used in to reduce binding in the electrical cable running from the generator to the Electronic Control System. (Note: you can use a straight cable, but if you’re building a permanent structure, you run the risk of the cable binding inside the tower as the generator rotates due to wind adjustment.)

Guide (Guy) Lines – These are used to stabilize and hold the tower upright. Guy lines do not need to be used if you’re building your turbine to be a permanent structure. Burying or cementing the tower base into the ground depending on the size, weather environment, and soil stability are factors you need to consider.

Electrical equipment – carries electricity from generator down through tower and controls many safety elements of turbine

Electronic Control System – This system controls where the power generated by your turbine goes. The output should have two options. The first option is to send the power generated to a battery for charging. The second option is the send excess power to a dummy load to be discharged so it does not overload the battery.

Building your Wind Turbine:

Note: The way this building process is broken down is not the only way you can build your wind turbine. There are many different types and variations. There are, however, some things that they all have in common.

There are also cheaper and more expensive ways to build your turbine. The overall cost of building your turbine will depend on your skills, items you may already have, and deals that you find at your local store or on the internet.

All Wind Turbine have these five things in common:

1. Generator
2. Blades
3. Mounting (on Tower)
4. Tower
5. Electrical Control System & Batteries

For simplicity, we’ve reduced the project to these five systems.

Generator:

You have two options: Build your own or buy one

We will assume that you are planning to purchase your generator at a local or online store. Also, since we can’t possibly know what your electrical needs will be, we will assume that you are purchasing the right generator for your energy needs.

Popular Brands are: Ametek and WindMax

You will probably want to purchase a Permanent Magnet Alternator (PMA); this is currently the affordable and easiest to use generator on the market.

Here are resourceful websites to learn more about Ametek & PMA generators:

www.tlgwindpower.com/ametek.htm

www.windstuffnow.com/main/ametek_motor.htm

www.ginlong.com

www.windbluepower.com/category_s/1.htm

Ensure that when you are looking for is a motor that is rated for high DC voltage, low rpms and high current. Steer away from low voltage and/or high rpm motors. You want a motor that will put out over 12 Volts at a fairly low rpm, and a useful level of current. So a motor rated for say 325 rpm at 30 Volts when used as a generator, could be expected to produce 12+ volts at some reasonably low rpm. On the other hand, a motor rated at 7200 rpm at 24 volts probably won’t produce 12+ volts as a generator until it is spinning many thousands of rpm, which is way too fast for a wind turbine. So shop for motors accordingly.

Blades:

Again you have two options: Build your own or but them

Typically, your wind turbine will have between three to six blade. If you chose to purchase them, they aren’t that expensive.

If you choose to make you own, you can either fabricate them out of aluminum (or any other metal) or with PVC pipe. Below is the step-by-step instruction on creating your own blades out of PVC.

Cutting PVC Blades – makes 8 blades (or 2+ blade sets), 2 ft long, and a thin waste strip.

1. Place the 8 ” diameter, 24″ Length of PVC pipe and square tubing (or other straight edge) side by side on a flat surface. Push the pipe tight against the tubing and mark the line where they touch. This is Line A.
2. Make a mark near each end of Line A, 23″ apart.
3. Tape 3 sheets of A4 paper together, so that they form a long, completely straight piece of paper. Wrap this around the pipe, about a half-inch from the end. Make sure the short side of the paper is straight along Line A and the paper is straight against itself where it overlaps. Mark a line along the edge of the paper and call this line B. Repeat at the other end of the tube, calling this line C.
4. Start where Line A intersects Line B. Going left around Line B, make a mark at every 145 mm. The last section should be about 115 mm.
5. Start where Line A intersects Line C. Going right around Line C, make a mark at every 145 mm. The last section should be about 115 mm.
6. Mark each line using a straight edge. You will have 4 sections of equal size. Later, we’ll cut these sections into 2 blades each.
7. Cut along these lines, using the jigsaw, so that you have 4 strips of 145 mm and one strip about 115 mm.
8. Take each strip and place them with the inside of the pipe facing down.
9. Make a mark at one end of each strip 115 mm from the left edge.
10. Make a mark at the other end of each strip 30 mm from the left edge.
11. Mark and cut these lines, using the jigsaw. NOTE: you may want to cut just two of these strips to start. This gives you 4 blades and you are only using 3. These blades will turn a generator motor in a CCW direction. If your motor turns clockwise, you can follow the same steps, but measure the 115 cm mark and 20 mm mark, from the RIGHT edge rather than the left edge. (Step 9 & 10)
12. Place each blade with the inside of the pipe facing down.
13. Make a mark along the angled line of the blade, 3″ from the wide end.
14. Make another mark on the wide end of the blade, 1″ from the straight edge.
15. Connect these two marks and cut along the line. This prevents the blades interfering with the others’ wind.

Sanding the Blades
You should sand the blades to achieve the desired airfoil. This will increase the efficiency of the blades, as well as making them quieter.

The angled (leading) edge wants to be rounded, while the straight (tailing) edge wants to be pointed. Any sharp corners should be slightly rounded to cut down on noise.

Credit: www.greenterrafirma.com

Note: You can cut the length and angle of the blades to your specifications. There are many different types of blades.

Some people prefer to “tab” off the end of the blade where it mounts to the rotor. By doing this you run the risk or stress cracks and fractures during periods of high/excessive wind. The example we have provided here does not tab the blade where it mounts to the rotor.

If you decide to make your own blades out of PVC, it is recommended that you make extras to use as spares.

Hub:

At this point you will need a hub to connect/bolt your blades to your motor.

Again, you have two options: buy your own or build them

Hubs range in different sizes and prices. Overall, to is probably cheaper to purchase a hub and/ or modify it if needed. The hub itself is nothing more than a round metal disk with holes for blade mounting, and a center hole for mounting onto the rotor. The size of the middle hole will depend on the size of your rotor.

Here are some examples of what a hub looks like.

Credit: Michael Davis

The hub shown above is homemade and was built out of spare parts found in the garage. It cost about an hour of the person’s time to make.

Note: That they are two separate disks that were bolted together after he mounted the blades. He then slid the hub over the rotor and tightened it down to the shaft using another bolt. You will most likely have to drill your own holes.

Spinner/ Cone:

The spinner/cone is the piece of metal/plastic that goes over the end of the shaft and butts up against the hub/blade assembly.

There are studies out there that point out that having one of these on your wind turbine, while cosmetically appealing, actually reduce the power output by up to one (1%) percent.

It is your decision on whether you want to place one of these on your turbine.

Mounting:

There are several different types of mounts. Essentially, the mount needs to be able to hold the generator with blade assembly, and be able to pivot into the wind as the direction changes

There are professional mount models out there, and then there are those that are made from materials you can find around your garage.

The most common homemade mounting materials include: 2×4, PVC, and brackets.

If you purchasing your materials online or at the store, usually you can find the mount for the generator in the vicinity.

For example, if you purchased an Ametek generator, there is a mount that you can buy to go with it. The mount itself, instead of sitting atop of the tower, mounts directly to the side of the tower. See the photos below for an example.

Homemade Mount:

Another method is to take a piece of 2×4 (or similar material), and strap/secure (U-bolts) the generator onto one side and incorporate a tail on the other. Using this method will also require you to incorporate a means for the mount to turn into the wind as the direction changes.

Reasonably, if the parts needed are in your garage, making the mount could cost you absolutely nothing.

Tower:

The materials your tower are made out of will be determined by these different factors:

1. How high will the tower need to be?
2. How windy is the area in which you will use it?
3. How heavy is the mounted assembly that sits on top?
4. Does the tower height need to be adjustable?

Two options: buy a tower kit or make your own

We recommend that you make your tower out of metal. PVC will crack and break under stress from the wind and sun over time, even with the use of guy lines. Wood is a lot heavier and often not cosmetically appealing, and will begin to warp or bow over time.

After you determine how high you want your tower to be, you will want to begin building your iron, steel, or aluminum tower.

The tower itself is probably the easiest part of the project, so we won’t elaborate too much in this area.

Key aspects of the tower that you need to be aware of: it is recommended that you run your electrical cable from the generator down the center of the tower. This means you will need to provide and opening at the top and base of the tower for the electrical wire. Also, you will want to incorporate a pivotal base for the tower. This is need for the raising and lowering of the tower for maintenance or parts replacement.

Below are some photos of different towers that people have built. Also, note the guy line brackets that were incorporated into the tower.

Electrical Control System:

Now that all the mechanical parts are sorted out, it was time to turn toward the electronic end of the project. A wind power system consists of the wind turbine, one or more batteries to store power produced by the turbine, a blocking diode to prevent power from the batteries being wasted spinning the motor/generator, a secondary load (dummy load) to dump power from the turbine, when the batteries are fully charged, and a charge controller to run everything.

There are lots of controllers for solar and wind power systems. The output of your generator, the number of turbines, and the number of batteries will dictate different aspects to your control system.

Keep in mind when you choose or build your control system, you might want to add on later, so you should select a system that will allow for addition set ups, either through more turbines or solar panels. It’s completely up to you at this point on what you use. We would recommend that you have an electrician assist you at this point.

Also, when the time comes to install everything, you want to make sure that you connect your batteries or dummy load first, before connecting the turbine. Once the turbine is operational, it will begin generating power/electricity. If your dummy load or batteries are not hooked up, this could overload your control system, due to initial power fluctuations.

See the photos below for different examples.

Type 1

Type 2

Here are some references and places to purchase and learn more about controllers:

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2004/9/20/0406/27488

http://www.hydrogenappliances.com/batteryregulator.html

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

http://www.windstuff.org/

Whether you build your own, or buy one, you will need some sort of controller for your wind turbine. The general principal behind the controller is that it monitors the voltage of the battery(s) in your system and either sends power from the turbine into the batteries to recharge them, or dumps the power from the turbine into a secondary load if the batteries are fully charged (to prevent over-charging and destroying the batteries). Also, ensure that you weatherproof the controller and all electrical items.

Ensure that each system, whether it is solar or wind, has it’s own blocking diode connected to it. The blocking diode is designed to only allow the electrical current to flow one way. You want to connect it, so that the current flows into your batteries. The idea is, if the wind stops blowing and the turbine stops generating power, the power that is stored in your batteries, will not back flow and begin spinning the generator as a motor. The control system you purchase will likely have a diode already connected to it. Check the schematic upon delivery or call the supplier to ensure this is the case.

Batteries:

Deep cycle batteries are your best option for storing and using the power you generate. These types of batteries are designed to be charged and to release the electricity over longer periods of time.

A good example of a deep cycle battery would be one that is used in a golf cart.

Car batteries are not recommended. These types of batteries are designed for quick bursts of electricity only.

Below is a quote from www.windsun.com:

Deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged down as much as 80% time after time, and have much thicker plates. The major difference between a true deep cycle battery and others is that the plates are SOLID Lead plates – not sponge. This gives less surface area, thus less “instant” power like starting batteries need.

Unfortunately, it is often impossible to tell what you are really buying in some of the discount stores or places that specialize in automotive batteries. The golf car battery is quite popular for small systems and RV’s. The problem is that “golf car” refers to a size of battery (commonly called GC-2, or T-105), not the type or construction – so the quality and construction of a golf car battery can vary considerably – ranging from the cheap off brand with thin plates up the true deep cycle brands, such as Crown, Deka, Trojan, etc. In general, you get what you pay for.

Once you have completed everything, it is time for you to set up your new wind turbine. At this point you will again want to have a licensed electrician assist you. This is in case there are any electrical modifications or issues.

As we have mentioned earlier, this guidebook is just that, it is a guide. Please use your own knowledge and research to assist and guide you in making your own wind turbine. There are hundreds of websites and photos on the Internet to assist you in the building of your wind turbine. This guidebook is only intended to be a tool in assisting you in that process.

Below, we have listed websites to help you get started in your research and path towards generating your own renewable energy.

Recommended Sites:

http://www.doe.gov

http://www.epa.gov

http://www.powerplanted.com/windturbinetips_buildforcheap.html

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

http://www.otherpower.com/

http://www.hydrogenappliances.com

http://www.windsun.com/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/06/how_to_build_yo_1.php

http://ezinearticles.com/?Homemade-Wind-Turbine&id=1224097

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2007-07/going-wind

Cost:

Depending on how much of the process you were able to do yourself, the wind turbine, reasonable should only cost between $100.00 – $400.00

Below is one estimate from a person that built their own wind turbine.

Part Origin Cost

Item Purchased From Cost
Motor/Generator Ebay $26.00

Misc. pipe fittings Homecenter Store $41.49

Pipe for blades Homecenter Store $12.84

Misc hardware Homecenter Store $8.00

Conduit Homecenter Store $19.95

Wood & Aluminum Scrap Pile $0.00

Power Cable Old extension cord $0.00

Rope & Turnbuckles Homecenter Store $18.47

Electronic Parts Already on hand $0.00

Relay Auto Parts Store $13.87

Battery Borrowed from my UPS   $0.00

Inverter Already on hand $0.00

Paint Already on hand $0.00
Total = $140.62

FAQ:

Q. Can I just plug my wind turbine into my house wiring to help offset my electric bill?

A. No! You need specialized equipment like synchronous inverters and transfer switches, and a licensed electrician, to interface a wind or solar system with your house wiring safely and legally. Do not attempt to do it yourself unless you really know what you are doing and have obtained all the necessary equipment and permits. In some areas some or all of the work may have to be done by a licensed electrician. Check your local codes.

Q. Can I use a car alternator in my wind turbine?

A. Car alternators are designed to work at much higher RPMs than is typically produced by a wind turbine. If you can stand the power losses and added complexity, it may be possible to use belts or gears to increase the speed of the turbine to something more like what an alternator needs. There are also permanent magnet alternators available designed especially for wind turbine use, but they tend to be quite expensive.

Q. How do I prevent the wire from twisting up inside the tower?

A. You will want to incorporate a slip ring below the tower mount. Usually your wind turbine will slewing back and forth between two directions, covering only 1/4 – 1/2 a circle. If it does become twisted, you can always disconnect the wires at the bottom of the tower and manually untwist them.

Q. How noisy is the wind turbine?

A. The wind turbine is not very noisy. It isn’t much noisier than the wind itself. Most of the time, in a stiff wind, you won’t hear the wind turbine over the roar of the wind through the trees.

Q. Do you really need the battery bank and charge controller? Can’t you simply connect my inverter or other appliance directly to the wind turbine?

A. The Voltage output from the wind turbine varies wildly with wind speed. You would be very liable to damage the inverter or other appliance by running it connected directly to the wind turbine without a battery bank and charge controller in the system. The load from the battery bank smoothes out the Voltage to something the inverter can handle, and provides power during periods of little or no wind.

Q. Do you really need the charge controller? Can’t you just connect the wind turbine directly to my battery?

A. The purpose of the charge controller is to prevent destruction of your expensive batteries due to over-charging or over-discharge. You can go without one, but you would have to slavishly watch the voltage on your batteries and connect and disconnect them from the wind turbine manually.

Q. Can you use an AC motor as a generator on my wind turbine?

A. Probably not. We have heard of people using AC motors as generators by relying on residual magnetism in the motor and the dynamo effect, but it doesn’t really seem to work very well, if at all, in most cases.

Q. Can you use car batteries for my battery bank? Why do you need special batteries?

A. Car batteries are not a good choice for a wind or solar power installation. They are damaged if they discharge too deeply. Car batteries are designed to deliver a quick burst of power to start the engine. They are not meant to be deeply discharged and recharged repeatedly. This will quickly destroy them. Deep cycle batteries work much better in this application.

Q. Do the number of blades really matter?

A. Research shows that 3 is about the optimum number of blades. Most commercially made wind turbines have 3 blades. Turbines with even numbers of blades tend to suffer from vibration problems. So 3 is the lowest practical number of blades (There are single-bladed turbines, but they are funny looking and need a big counterweight opposite the single blade to balance them). There are diminishing returns to adding more blades. Expense and complexity goes up quickly, but performance only improves marginally. Also, adding more blades tends to increase torque, but at the expense of speed. So you rarely see an electricity generating wind turbine with more than 5 blades, because generators like to turn fast. In applications where torque is important, you may see turbines with lots of blades, like the ones pumping water on ranches, but they don’t make good electrical generators unless their output is geared way up to make enough speed for a generator.

Q. Will a solar panel charge controller work for my wind turbine?

A. Unlikely. Most solar panel charge controllers simply disconnect the panel(s) from the battery(s) when full charge is achieved. This leaves the solar panels open-circuited. This is not a problem for solar panels. However, wind turbines need to be connected to a load at all times or they will over-rev. When the batteries achieve full charge, the wind turbine needs to be connected to another load, rather than open-circuited. It may be possible to modify a solar charge controller to do this, but it would depend on the particular controller

Q. Can I sell your excess power back to the electric company?

A. You need to do some figuring to see if it is really worth it. First, how much excess power do you really have to sell? Next find out how much the utility will pay you for the power. When they sell it to you, you have to pay the retail rate, plus fuel charges and so forth. When the utility buys power though, they only buy it at the wholesale rate, which is considerably lower. You’ll need an expensive synchronous inverter to match the power line AC frequency, and professionally installed switchgear. After crunching the numbers, you may find it isn’t worth the effort.

Q. Which direction does your wind turbine spin?

A. The direction of spin is not really all that important. A DC motor will act as a generator no matter which way it is turned. The polarity on the output will just reverse if the direction is reversed.