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Forum Index : Windmills : Wiring
| Author | Message | ||||
| Guests Guest  Joined: 01/10/2003 Location: Posts: 52 |
Can you tell me how you stop the main wire from the mast head from getting twisted. Do you use brushes and contact or do you have a stop on the rotating head to ensure that the generator can't keep rotating at the top of the pole. Regards Dave Rankin WA Australia |
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| adelaide Regular Member  Joined: 24/03/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 46 |
hi u can run wire down middle of pole and have big plug at bottom to unwind it or brushes at top , had 1 mine up 2 years just twisted bit but no hassel help to make progres or radio and vitamin b |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I'm the same as adelaide, I have a plug at the bottom of the tower that I unplug every few days and let the drop wire unwind itself. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| RossW Guru  Joined: 25/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 495 |
Funny, but I was doing some analysis of my wind logs the other week and this was one of the things I looked at. How much winding and unwinding I would get over time. The idea was to track the wind. As it swung, follow it. Each time I pass the zero degrees mark, increment (or decrement) the revolution counter, depending on which way it's going. (I actually used east rather than north, because I get less wind from that angle than others, but you could use any point as long as it remains constant) When the wind dies and stops, and then resumes, pick the shortest vector - so it could be either direction. Statistically, I figured winding clockwise would be about the same as winding anticlockwise. In my case, I found a significant bias to one direction over the other. I haven't done any more work yet to determine if it's based on the hemisphere (n/s, that is claimed to affect water going down the plug clockwise or anticlockwise), or if it's more local conditions. My turbine has 3 sliprings and brushes at the head so the wire won't wind up, and from my early analysis, I'm glad it does. According to the calculations, mine would have wound up over 20 turns so far, and over a 9 metre mast, I reckon that's pretty close to the point it would start to tie itself in knots. |
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Chris Senior Member  Joined: 12/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 146 |
Ross do the slip rings ever arc or anything like that? Because i had a similar idea, but thought the arcing could be dangerous, especially on days of total fire ban? |
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dave r Newbie  Joined: 19/04/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 11 |
Hi again Do you think the brushes and commutator from a cat alternator would handle the output from the fisher and paykel rewound to produce 24 volts max Regards dave Rankin dave rankin |
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| dave r Newbie Joined: 19/04/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 11 |
PS Sorry about the fat finger mistake!! That should read "car". Regards again Dave Rankin dave rankin |
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| RossW Guru Joined: 25/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 495 |
They're totally enclosed inside the generator body. I've never been close enough to them when the mill is running (for obvious reasons!) but brush-and-slipring technology is quite stable now and I expect a long life out of them. They have low wear rates because it's not the high speed machine turning, it's only from the head to the mast which turns slowly and infrequently (compared to the machine itself!) I'd be a little doubtful on that one. IIRC, the typical car alternator slipring is used to power the excitor, not the main generating coils, so runs comparitively low currents. A "large" car alternator is good for what, 80 amps? The brushgear is probably only handling 5A, perhaps 10. Your F&P would be making about 200 watts at that current, which sounds a little low. I'd look for something a little more robust I think. |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Car starter motor brushes will handle big current. See if you can pick up a dead starter motor, and inside you should find 2 or 4 sets of brushes and brush holders. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| adelaide Regular Member Joined: 24/03/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 46 |
maby if u want them u could use some off cuts of lager diameter copper pipe ?and something to keep water off help to make progres or radio and vitamin b |
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| RossW Guru Joined: 25/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 495 |
Copper pipe is probably a bit soft I'd reckon. Brass would be a better option. Thinking about it, it'd be worth having a scrounge 'round at the local plumbing supplies place, you could find some nipples that would be useful. Or.... some female sockets.... nice thread on the inside, you should be able to get a bolt that would fit the thread. Put one in the lathe, turn it down so its nice 'n smooth, cut it into thirds in the lathe (for 3 phase operation, or half if you are using DC only). If you use some threaded nylon rod, you could screw the two (three) onto one shaft with insulating washers (slightly larger than the turned down brass, so brushes couldn't wander onto the adjacent slipring) and I think it'd be pretty schmick. Back on the winding up of the cable, here's the results of the last month: Current dir=245 deg cumulative=-3618 deg (10 turns) Peak rotation anticlockwise: -4837 deg (13 turns) Peak rotation clockwise: 324 deg (0 turns) Wind: Total run=6879.23Km avg=6.52 kmh Useful wind: run=4688Km avg=14.570574 kmh hours=321 (Useful wind considered to be 10 kmh and over) Wind Velocity histogram: 00-05kmh 40.3 hrs 05-10kmh 282.8 hrs 10-15kmh 206.4 hrs 15-20kmh 77.6 hrs 20-25kmh 30.5 hrs 25-30kmh 6.0 hrs 30-35kmh 1.1 hrs 35-40kmh 0.2 hrs 40-45kmh 0.0 hrs 45-50kmh 0.0 hrs |
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