- #1
tarakan
- 53
- 2
- TL;DR Summary
- I am not an engineer, just a guy who knows some CAD and has some experience with a 3D printer.
I want to build a wind turbine with two concentric rotors that would allow this device to effectively adjust itself to any wind speed, to gusty winds, to storms and to gentle breeze, and to work quietly.
Hello.
For a long time, I wanted to build a wind turbine prototype that would have two concentric rotors.
The design was inspired by an automotive torque converter, used with automatic transmissions.
This device would have an external rotor that would be coupled to one generator and an internal rotor that would be coupled to another generator.
By adjusting the load on each of the two generators, I am looking to achieve a very smooth, consistent "power curve" that would allow me to charge a battery bank at different wind speeds/types, effectively using all the energy of the wind, while reducing the cost by minimizing the requirements for precision parts.
A wind that is fast and gusty would be utilized by allowing one combination of loads that would allow the turbines to rotate and produce optimal output. A gentle breeze would be utilized with a different ratio of loads on the generators.
One of the turbines can be coupled to a pump that would lift water into a water tower, while another blade would be loaded in such way as to keep the main turbine rotating at the optimal speed for the pump to operate, by using an electric generator with a variable electrical load (charging system).
Such configuration can allow a wind turbine to power a mechanical load directly over a wider range of wind speeds, reducing the electrical power conversion/transmission losses. I can already see many applications for such systems.
The external rotor would also offer a simple mechanism that would allow all the blades to be rotated sideways, so the outer turbine would remain stationary, trail with the wing like a weather cock and protect the inner rotor from damage by extremely high rotation speeds.
In my original design, the blades of the internal rotor redirect air vertically, along the axis.(Is this useful?)
An interference pattern between two concentric rotors would minimize the drag, produced by the wind, as the blade is traveling against the direction of the wind, on the opposite side of the vertical wind turbine. (a drawback of a conventional vertical wind mill design)
I had a dream about this wind turbine once, a vision stuck in my head since.
I see that this approach may allow for a very cheap wind turbines to become available.
One of the major advantages of building such wind turbine turbine that I perceive is that the central rotor would be a higher precision, smaller diameter part that would rotate at faster speeds, while the outer rotor would be a less precise, the blades would be made out of stretched vinyl banner fabric, directing the wind at higher velocities to the inner turbine. This, by itself is not a unique idea.
The turbine would generate electricity while also bringing revenue through billboard advertisements.
However, at lower breeze speeds it would be allowed to freewheel and to capture slower winds.
I don't know what the optimal load ratios on each turbine would be for each wind speed.
The adjustment of load for each individual turbine would allow the generator to achieve the same effect that the angle of change of the blades achieves in a conventional horizontal wind turbine, yet at a lower cost with a smaller number of precision parts that require balancing.
I also see that such wind turbines can phase out commercial billboards.
The outer blades would be designed so advertisement can be readable at low wind speeds.
With appropriate strobe lighting, synchronized to illuminate a specific vinyl fabric turbine blade with a design, such device could become an impressive advertisement for green businesses, an animated advertisement, consisting of several frames, with each frame printed on a vinyl banner, resembling a blade.
If this idea has a practical application, I would like it to remain in the public domain.
I would like to ensure that all profits generated from such advertising would go towards research and development of renewable energy systems and sustainable living products.
I have some drawings in my notebook and some 3D models of the internal rotor that are not very presentable.
I would like to build everything with straight blades and experiment with generator loads before I consider anything else.
I would like to print it on a 3D printer in segments that would fit inside the 3D printer. Possibly, I would like to make the inside rotors so each has its own bearings and so that they interlock, once I slide them onto a shaft.
The stator would be built
The experimental design that I intend on building would vary from the concept design since 3D printing offers its limitations.
I am still not sure about how I would construct the outer squirrel cage of the outer rotor and how I would couple it to it's generator.
It is very likely that I would use the motors that are sold for electric bicycle conversion, as generators since they seem to offer very desirable characteristics.
I would like to read some pros and cons of this design before I move ahead with building this project.
Thank you.
--Vladimir Tolskiy
For a long time, I wanted to build a wind turbine prototype that would have two concentric rotors.
The design was inspired by an automotive torque converter, used with automatic transmissions.
This device would have an external rotor that would be coupled to one generator and an internal rotor that would be coupled to another generator.
By adjusting the load on each of the two generators, I am looking to achieve a very smooth, consistent "power curve" that would allow me to charge a battery bank at different wind speeds/types, effectively using all the energy of the wind, while reducing the cost by minimizing the requirements for precision parts.
A wind that is fast and gusty would be utilized by allowing one combination of loads that would allow the turbines to rotate and produce optimal output. A gentle breeze would be utilized with a different ratio of loads on the generators.
One of the turbines can be coupled to a pump that would lift water into a water tower, while another blade would be loaded in such way as to keep the main turbine rotating at the optimal speed for the pump to operate, by using an electric generator with a variable electrical load (charging system).
Such configuration can allow a wind turbine to power a mechanical load directly over a wider range of wind speeds, reducing the electrical power conversion/transmission losses. I can already see many applications for such systems.
The external rotor would also offer a simple mechanism that would allow all the blades to be rotated sideways, so the outer turbine would remain stationary, trail with the wing like a weather cock and protect the inner rotor from damage by extremely high rotation speeds.
In my original design, the blades of the internal rotor redirect air vertically, along the axis.(Is this useful?)
An interference pattern between two concentric rotors would minimize the drag, produced by the wind, as the blade is traveling against the direction of the wind, on the opposite side of the vertical wind turbine. (a drawback of a conventional vertical wind mill design)
I had a dream about this wind turbine once, a vision stuck in my head since.
I see that this approach may allow for a very cheap wind turbines to become available.
One of the major advantages of building such wind turbine turbine that I perceive is that the central rotor would be a higher precision, smaller diameter part that would rotate at faster speeds, while the outer rotor would be a less precise, the blades would be made out of stretched vinyl banner fabric, directing the wind at higher velocities to the inner turbine. This, by itself is not a unique idea.
The turbine would generate electricity while also bringing revenue through billboard advertisements.
However, at lower breeze speeds it would be allowed to freewheel and to capture slower winds.
I don't know what the optimal load ratios on each turbine would be for each wind speed.
The adjustment of load for each individual turbine would allow the generator to achieve the same effect that the angle of change of the blades achieves in a conventional horizontal wind turbine, yet at a lower cost with a smaller number of precision parts that require balancing.
I also see that such wind turbines can phase out commercial billboards.
The outer blades would be designed so advertisement can be readable at low wind speeds.
With appropriate strobe lighting, synchronized to illuminate a specific vinyl fabric turbine blade with a design, such device could become an impressive advertisement for green businesses, an animated advertisement, consisting of several frames, with each frame printed on a vinyl banner, resembling a blade.
If this idea has a practical application, I would like it to remain in the public domain.
I would like to ensure that all profits generated from such advertising would go towards research and development of renewable energy systems and sustainable living products.
I have some drawings in my notebook and some 3D models of the internal rotor that are not very presentable.
I would like to build everything with straight blades and experiment with generator loads before I consider anything else.
I would like to print it on a 3D printer in segments that would fit inside the 3D printer. Possibly, I would like to make the inside rotors so each has its own bearings and so that they interlock, once I slide them onto a shaft.
The stator would be built
The experimental design that I intend on building would vary from the concept design since 3D printing offers its limitations.
I am still not sure about how I would construct the outer squirrel cage of the outer rotor and how I would couple it to it's generator.
It is very likely that I would use the motors that are sold for electric bicycle conversion, as generators since they seem to offer very desirable characteristics.
I would like to read some pros and cons of this design before I move ahead with building this project.
Thank you.
--Vladimir Tolskiy