/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>624259
If you know how an electric (AC) motor works, its exactly the same, but instead of creating a magnetic field to cause rotation, you spin a magnet to create electricity.
more or less you make a magnet spin inside/around a wire.
they're really simple actually
if you're keeping it AC though you have to be careful of the frequency.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternator
to be honest, the most difficult part will be finding the wind

Turbines need a load at all times so they dont spin out of control. Basicalky you are spinning wire with slip rings or magnets through one another. Youtube how to turn a ceiling fan into a turbine. It will explain coil windings and magnet polarity placement. You will also need a battery bank, charger controller, and the charger controller should switch from battery load to a heavy load like a water heater. I could throw a relay flyback diode, transister and arduino mini on that thing for less than a hundered and be done with it. Arduino has easy code examples, you will also need to figure out analog to digital for your batteries to know wheb switch the loads though...... you could also rectify the ac to dc with a rectifier and trickle charge a battery with it. Just remember batteries go bad of over OR undercharged........ next get a solar cell to power the arduino controller... and if you go the arduino route account for high voltage spikes when you first charge a battery on AtoD measuring for the controller.... heh hope I left you enough bread crumbs to follow

where do you think Manziel will be drafted?>

>>624317
The rockets, which sucks because I'm from Dallas :/

>>624422

Rockets will be unstoppable. Jim Manziel and Tom Duncan FTW

>>624259
The basic idea is to reverse an electromotor circuit, so instead of using electricity to create a magnetic field and making something spin, you spin it to change the magnetic field and create electricity. so basicly: electromotor, diode and a battery...
so there you have the basics for an ideal situation BUT: as >>624301 said: overcharging, undercharging, controllability...
you need a rectifier ( depending on the voltage you can use different systems... zener, transistor,... ) and maybe a way to start the turbine to overcome static friction... wich is higher than the kinetic friction... tell me if you need more, i made one a month ago, a small 9 volt , 1.5 meter diameter

>>624972
did you use an ac or dc motor?

gig 'em baby

BTW congratulations on upper level admission, try to take tyler for 215

also, have fun with fluids, solid mechanics, dynamics, and ALL THAT SHIT in general, lol

>>626139
Both work actually, an AC is universal ( fun thing to know how they work, look it up its genius )

>>624259
Btw, sophomore is second, right ? And you did not yet learn circuits ? What have you done previous year ?

>>624972
do you have a forum you follow for this? Not OP but I live in Rapid City, SD and the wind there is constant and at least 20mph

>>624259
There's a few ways you can do this. AC, DC, powered stator coil, etc. I prefer a PM motor or DIY genny. You'd need a powered stator coil for something like a car alternator or washer/dryer motor, unless you want to rewind them, which is a super pain. I recommend a DIY one instead. Just magnets and coils. Simple and easy.

For breaking, just use a heater shunt. That way when there's too much voltage when it starts to spin too fast or no battery array hooked up it'll shunt it off and keep the turbine from spinning out of control.

Things to research, wind turbine, rectifier, shunt, charge controller, and battery array. A smoothing cap array is nice too.

I have a mutli-source charging system, but not 100% DIY. I use a bridge rectifier so motors can spin in any direction and still give a good charge. I use it for bicycles, hand cranks, and ind turbines both VAWT and HAWT. It uses a solar charge controller that hooks to the battery array and can charge for 12v, 24v, and 48v arrays.

>>624259
I thought Texas A&M was supposed to be a good school

>>626662
studying engineering so I learn everything at school
just look things up, as >>626669 said
some keywords come in handy.

and you need some basic electric formulas and understanding. it will take some time to think it all out but it's a great excercise to get used to the practical side of mechanics and electrical circuits !

>>626723
>Texas A&M
Okies would dispute Texas A&M's renown reputation.