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Forum Index : Windmills : wind mill walks outof wind
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isaiah Guru  Joined: 25/12/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 303 |
Hi I have a problem I need some help or advice. I bought a Graham permanent magnet dc motor 90 volt dc @ 1200 rpm which we figure it should give useful voltage at around 200 rpm. The little Graham is 22 lbs! 4 big magnets inside, I have a mill with 180 volt dc pm Dayton motor and I made a set of blades for it very similar to the hyper spin 5's 28 inch. (out of 10 inch pvc ) but due too the hub already drilled for 6 blades I made 6 these seem to work pretty good. So for the Graham I added about ¾ inch at the root( also 6 blades) and tapered it out to 1 1/2 inches at 28 inches of length, and cant get this to start up when the wind blows it will find the wind start to turn and walk out. We have seen it yaw around as much as 180 deg and never reach charging speed. This mill is not far from the Dayton and the Dayton will be charging, and the Graham will swing around and just set there. Is this a problem with my tail ? Tail not large enough? Tail to close to motor? Is there a formula to figure tail size and length? I have the Graham set so that about 1/3 of the motor is over the pivot I do not use the slip rings so I bend the wire and tape it under the motor and send the wire down the pivot. Would this have a adverse effect.? The Dayton motor is 14 inches long and is all in front of the pivot , I made the tail and adjusted the length til it balanced. I have used a small heavy duty c clamp to adjust the balance on the Graham but still get the walk out of the wind. The mills can be view here http://www.windynation.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=15&sid=2320 87642bf6e80eacf056163d40056f South West Michigan mills. The Graham is the litle blue motor with a black tail and the blades in the picture are not the ones on it now. Its the mill on top The one with the hyper spin 5s is Bub73's Any help on this project will be appreciated. URL=http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/1973-11- 01/The-Plowboy-Interview.aspx>The Plowboy Interview[/URL> |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5124 |
I think the tail is way to close. I would extent the tail double its current length, and see how that goes. Its a easy test and you wont need to make a new tail fin. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| isaiah Guru Joined: 25/12/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 303 |
Thank You Glenn Im going to try your recomendation as soon as I can The weather is a bit bad for it right now in Michigan and the materials I have built these mills out of are out of my scrap pile. I have to clean up some angle iron so I can extend it. Will post outcome later. Im currently layed off work and money is short. But we are having fun and cutting what the local electric company is gouging me!!! URL=http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/1973-11- 01/The-Plowboy-Interview.aspx>The Plowboy Interview[/URL> |
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| isaiah Guru Joined: 25/12/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 303 |
Hi all I let the mill down today and took the tail off It was at 40 inches. I had a piece of angle iron so the tail now is about 70 inches and back on the mill in freezing weather. All went well the mill back up ready to see what happens and some one turned the wind off! Should I raise the tail fin up higher in the sweep area? The bottom edge of the fin is below the bottom of the generator. Isaiah URL=http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/1973-11- 01/The-Plowboy-Interview.aspx>The Plowboy Interview[/URL> |
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| KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
should be better, keep playing with it until you get the furling about right Luck favours the well prepared |
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| isaiah Guru Joined: 25/12/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 303 |
The update When we got the Graham we could hook up our test light ( a motorcycle LED break light) to it and a spin by hand would light it when I got it up on the mill it started blinking the light rather than steady, so we took it down and dis assembled it . We found one brush sticky and the front bearing iffy , so we replaced the bearing cleaned the brush holders and brushes I took the armature and returned the commutator. we put it back together figuring it to be as good as new but nope this is when the furling problem seem to start. So I lengthened the tail As Glenn recommended, this helped but the mill still didn't turn like I thought it should. Bub 73 asked me if I re undercut the commutator and I said no it had pretty deep groves. He said he read in a old book this is very critical on generators and Dynamos! Well down it came again took it apart and found some small burrs where the lathe cut stopped on the commutator . I cleaned these groves out blew it off good with air hose re assembled and put it back up it seems to be doing what it is supposed to do at this time. With the burrs shorting to the next bar is was trying to turn with the beak on. I think I may shorten the tail some and raise it up some as it is now a lot of the fin is low or below the center line of the motor. This test tower is water pipe and all the rest is out of my scrap pile the pivot part is a old lawnmower deck quell that I bored out to fit the pipe The tail fin is angle iron and some sheet metal. If the Graham behaves its self Im going to make a mount and tail and put it on a tower near the house so I can hook it in with my solar panels. Our camera went bad or I would post pictures. Thank you all for the help. Isaiah URL=http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/1973-11- 01/The-Plowboy-Interview.aspx>The Plowboy Interview[/URL> |
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Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
You have got to love a happy ending. Its always good to find its a silly little mistake that we made ourself that was the problem and not some inherent fault. Good luck. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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