Vertical Wind Generator From An Old Fan

A 775 DC motor is what you find in a drill

[nonelost]

Bob, your positive energy is contagious! Idea, attach wind sockets at both ends, and mount it horizontally on a pole that allows it to rotate. This way it will always be oriented perpendicular to the wind, so that the squirrel cage spins all the time when it’s blowing outside.

[tinkmarshino]

you just make me chuckle.. I used to do all of these things as a young man.. and now as an old man I am doing it again.. I have always been one that just hated to throw thing aways.. Some called me a pack rat but I could whip up whatever someone needed quickly any time they had a need.. then I became more successful and had more money than time and I more or less left that behind.. not totally but anyway.. now I have all the time in the world and a lot of great things to play with.. just need an idea to start me out.. You always have the grand ideas and you are teaching me how to play again.. What fun I am having now.. thanks Rob..

[lomein]

This is EXACTLY what i was looking for, thank you! Took a while to find this, but all i needed to see was the thumbnail, and i trusted right away!

[clavo]

Wonderful video. I helped a guy put up a 60 ft' (about 20 meter) tall vertical wind generator. It was 4' in diameter (1.2M) we used it to store compressed air to drive an induction AC motor that was plugged into the home line. When you try to overspin the motor via a compressed air motor it becomes an in phase AC generator. That was back in 1983 or so.

[Pathos]

I love how you refer to everything as bits and pieces, I always get a good chuckle. I love your channel, been going through all of your videos.

[JSabh]

There is a pressure envelope that is formed at a certain speed with a VAWT ( vertical axis wind turbine ) and that means reduction gearing is a way to get more out of the turbine. The reason most wind turbines are horizontal is because they can over speed. The issue is that, while you do get more current out of the same wind with a horizontal axis, you also get exploding turbines and a much more expensive turbine as opposed to the VAWT, not to mention the extra maintenance cost. Your on the right track with the vertical system if you incorporate reduction gearing as well as a housing to guide the wind, like a sail does for my sailboat ( a reduction gear for the wind you could say). Great vid Rob.

[pakde]

I can see a horizontal application set at the end of a funnel with a vertical fin on top on the back end over the fan, all set on a free turning base to orient it directly into the wind at all times. it could be attached in a fixed position to the top of a travel trailer to get use of the wind while traveling and then a removable pin could allow the base to turn freely at the camp site. Great for places that don't get enough sunlight for solar power.

[tisstuart]

Try building a partial box, shielding the front 1/2 to 2/3rds to the wind and venting the other side. It is counter-intuitive, but the case it came in is still worth using. Though with a small winglet in the way of the input side. It focuses the gusts longer to drive the gen steadier. Then allow the entire thing to spin freely against a pivot point and it becomes an energy generating wind-vane. Put a light on it and stick it on a pole, with a battery, and seal up the electrical connections with spray lacquer. !Abrakadabra ... a parking lot light, or such as that. I am having so much fun watching your videos. As you may have noticed from my comments. I should go join your club. LoL More of the free stuff though, please.

[dikkybee]

This is great to see. I used to work for a science organisation in Australia and we were into electric car technology and I asked one of the engineers about mounting a similar device onto one of the cars we were investigating to generate enough electricity to maybe help with operating some devices on the car that usually took power from the main battery. I was told that it isn't efficient as it added to drag and you would use extra power to move the vehicle. I tried to point out that there are numerous places that you can mount such devices that would not add drag, like wheel arches and other such places, but they would not even consider it. We could have designed much more efficient low drag fans and generators but due to the fact no one would consider it was due to engineers were working on outdated ideas. Considering they add extra weight to said vehicles with useless solar cells that only work when there is sunlight and the sun is in the correct angle to said panel, when you are moving there is always wind to operate the generator. This would be better than solar panels due to the fact you use more power at night and as you have guessed it, there is no sun to be able to use the solar panels. And of course there was no funding to look into this form of generator.

[KiwiNom]

Just letting you know Robert, You are a fantastic educator ^^ thank you!

[southwestelectronics]

I dont know where you got your education, but you sure got your moneys worth. Love the videos !!

[William_Hada]

Awesome idea Rob! Having been addicted for many years of taking things apart before throwing them out, i'd like to share a couple of useful tips. Sometimes screws are hidden under glued-on labels. You may also have to remove rubber plugs of various sorts to find other hidden screws. Happy scavenging!

[cjcrosser]

Great for a campervan 😊👍 brilliant again. I bet it could be fitted with a magnetic base and used when driving at low speed to keep a leisure battery topped up or even led lights battery. Cheers

[mikewinkker]

I love how your smarts makes the things I've been wanting to try but lake the tech skills to try ! I threw away a similar vertical heater I was eyeballing for that very reason . Well done and charge on!

[micklee]

Wish I had discovered your teaching before now. Thankyou very much.
Peace and good luck in the coming times.

[chrisstevens]

I'm sure this video will GENERATE a lot of interest!

[benjaminmellen]

I have been thinking to put this into a kind of chimney where, when there's no wind, you create a draft by heating part of it with a mirror-solar-arrangement or some other method... the fans are protected from weather, you might even be able to put several fans "in line"?! I love it

[Jimsouthern]

I love looking back at these older videos. "I couldn't build anything as balanced as that"

Gets a 3D printer.

"Nevermind, im going to engineer a revolutionary, new, super accessible and efficient home generation system"

[kreelaban]

The screenshot at 6:15 looks like a horizontal turbine I saw at a school in Israel in 2008. It was about 8 feet in diameter and 25 feet long and powered the school in a 20 km wind. It was fenced and had a ramp coming from the ground up into the bottom of it with a wind deflector on the top half.
It seemed to be very efficient, simple and easy to service as everything was low and nothing to fall on anyone.

[Kiyarose]

Thanks for that, I’ll have to look out for one of those vertical fans, make a perfect VAWG for my balcony!.