It is possible that you have ever wanted to install renewable energy in your home and have not decided because of the price and the investment cost. The insecurity of investing in something that you do not know if it is going to bring you benefits is something difficult to cope with. However, here we bring you today a solution to your problems. If you can't invest, why not make renewable energy yourself? In this article we are going to teach you how to have wind energy in your home. To do this, we are going to see how to build a step by step homemade wind turbine.
Do you want to learn all about it? Read on to find out.
Build a homemade wind turbine
For those who do not know well what a wind turbine is, it is an electricity generator that works through the force of the wind. It is a device that has blades like those of a fan that are moved by the speed at which the wind blows and is capable of transforming that Kinetic energy in electrical energy to satisfy our demand.
As you can see, it is not an energy that pollutes, so it enters into the world of renewables and sustainable development. With this, we can contribute our grain of sand in the world of renewables without the need for investment costs and the initial insecurity that invades everyone who tries to establish renewable energy in their home.
For all this, we are going to go step by step explaining what it takes to build it.
Necessary materials
For the construction of our homemade wind turbine we will need the typical tools that we find in a workshop. In addition, we will need an arc welder, which we will use to fabricate the brackets and the anchor turret and a dremel, used to cut more precisely the propellers of the homemade wind turbine.
One of the key pieces that we must use is the alternator. A car alternator is perfect to build our homemade wind turbine. The most important materials are these three: the propellers, the alternator and of course the wind. Without the force of the wind we will not have any type of electrical energy.
The most recommended is a truck alternator or similar. In other words, what matters most is size. The bigger the alternator, the better. As each alternator has a characteristic curve, we can know the amperage it has. This is how we will look for that slower alternator and we will add a multiplication thanks to a large pulley that we will put on the mill and a small one that we will put on the alternator. This way we will ensure that the wind does not blow too hard to start generating electricity.
You have to know well the consumption that you will have at home and seek to generate something else through the so-called phantom consumption. It is about the Stand by of many devices that have an LED, such as televisions.
Suppose we assemble our homemade wind turbine on a day with little wind. We have to see how much energy the wind turbine will supply us with with a smaller wind regime in order to guarantee supply. We cannot hope for our energy consumption on those days when it is quite windy, because we will not know exactly when they will be.
Assembling the propellers
We are going to describe how to assemble the second important element of our homemade wind turbine, the propellers. There are numerous types of wind turbines with different types of propellers. There are those that work with two, three and up to four or more propellers. This depends entirely on the speed of the wind in the area where we live. The alternator used will also determine the number of propellers.
If we use propellers with a good aerodynamic profile, we can have good performance at high speeds but we will have very little starting torque. This means that we will not be able to take advantage of the electricity that the weaker winds give us. What we have to take into account is that, if the wind regime in your area is smaller, more propellers will be needed to compensate.
To make the propellers, we will take advantage of the PVC pipes used in plumbing. They are fairly inexpensive, plentiful, and spare parts can be made at any time. An important advantage of these tubes is that they are already curved, so it will not be necessary to complicate to be able to make the propellers. When cutting, it is better to use the Dremel and PVC cutting blades for more precision when making cuts.
Now we will need to choose the materials for the propeller plate. The best thing to start with is a round wooden plate where we will screw the propellers. In this way we can modify the design of the wind turbine at any time by being able to remove and fit the necessary propellers. Once you are clear about the design you want to achieve, you can buy it in CNC aluminum to connect the transmission belt.
Commissioning of the homemade wind turbine
A cheap battery charger can be used to make the electrical connections. It is important to buy good batteries that will help us store as much energy as possible.
What we have left is to build the turret where the wind turbine will be installed. For this, we use galvanized steel poles that are used for the installation of antennas. You can use some cords to tie it so that it does not move when there is extreme wind. The cables used in the installation can be put inside the tube so that they do not suffer from erosion or can be damaged by the weather.
The mounting of this turret must be done on a pivoting base. By placing a rudder on the tail, it will be able to orient itself in the direction of the wind without problems and it will be possible to have more energy with the same wind.
I hope that with these tips you can build your own homemade wind turbine. Entering the world of renewables is always a good option. Apart from being an economical energy, you will be contributing to the reduction of pollution and the depletion of natural resources.