How to Build a Wind Turbine

A wind turbine is essentially a device that rotates and generates power that converts kinetic energy into mechanical energy. The latter can be used to run a water pump at home or at the factory site with a wind farm. The use and storage of wind energy to run simple machines saves on energy bills. It is easy to build and addresses the environment issues relating to machinery that run on electric power generation effectively.

Building a Wind Turbine

Wind turbines can be used to distribute energy derived from wind to run a turbine design. The design of a residential wind turbine is easy and the following steps are intended to offer the necessary guidance:

Essentials:

• Wood, for frame construction
• Bearings
• Magnets
• Copper wire for winding
• Rods
• Nuts and bolts
• Inverter
• Battery
• Paper and pencil to maintain a rough sketch of the design

Blades

Use wood planks of desired dimensions to design the blades. A thickness of 25mm is most suitable, at the end. With a hammer and chisel, you can give the blades the required finishing touches. Power tools designed for home use make the task less cumbersome. You need to chart the dimensions of each blade and work along the planks to achieve the measurements and flatness desired. The blades then need to be set flat on a rotor and for this you could use double-sided tape. Little chiseled stumps support the under side of each blade, as you plan the rotors.

Rotors

Basically, two magnet rotors need to be designed. You need to coil the winding wire between two magnet discs. You could consider a dozen magnets on each disk. You need to consider the dimensions of the milling cutter prior to even attempting to drill holes for the magnets. The magnets can then be held in place with a strong resin. You could choose between MDF, iron, stainless steel and wood to make the rotor discs. The magnet rotor then needs to be drilled to accommodate a 6004 bearing. Once the two rotors are ready, they may or may not be lacquered. However, the use of a lacquer finesse does offer aesthetic appeal. Support bearings should be placed on either side of the shaft. The magnet rotor should be sketched and designed to hold at least 12 magnets. The magnetic poles on either rotor need to attract the magnets on the opposite one. Alternating pairs of opposites while setting the magnets helps a lot and saves time later, if the need arises to undo what is already secured. The hole in the center of the two rotors secures the stator. You need to ensure that the weight of the rotors is efficiently carried by the bolts, for proper balancing.

Stator

In order to make the stator, you need to work on a number of copper wire turns to charge the chosen battery strength, which should ideally be a 12V. A series of coils in parallel groups could also be considered. Winding the coils takes little or no effort and is more fun than project work. However, you should target uniformity for at least 200 turns, each coil. The stator then needs to be screwed down onto a board, while positioning the coils. The joints need to be secured in place with resin for the components to function smoothly. Set the renewable energy generating design on the testing stick and watch the battery and inverter harness wind energy every time the turbine swings into action!