Direct heat from 1KW turbine

[experimenter]

You may find the experiences I had with this, to be interesting (to a newcomer)
I have set up a website which will be onrunning as it is in the form of a diary.
   The website is - www.windgeneratordiary.com
Hope you can learn something useful from it!

[Ork-NAK]

Well done experimenter!

Good to see something like this and I wish you all the best in your experiments. Nicely chatty site and informative on a practical level.

Neil

PS. If you could break up the text on the diary it would be easier on the eyes!

[Peter.N.]

A man after my own heart! (and a Lady too) I am a retired TV engineer, also a radio ham as is my wife. (G0HET/G1EFX) I was also considering installing the 1kw generator, although looking at our wind speed pattern the 2kw gives a more useful output at low wind speeds. We are in a similar location, 500' asl, open ground, falling away to the South, East and West, but rising to the North. I like your "Steptoe and Son" approach to things, very much like my own, if you can get it at the scrap yard, why pay new prices? The results of your experimentation also provide much useful data. Thanks for publishing your results. I wish you every succsess.

Peter.N.

[JohnA]

Hello Experimenter,

As I am trying to do something very similar to you I found your website very interesting, but as there isn't a way to contact you there I decided to go back to this topic with my question.

You say on one of the pages:

"It was then a matter of making use of the 20-50 volts and this we did by means of a 500 watt 240volt flood lamp which at 30-50 volt glows red and gives approx. 150 watts of heat."

I like the idea of using the floodlamp tube (I have used banks of ceramic resistors) but I'm confused as to how you get so much power. I calculate one lamp would only give about 23W at 50V, so have I misunderstood some subtlety in what you did?

I'm still waiting for the wind to blow here in Brittany as it has been unseasonably calm in the 3 weeks that my turbine has been up, but once things start happening I hope to share my experiences on this site.

John

[johnrae]

Hello Eperimenter
Maybe a dumb question, but how does one get to see your diary
When I open up your specified website all I get are links to other commercial sponsors - and a rather nice photograph

At present I've a 1kw unit tied into a 48v immersion heater via an SCR controller I designed myself - it disconnects the turbine until its running at 50% speed.  I'm not convinced its the bees 'n ees but it works - in a fashion
Many thanks
jack

[Ivan]

The reason that you get more power than expected at low voltage in a lamp is that the resistance is a lot lower when it is not glowing white hot.

I would not recommend using lamps as loads, as they occasionally blow, which leaves you with an unloaded turbine - heaters are therefore prefered.


Ivan

[mikethebee]

Looks that the site referred to has gone, replaced with a parking page.

[Ted]

Well, that original post was over 2 years ago.

[johnrae]

And therein lies one of the problems with today's "advanced" communication technology

Once a link goes dead, all the information lying behind it dissappears

The printed, scribed, chiselled or written word, in whatever script or language on whatever medium, be it rock, clay, wood, leather or parchment has lasted for thousands of years.

In 100 years time, all that's been archived as data on tape, floppies, CDs, DVDs and whatever new techological wonder just around the corner will be in a medium or in a format that's totally inaccessible.

OK , I'm a grumpy old codger but don't say I didn't say my bit

Jack

[Ivan]

Well, yes a multi-million copy published book will survive well into the future, but your local parish magazine etc will disappear from the record within a few months. So written word isn't that useful, either.

A personal website is more akin to someone's notebook - again, something that's 1)unlikely to survive very long and 2)unlikely to be seen by more than 1 or 2 people.


There is a way of tracing websites that have gone - The Wayback Time Machine - but unfortunately, the website in question isn't listed (I've just checked)

[johnrae]

I don't recall more than one edition of the dead sea scrolls being published and yes pogrons, fire and pestilence can destroy the written word but it's been a darned sight more enduring than the current systems
Jack

[rob26440]

In the current doom, gloom, finger-pointing, "it wasn't me/sloping shoulders" and backside coverings of the recession, I wonder how many web pages, databases and emails in the financial sector and government have been tidied up (in the public interest, of course) or should I say "disappeared"?  Or am I just being cynical?

[camillitech]

I don't recall more than one edition of the dead sea scrolls being published and yes pogrons, fire and pestilence can destroy the written word but it's been a darned sight more enduring than the current systems
Jack

    

That put a smile on my face after a somewhat sandy day,

Thanks Paul

[Seanchai]

Hello,

I have: Two 48 Volt Windturbines 900V at 26mph, about 18Amp/hr. Three cables (AC) rectified to DC feeding a battery bank of 200Amp. All fused, dioded and switched. The battery bank is feeding a 1kWh resistor for heat.
I don't need electricity DC or AC, I need heat. (and later hot water)

I'm fed up with LDR's who don't work and lack of easy to install shunt regulators to controll the difference between maximum 55Volt - 40Volt. Experts say that the battery bank should live for ever and the power from them should never be out of the maximum.

What I want is a "pulse width modulated load diversion regulator", inpout AC and output DC directly into the 1kWh resistor giving me heat 24 hours a day according to the windspeed.

Who can help me??
Hubert.

[billi]

Hi Hubert

I don't need electricity DC or AC

Why you have then a  battery ? And such a small one  ( is it 200 AH at 48 volt?) 

And not just a direct windgenerator to heat idea ?  With a device  that is supposed for heating

Two 48 Volt Windturbines 900V at 26mph, about 18Amp/hr

  Must be a quite steady wind source to allow you to say 18Amp/hr ?       Or did you mean 18 A  at 48 volt  when wind is at 26mph ?  Or can i ask about your wind generators are they rated 1 kw each at 12 m/s ?

Billi


Ampere and Ampere hours  are two different socks