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DIY garden windmill. How to make a wind farm with your own hands

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You can significantly reduce electricity bills and provide yourself with a backup source of energy in the country by making a wind generator with your own hands.

Buying a ready-made wind generator is economically justified only if there is no possibility of connecting to the power grid. The cost of equipment and Maintenance is often higher than the price of kilowatts that you will buy from the utility company over the next few years. Although, when compared with the use of gasoline or diesel generators of low power, here an environmentally friendly energy source wins in terms of maintenance costs, noise level, and the absence of harmful emissions. Temporary lack of wind can be compensated by using batteries with a voltage converter.

A wind turbine assembled using some DIY parts can be several times cheaper than a ready-made kit. If you are serious about making your Vacation home non-volatile, while you don’t want to overpay anyone - a home-made wind generator is the right decision.

Wind generator power

Before starting work, you need to decide whether there is a real need for a powerful wind generator, for example, for cooking, using power tools, heating water or heating. Maybe it's enough for you to connect lighting, a small refrigerator, TV, recharge your phone? In the first case, you need a windmill with a power of 2 to 6 kW, and in the second, you can limit yourself to 1-1.5 kW.

There are also horizontal and vertical wind generators. With a vertical axis, blades of various shapes can be used, these can be flat or curved sheets of metal rotating on extensions. There is a variant with one twisted blade. The generator itself is located near the ground. Since the speed of the blades is low, the engine has a large mass and, accordingly, the cost. The advantage of a vertical design is simplicity and the ability to work in light winds.

This review will address the question of how to make a horizontal wind generator with your own hands. For it you can use Various types available generators and converted electric motors.

The design of the wind generator for 220V:

Electric generator of industrial production.
Blades for a wind turbine and a swivel mechanism on the mast.
Battery charging control circuit.
Connecting wires.
Mounting mast.
Stretch marks.

We will use the engine direct current from "treadmill", it has parameters: 260V, 5A. We will get the generator effect due to the reversibility of the magnetic fields of this type of electric motors.

Necessary materials and accessories

You can easily find all the details in hardware or building stores. We will need:

threaded sleeve of the desired size;
diode bridge, rated for current 30-50A;
PVC tube.

The tail and body of the windmill can be made from the following materials:

Steel profile pipe 25 mm;
masking flange;
Branch pipes;
bolts;
washers;
self-tapping screws;
Scotch.

Assembling the wind generator according to the drawings

The blades of the windmill can be made of duralumin according to the given drawings. The part must be sanded with high quality, while making the front edge rounded and sharpening the back. For the shank, a piece of tin of sufficient rigidity is suitable.

We fix the sleeve to the electric motor, and on its body we drill three holes at an equal distance from each other. They need to be threaded for bolts.

We will cut the PVC tube lengthwise, and we will use it as a sealant between square pipe and generator housing.

We will also fix the diode bridge near the motor using self-tapping screws.

We connect the black wire from the engine to the plus of the diode bridge, and the red to the minus.

We fasten the shank with self-tapping screws to the opposite end of the pipe.

We connect the blades to the hub using bolts, be sure to use two washers and a grower for each bolt.

We twist the sleeve onto the motor shaft counterclockwise, holding the axis with pliers.

We screw the branch pipe to the masking flange using a gas wrench.

It is necessary to find the equilibrium point on the pipe with the fixed motor and shank. At this point, we fix the structure to the mast.

It is desirable to cover all metal parts that may undergo corrosion with high-quality enamel.

A wind generator for a private house should be installed at some distance from the main buildings, the mast must be fixed with steel cable braces. The height depends on the possible strength of the wind, the terrain and artificial obstacles surrounding the power plant.

The electric current after the diode bridge must flow through the control ammeter to electronic circuit battery charging. Directly to such a generator, you can connect low-power incandescent lamps. Charged batteries provide a stable constant voltage. It is recommended to use it for lighting (halogen lamps and LED strips), or bring it to the inverter to get 220V AC and connect any household appliances whose power does not exceed the parameters of the inverter.

The presented photo and video information will give you a better idea of \u200b\u200bassembling a wind generator with your own hands.

Video of making a wind generator with your own hands

Since ancient times, mankind has been using the power of the wind for its own purposes. Windmills, sailing ships are familiar to many, they are written about in books and historical films are made. Nowadays, the wind power generator has not lost its relevance, because. with it, you can get free electricity in the country, which can come in handy if the lights turn off. Let's talk about homemade windmills that can be assembled from improvised materials and available parts at a minimum cost. For you, we have provided one detailed instruction with pictures, as well as video ideas for several more assembly options. So, let's look at how to make a wind generator with your own hands at home.

Assembly instructions

There are several types of wind turbines, namely horizontal, vertical and turbine. They have fundamental differences, their pros and cons. However, the principle of operation of all wind generators is the same - wind energy is converted into electrical energy and accumulated in batteries, and from them it goes to human needs. The most common type is horizontal.

He is familiar and recognizable. The advantage of horizontal wind turbine is more high efficiency compared to others, since the blades of a windmill are always under the influence of air flow. The disadvantages include a high requirement for wind - it must be stronger than 5 meters per second. This type of windmill is the easiest to make, so home craftsmen often take it as a basis.

If you decide to try your hand at assembling a wind turbine with your own hands, here are a few recommendations.

You need to start with the generator - this is the heart of the system, the design of the screw assembly will depend on its parameters. For this, automobile generators of domestic and foreign production are suitable, there is information about the use of stepper motors from printers or other office equipment. You can also use a bicycle wheel motor to make your own windmill to generate electricity. In general, almost any motor or generator can be used, but it must be tested for efficiency.

Having decided on the energy converter, you need to assemble the gearbox assembly to increase the speed on the generator shaft. One revolution of the propeller should equal 4-5 revolutions on the generator shaft. However, these parameters are selected individually, based on the power and features of your generator and blade assembly. A part from a grinder or a system of belts and rollers can act as a gearbox.

When the gearbox-generator assembly is assembled, they begin to find out its resistance to torque (grams per millimeter). To do this, you need to make a shoulder with a counterweight on the shaft of the future installation, and with the help of a load, find out at what weight the shoulder will go down. Less than 200 grams per meter is considered acceptable. The size of the shoulder in this case is taken as the length of the blade.

Many people think that the more blades, the better. This is not entirely true. We need high speed, and many propellers create more resistance to the wind, since we make them at home, as a result of which at some point the oncoming flow slows down the propeller and the efficiency of the installation drops. You can use a two blade propeller. Such a propeller in a normal wind can spin over 1000 revolutions per minute. You can make the blades of a homemade wind generator from improvised means - from plywood and galvanizing, to plastic from water pipes (as in the photo below). The main condition is that the material must be light and durable.

A light screw will increase the efficiency of the windmill and sensitivity to air flow. Do not forget to balance the air wheel and remove bumps, otherwise, while the generator is running, you will hear howling and howling, and vibrations will lead to rapid wear of parts.

The next important element is the tail. It will keep the wheel in the wind flow, and turn the structure in case of a change in its direction.

To make a current collector or not, it's up to you. This will complicate the design, however, it will save you from frequent twisting of the wire, which is fraught with cable breaks. Of course, in its absence, you will sometimes have to unwind the wire yourself. During the test run of the wind generator, do not forget about safety precautions, spinning blades are a great danger.

A tuned and balanced windmill is installed on a mast, at least 7 meters high from the ground, fixed with spacer cables. Next, no less important node is the storage battery. The most commonly used car acid battery. It is impossible to connect the output of a homemade wind generator directly to the battery; this must be done through a charging relay or a controller that you can assemble yourself or purchase ready-made.

The principle of operation of the relay is to control the charge and load. In the event of a full battery charge, it switches the generator and battery to load ballast, the system strives to always be charged, preventing overcharging, and does not leave the generator without load. A windmill without load can spin up quite strongly and damage the insulation in the windings by the generated potential. In addition, high speeds can cause mechanical destruction of the elements of the wind generator. Next is a voltage converter from 12 to 220 volts 50 Hz for connecting household appliances.

Now the Internet is full of diagrams and drawings, where craftsmen show how to make a wind generator with powerful magnets on their own. Whether they are as effective as they promise is a moot point. But it's worth trying to assemble a wind power plant for your home, and then decide how to improve it. It is important to gain experience and then you can already aim at a more serious device. The freedom and variety of home-made windmills is so vast, and the element base is diverse that it makes no sense to describe them all, the basic meaning remains the same - the wind flow spins the screw, the gearbox increases the shaft speed, the generator outputs voltage, then the controller keeps the charge level on the battery, and with it is already extracting energy for various needs. Here, according to this principle, you can make a wind generator with your own hands at home. We hope that our detailed instructions with photo examples have explained to you how to make a suitable windmill model for your home or garden. We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with the assembly master classes homemade device in video format.

Visual video tutorials

To easily make a wind generator to generate electricity at home, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with ready-made ideas video examples:

Here we have provided all the most simple and affordable assembly ideas. homemade windmill. As you can see, even a child can easily make some models of devices. There are many other homemade options: on powerful magnets, with complex blades, etc. These designs should be repeated only if you have some experience in this matter, you should start with simple circuits. If you want to make a wind generator so that it works and is used for its intended purpose, follow the instructions provided by us. If you have any questions - leave them in the comments.

Payment for electricity today occupies a significant share in the cost of maintaining a home. AT apartment buildings, the only way to save is to switch to energy-saving technologies, and optimize costs for multi-tariff schemes ( night mode paid at discounted prices). And if available personal plot you can not only save on consumption, but also organize independent energy supply for a private house.

This is a normal practice that originated in Europe and North America, and for the last couple of decades it has been actively introduced in Russia. However, equipment for autonomous power supply is quite expensive, payback "to zero" comes no earlier than 10 years later. In some states, it is possible to return energy to public networks at fixed rates, this reduces the payback time. AT Russian Federation to apply for a cashback, you need to go through a series of bureaucratic procedures, so most users of "free" energy prefer to build a wind generator with their own hands, and use it only for personal needs.

The legal side of the issue

A home-made wind generator for a home does not fall under prohibitions, its manufacture and use does not entail administrative or criminal punishment. If the power of the wind generator does not exceed 5 kW, it belongs to home appliances, and does not require any coordination with the local energy company. Moreover, you do not need to pay any taxes if you do not make a profit from the sale of electricity. In addition, a home-made generating windmill, even with such a performance, requires complex engineering solutions: it is easy to make it. Therefore, homemade power rarely exceeds 2 kW. Actually, this power is usually enough to power a private house (of course, if you do not have a boiler and a powerful air conditioner).

In this case, we are talking about federal law. Therefore, before deciding to make a windmill with your own hands, it would not be superfluous to check the presence (absence) of subject and municipal regulatory legal acts that may impose some restrictions and prohibitions. For example, if your home is located in a specially protected natural area, the use of wind energy (which is natural resource) may require additional approvals.

Problems with the law can arise in the presence of restless neighbors. Windmills for the home are individual buildings, so they are also subject to some restrictions:

Varieties of generators

Before deciding how to make a wind generator with your own hands, consider the design features:

According to the location of the generator, the device can be horizontal or vertical

By nominal generated voltage

Typical examples of homemade wind turbines

The device of the wind generator is the same, regardless of the chosen scheme.

Propeller, which can be installed both directly on the generator shaft, and using a belt (chain, gear drive).
The actual generator. This can be a ready-made device (for example, from a car), or a conventional electric motor that, when rotated, generates an electric current.
Inverter, voltage regulator, stabilizer - depending on the selected voltage.
Buffer element - rechargeable batteries that ensure the continuity of generation, regardless of the presence of wind.
Mounting structure: mast, roof mounting bracket.

Propeller

Can be made from any material: even from plastic bottles. True flexible blades significantly limit power.

It is enough to cut cavities in them for wind intake.

A good option is a household windmill from a cooler. You get a ready-made design with professionally made blades and a balanced electric motor.

A similar design is made from a cooler for computer power supplies. True, the power of such a generator is scanty - except to light a lamp on LEDs, or charge a mobile phone.

However, the system is quite functional.

Good blades are obtained from aluminum sheets. The material is available, it is easy to mold, the propeller is quite light.

If you are building a rotary propeller for a vertical generator, you can use tin cans cut lengthwise. For powerful systems, halves of steel barrels are used (up to a volume of 200 liters).

Of course, you will have to carefully approach the issue of reliability. Powerful frame, shaft on bearings.

Generator

As mentioned above, you can use a ready-made automobile, or an electric motor from industrial electrical installations ( household appliances). As an example: a wind generator from a screwdriver. The whole structure is used: engine, gearbox, cartridge for attaching the blades.

The compact generator is obtained from the stepper motor of the printer. Again, the power is only enough to power an LED lamp or a smartphone charger. In nature - an irreplaceable thing.

If you are “on you” with a soldering iron and are well versed in radio engineering, you can assemble the generator yourself. A popular scheme: a wind generator with neodymium magnets. Design advantages - you can independently calculate the power for the wind load in your area. Why neodymium magnets? Compactness with high power.

You can remake the rotor of an existing generator.

Or create your own design, with the manufacture of windings.

The efficiency of such a windmill is an order of magnitude higher than when using a circuit with an electric motor. One more undeniable advantage- compactness. The neodymium generator is flat and can be placed directly in the propeller's center sleeve.

Mast

The manufacture of this element does not require knowledge of electronics, but the viability of the entire wind turbine depends on its strength.

For example, a mast with a height of 10–15 meters requires well-calculated guy wires and counterweights. Otherwise, a strong gust of wind can overwhelm the structure.

If the generator power does not exceed 1 kW, the weight of the structure is not so large, and the issues of mast strength fade into the background.

Outcome

A homemade wind generator is not as complicated a design as it might seem at first glance. Given the high cost of factory products, you can save a lot by making a home wind farm and quite available materials. Given the small cost of creating a windmill, it will pay off quickly enough.

How to make a 220V do-it-yourself wind generator

To provide private house a constant flow of electricity at an average wind speed of 4 m/s is sufficient:

0.15-0.2 kW, which go to basic needs;
1-5 kW for electrical equipment;
20 kW for the whole house with heating.

It should be borne in mind that the wind does not always blow, therefore, with your own hands, a windmill for the house should be provided with a battery with a charge controller, as well as an inverter to which the devices are connected.

For any model of a homemade windmill, the main elements will be required:

rotor - the part that rotates from the wind;
blades, usually they are mounted from wood or light metal;
a generator that will convert wind power into electricity;
a tail that helps determine the direction of air flow (for a horizontal version);
horizontal rail to hold the generator, tail and turbine;
match;
connecting wire and shield.

In the complete set of the shield there will be a battery, a controller and an inverter. Consider two options for how to build a wind generator with your own hands.

Related article:

You are familiar with the problem of power outages, which manifests itself in the flashing of light bulbs. In the article we will talk about how to choose the right 220v voltage stabilizer for your home in order to forget about this problem once and for all?

Features of assembling a wind generator from a washing machine with your own hands

Consider how to make a 220V wind generator with your own hands using an old-style engine.

Table 1. detailed instructions wind turbine from a washing machine with a photo

What needs to be done	Photo example
You should buy neodymium magnets that are mounted in recesses on the motor rotor. The recesses themselves are made on lathe, please refer to the diagram for correct placement.
Glue the magnets with superglue into the prepared recesses. Then, they should be wrapped with paper, and the rest of the space should be filled with epoxy.
Next, we prepare the axis, which is better to order from a turner. Inside the hollow structure there should be room for the cable and a hole for its entry. We mount the holder from an iron rod. For it, we use a grinder, with which we cut off two tubes (fix the generator on them), and weld on the other end.
We turn to the blades, which can be made from 16 cm pipe for outdoor sewerage. In this case, use a jigsaw.
It remains to assemble the wind generator, securing all the elements. To begin with, we attach the generator, blades, rotor and tail to the carrier rail. Do not forget to close the generator with a casing.
The power plant should be attached using a hinge mechanism, and the mast is mounted in concrete base for 4 bolts.
Route the wire to the switchboard.
Connect all elements and perform a performance test.

To make it easier to understand the whole sequence of actions when assembling a wind farm with your own hands from an old one, watch the video:

Features of assembling a vertical wind generator from a car generator with your own hands

When "homemade" people think about how to make 220V wind turbines with their own hands, they most often use car generators as a basis. It is easy to assemble, and for work you will need:

generator 12V from car;
battery;
converter from 12 to 220 W with a power of 1.2 kW;
barrel or bucket aluminum or steel for the blades;
control lamp from the car;
switch;
voltmeter;
copper wires with a cross section of more than 2 mm;
clamp for fastening.

To assemble a vertical wind generator with your own hands, you will need a tape measure and a pencil, a set of keys, an electric drill and a grinder, as well as metal scissors. Detailed installation instructions are given below.

Table 2 Assembly vertical wind generator from a car generator

Action	Image
The prepared metal container must be marked and cut into 4 equal parts, but this must not be done completely. In each part, drill holes for the bolts, which should be symmetrical.
The blades that are not completely cut are slightly bent, the rotation speed directly depends on this process, so decide in advance in which direction the equipment should rotate.
It is necessary to fix the blades on the pulley, and install the generator on the mast using clamps, and also assemble the wiring according to the prepared scheme.
The main thing is to correctly connect the wires to which the battery is connected in the shield, as well as the converter.

To make it easier for you to navigate, watch the video on the option of assembling a wind generator from a car generator with your own hands.

A wind generator made from a car generator can help in a situation where there is no way to connect to a power line in a private house. Or serve as an auxiliary source of alternative energy. Such a device can be made from improvised materials, using the achievements of craftsmen. Photos and videos will demonstrate the process of creating a homemade wind turbine.

There is a huge species diversity of wind turbines and drawings of their manufacture. But any design includes the following mandatory elements:

generator;
blades;
storage battery;
mast;
the electronic unit.

With some skills, you can make a wind generator with your own hands

In addition, it is necessary to think over the control and distribution system of electricity in advance, draw an installation diagram.

wind wheel

The blades are perhaps the most important part of a wind turbine. The operation of the remaining components of the device will depend on the design. They are made from different materials. Even from plastic sewer pipe. Blades from a pipe are easy to manufacture, are cheap and are not affected by moisture. The wind turbine manufacturing process is as follows:

It is necessary to calculate the length of the blade. The diameter of the pipe should be equal to 1/5 of the total footage. For example, if the blade is meter long, then a pipe with a diameter of 20 cm will do.
We cut the pipe with a jigsaw along into 4 parts.
We make a wing from one part, which will serve as a template for cutting subsequent blades.
We smooth out the burr on the edges with an abrasive.
The blades are fixed to an aluminum disk with welded strips for fastening.
Next, the generator is screwed to this disk.

Blades for wind wheel

After assembly, the wind wheel needs to be balanced. It is fixed on a tripod horizontally. The operation is carried out in a room closed from the wind. If the balance is correct, the wheel should not move. If the blades rotate themselves, then they need to be sharpened to balance the entire structure.

Only after the successful completion of this procedure, you should proceed to check the accuracy of rotation of the blades, they should spin in the same plane without skew. An error of 2 mm is allowed.

Generator Assembly Diagram

Mast

An old one is suitable for making a mast water pipe with a diameter of at least 15 cm, a length of about 7 m. If there are buildings within 30 m of the proposed installation site, then the height of the structure is adjusted upwards. For effective work wind turbines raise the blade above the obstacle by at least 1 m.

The base of the mast and pegs for fixing the guy wires are concreted. Clamps with bolts are welded to the stakes. For stretch marks, a galvanized 6 mm cable is used.

Advice. The assembled mast has a considerable weight, with manual installation you will need a counterweight from a pipe with a load.

Alteration of the generator

For the manufacture of a windmill generator, a generator from any car is suitable. Their designs are similar to each other, and the alteration comes down to rewinding the stator wire and making the rotor on neodymium magnets. Holes are drilled in the poles of the rotor to fix the magnets. Install them by alternating poles. The rotor is wrapped in paper, and the voids between the magnets are filled epoxy resin.

car alternator

In the same way, you can remake the engine from an old washing machine. Only magnets in this case are glued at an angle to avoid sticking.

The new winding is rewound along the coil onto the stator tooth. You can make a bulk winding, it's convenient for anyone. How more quantity turns, the more efficient the generator will be. Coils are wound in one direction according to a three-phase scheme.

The finished generator is worth trying out and measuring the data. If at 300 rpm the generator produces about 30 volts, this good result.

Wind turbine generator from a car generator

final assembly

The generator frame is welded from profile pipe. The tail is made of galvanized sheet. The rotary axis is a tube with two bearings. The generator is attached to the mast in such a way that the distance from the blade to the mast is at least 25 cm. For safety reasons, a calm day should be chosen for the final assembly and installation of the mast. The blades under the influence of a strong wind can bend and break on the mast.

To use batteries to power equipment that runs on 220 V, you will need to install a voltage conversion inverter. The battery capacity is selected individually for the wind generator. This indicator depends on the wind speed in the area, the power of the connected equipment and the frequency of its use.

Wind generator device

To prevent the battery from failing from overcharging, you will need a voltage controller. You can make it yourself if you have sufficient knowledge in electronics, or buy ready-made. There are many controllers for alternative energy mechanisms on the market.

Advice. To prevent the blade from breaking in strong winds, a simple device is installed - a protective weather vane.

Wind turbine maintenance

A wind generator, like any other device, needs technical control and maintenance. For the smooth operation of the windmill, the following work is periodically carried out.

Scheme of the wind generator

The current collector requires the most attention. Generator brushes need cleaning, lubrication and preventive adjustment every two months.
At the first sign of a blade malfunction (trembling and imbalance of the wheel), the wind generator is lowered to the ground and repaired.
Once every three years, metal parts are coated with anti-corrosion paint.
Regularly check the fastenings and tension of the cables.

Now that the installation is complete, you can connect appliances and use electricity. At least as long as it's windy.