Hi All, I have just joined Windy Nation and i'm looking for some advice on a project I am about to build for my studies. I am looking to use an electric ducted fan to be used as a wind turbine in a recirculating ducted air circuit with a guestimated controlled wind velocity ranging between 0 and 0.8 m/s (about 1.8 miles/hour, 160 ft/min). It will have the ability to stay at a constant speed. Guestimated maximum airflow of 60 litres/sec (about 125 ft^3/min) I would like the diameter ducted fan to be about 100mm to 150mm (about 4 - 6 inches) but I am slightly flexible with this size. I am aiming to make this turbine to generate a supply of around 14.4vdc to recharge a 12vdc bank of rechargeable batteries or similar (via a charge regulator/controller of some sort) and then in turn be supplying an Arduino Controller which will control some other circuits for my project. From what I have read online, I should use a Permanent Magnet Motor with a decent Volts-Rpm ratio. So far online I have found a lot of 'Hobby shops' selling EDF's with Brushless DC motors but the ones that are around the size that I want seem to have really high RPM rate. Does anyone have any recommendations for me for an affordable EDF with a suitable motor and relevant fan blade for a wind turbine that would be suitable for my project? I am open to other suggestions also I am based in Europe (hence my use of the metric system) but I am open to buying online and getting the parts shipped to me. Any help will be hugely appreciated. Thanks.
