After actually taking notice of wind speeds and seasons, and being exposed to wind power in general for the last year I have come to the conclusion that we are designing our turbines for too high a cut in. Lets face it, the posted winds speed for the nation are for 30 meters up. I don't have a tower 100 foot high. If the wind is less than 10 mph 90% of the time and over 10 mph 10% of the time , it seems to me that I would rather charge my batteries than dump it all. I would rather charge my batteries instead of watch as my turbine spins for no reason <10mph(because cut-in is too high). Also the wind strength (due to speed and density) is more in the winter and less in the summer. Heavy air at a higher speed pushes with greater force. I want my turbine to charge my batteries when the wind is 3 mph and up to 20 mph. (which is 90% of the time). Wouldn't that make more sense than the way we design our turbines now? I will be designing my turbines to take advantage of the low wind and dump it during the 10% high wind periods. I may be full of it but that's what I see. Discussion is welcome.
You are not full of it. If this is what you have . Then design your turbines for what you have. So you can harness the most for your conditions.
You won't get much argument from me. Consistent energy is more valuable than bursts of energy. If you size everything for the 10% wind you need heavier cables, bigger batteries, and more expensive electronics. In addition, the bigger batteries draw more power in self-discharge; although, one could just feed the ever hungry grid. But, there isn't much power in a 3 mph wind and you'd need an enormous turbine to get any appreciable power out of it. There might be some happy medium like between 6 mph and 20 mph.
I'm thinking "if it spins it should generate power" no matter that its microamps, but power is power and if that thing is spinning I want it to do work. I watch all summer as my hawt spins and spins but does it do anything ? Yes......it wears out the bearings, that's it. If I can get above 12 volts in 3 mph wind then I'll be pushing those electrons back into the battery, a very little , yes but the amp meter will say + not -.
Here's what I came up with. A very simple circuit that features a "Bridge Doubler " circuit that can be switched to 1X or 2X. During turbine start up it is in the voltage doubler mode (2X), when the turbine is producing charging voltage on it's own it switches to the regular full wave mode (1X). An over speed shutdown circuit shorts the PMA if it's a stormy day. All lines in red have been tested. I have to find the right value of zeners to test the rest. If someone can tell me how to post pictures to this I will.
frenchie, Sounds like you have the same issues I have. I got wind that will remove my BBQ cover with garden rocks on it. Forget the A/C cover too. So I bought the biggest and best blades, from Windy Nation of course, a Windblue thing, put it about 15 feet in the air and guess what. Not a thing. All I got out of that was scared S----less because that thing was spinning in all the wrong ways. I’m not sure just how strong those shafts are, and I didn’t need someone getting hurt. I have determined I have the Chicago style flash mob wind. Not very productive at all. So I went to the easier on the eye, but very inefficient Verticals. They can use the flash mob wind better too. I hope you figured out how many square feet of surface you have there, and that will give you a idea of how many milliwatts you just might see. You also might want to make your own alternator, lose the iron cores, and go air core. I have a new set of wings being glued and painted, and a new idea for an alternator. My goal is to light one led on the outdoor Christmas tree.
