The inexhaustible energy that they carry with them air masses, has always attracted people's attention. Our great-grandfathers learned to harness the wind to the sails and wheels of windmills, after which it rushed aimlessly across the vast expanses of the Earth for two centuries.

Today I found it for him again useful work. Wind generator for a private house from the category technical innovations becomes a real factor in our life.

Let's take a closer look at wind power plants, evaluate the conditions for their profitable use and consider existing varieties. Home craftsmen will receive food for thought on the topic in our article. self-assembly windmill and devices necessary for its efficient work.

What is a wind generator?

The operating principle of a household wind power plant is simple: the air flow rotates the rotor blades mounted on the generator shaft and creates in its windings alternating current. The generated electricity is stored in batteries and used by household appliances as needed. Of course, this is a simplified diagram of how a home windmill works. In practical terms, it is complemented by devices that convert electricity.

Immediately behind the generator in the energy chain there is a controller. It converts three-phase alternating current into direct current and directs it to charge the batteries. Most household appliances cannot operate on constant power, so another device is installed behind the batteries - an inverter. It performs the reverse operation: it turns direct current into household variable voltage 220 volt. It is clear that these transformations do not pass without leaving a trace and take away quite a decent portion of the original energy (15-20%).

If the windmill is paired with solar battery or another electricity generator (petrol, diesel), then the circuit is supplemented circuit breaker(AVR). When the main current source is turned off, it activates the backup one.

For getting maximum power The wind generator must be located along the wind flow. IN simple systems The weather vane principle is implemented. To do this, a vertical blade is attached to the opposite end of the generator, turning it towards the wind.

In more powerful installations There is a rotary electric motor controlled by a direction sensor.

Main types of wind generators and their features

There are two types of wind generators:

With a horizontal rotor.
With vertical rotor.

The first type is the most common. It is characterized by high efficiency (40-50%), but has an increased level of noise and vibration. In addition, its installation requires a large free space (100 meters) or a high mast (from 6 meters).

Generators with a vertical rotor are less energetically efficient (the efficiency is almost 3 times lower than that of horizontal ones).

Their advantages include simple installation and reliable design. Low noise makes it possible to install vertical generators on the roofs of houses and even at ground level. These installations are not afraid of icing and hurricanes. They are launched from a weak wind (from 1.0-2.0 m/s) while a horizontal windmill needs an air flow of medium strength (3.5 m/s and above). Vertical wind generators are very diverse in the shape of the impeller (rotor).

Rotor wheels of vertical wind turbines

Due to the low rotor speed (up to 200 rpm), the mechanical life of such installations significantly exceeds those of horizontal wind generators.

How to calculate and select a wind generator?

Wind is not natural gas pumped through pipes or electricity that uninterruptedly flows through wires into our home. He is capricious and fickle. Today a hurricane tears off roofs and breaks trees, and tomorrow it gives way to complete calm. Therefore, before purchasing or self-production wind turbine, you need to assess the potential of air energy in your area. To do this, the average annual wind force must be determined. This value can be found on the Internet by request.

Having received such a table, we find the area of our residence and look at the intensity of its color, comparing it with the rating scale. If the average annual wind speed is less than 4.0 meters per second, then there is no point in installing a wind turbine. He won't give required quantity energy.

If the wind strength is sufficient to install a wind power plant, then you can proceed to the next step: selecting the generator power.

If we are talking about autonomous energy supply at home, then the average statistical electricity consumption of 1 family is taken into account. It ranges from 100 to 300 kWh per month. In regions with low annual wind potential (5-8 m/sec), a wind turbine with a power of 2-3 kW can generate this amount of electricity. It should be taken into account that in winter average speed winds are higher, so energy production during this period will be greater than in summer.

Selecting a wind generator. Approximate prices

Prices for vertical domestic wind generators with a capacity of 1.5-2.0 kW are in the range from 90 to 110 thousand rubles. The package at this price includes only a generator with blades, without a mast and additional equipment (controller, inverter, cable, batteries). A complete power plant including installation will cost 40-60% more.

The cost of more powerful wind turbines (3-5 kW) ranges from 350 to 450 thousand rubles (from additional equipment and installation work).

DIY windmill. Fun or real savings?

Let’s say right away that making a wind generator with your own hands that is complete and effective is not easy. Proper calculation of the wind wheel, transmission mechanism, selection of a generator suitable for power and speed is a separate topic. We will give only brief recommendations on the main stages of this process.

Generator

Automotive generators and electric motors from washing machines with direct drive are not suitable for this purpose. They are capable of generating energy from the wind wheel, but it will be insignificant. To operate efficiently, self-generators need very high speeds, which a windmill cannot develop.

Motors for washing machines have another problem. There are ferrite magnets there, but the wind generator needs more efficient ones - neodymium ones. Process them self-installation and winding current-carrying windings requires patience and high precision.

The power of a device assembled by yourself, as a rule, does not exceed 100-200 watts.

IN Lately Motor-wheels for bicycles and scooters are popular among DIYers. From a wind energy standpoint, these are powerful neodymium generators that are optimally suited for working with vertical wind wheels and charging batteries. From such a generator you can extract up to 1 kW of wind energy.

Motor-wheel - a ready-made generator for a homemade wind power plant

Screw

The easiest to manufacture are sail and rotor propellers. The first consists of lightweight curved tubes mounted on a central plate. Blades made of durable fabric. The large windage of the propeller requires hinged fastening of the blades so that during a hurricane they fold and do not become deformed.

The rotary wind wheel design is used for vertical generators. It is easy to manufacture and reliable in operation.

Homemade wind generators with a horizontal axis of rotation are powered by a propeller. Home craftsmen collect it from PVC pipes diameter 160-250 mm. The blades are mounted on a round steel plate with mounting hole for the generator shaft.

Reading time ≈ 4 minutes

You can significantly reduce your electricity bills and provide yourself with a backup source of energy at your dacha by making a wind generator yourself.

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

A wind generator assembled using some do-it-yourself parts can be several times cheaper, ready-made kit. If you seriously decide to make your Vacation home energy independent, but don’t want to overpay anyone - homemade wind generator- correct solution.

Wind generator power

Before you start working, 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, a TV, and 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, you can use blades of a wide variety of shapes; these can be flat or curved sheets of metal rotating on extensions. There is an option with one twisted blade. The generator itself is located near the ground. Since the blade speeds are low, the engine has a large mass and, accordingly, cost. Advantage vertical design is simplicity and ability to work in low winds.

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

Design of a 220V wind generator:

Electric generator of industrial production.
Wind turbine blades and swivel mechanism on the mast.
Battery charging control circuit.
Connecting wires.
Installation mast.
Stretch marks.

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

Necessary materials and components

You can easily find all the parts in hardware or construction stores. We will need:

threaded bushing of the required size;
diode bridge, designed 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;
Pipes;
Bolts;
Washers;
Self-tapping screws;
Scotch.

Assembling a wind generator according to the drawings

Windmill blades can be made of duralumin according to the drawings given. The part must be sanded with high quality, with the front edge rounded and the back edge sharpened. A piece of tin of sufficient rigidity is suitable for the shank.

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

We will cut the PVC pipe lengthwise and use it as a seal between the square pipe and the generator housing.

We will also secure 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 wire to the minus.

We screw the shank with self-tapping screws onto the opposite end of the pipe.

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

We screw the bushing onto the motor shaft counterclockwise, holding the axle with pliers.

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

It is imperative to find the equilibrium point on the pipe with the motor and shank attached. At this point we attach the structure to the mast.

It is advisable to coat all metal parts that may be subject to 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 secured with guy ropes from steel cable. The height depends on the possible wind strength, terrain and artificial obstacles surrounding the power plant.

The electric current after the diode bridge must flow through the control ammeter to electronic circuit charging the battery. Low-power incandescent lamps can be connected directly to such a generator. Charged batteries provide a stable, constant voltage. It is recommended to use it for lighting (halogen lamps and LED strips), or output it to an inverter to get 220V AC and connect any Appliances, the power of which does not exceed the parameters of the inverter.

The presented photo and video information will give you a more clear idea of assembling a wind generator with your own hands.

Video of making a wind generator with your own hands

Amounts to be paid for public utilities, are growing every year. This is especially true for electricity. But not everyone knows that you can literally get it out of thin air, or more precisely, with the help of the power of the wind.

Thanks to which this is possible, they are called wind generators. Purchasing such equipment will not be cheap. However, you can save money by making a vertical windmill with your own hands.

Unlike other methods of generating energy, wind turbines have many advantages, such as:

environmental friendliness
work without fuel
energy saving
easy maintenance
use of an inexhaustible source of energy

In addition, a good windmill will make the house an autonomous point for generating electricity.

There are practically no disadvantages to wind generators, however, they do have minor disadvantages:

high price installations (factory models)
noisiness
excess energy requires additional batteries
power variability

The last drawback is the most significant, however, it can be eliminated by adding batteries to the installation. In addition, the effect of wind generators depends entirely on the variability of weather conditions.

As you can see, a wind generator has more advantages, which indicates the profitability of its use.

Who benefits from it?

There are a lot of types of wind generators, and even more so, subtypes. Which device should be installed on which one depends on the following factors:

local wind speed
device purpose
estimated cost

Before directly installing a wind turbine, you need to think several times about whether the costs will pay off. First, you need to determine the wind speed and direction in the area intended for installation.

There are two ways to obtain this information: yourself or contact your local weather service. The first option will require a portable station, which can be rented or purchased.

Plus independent measurements in their accuracy, however, a full-fledged study will require at least one year. The data obtained from the weather service will have approximate values, but will not require the cost and time for additional calculations.

To install a wind turbine, the annual wind speed must be at least 4.5 m/s-5 m/s.

At values of about 4-5 m/s, the energy generated by an average power generator will be equal to 250 kW-hours per month. This is enough to provide electricity to a house for 3-4 people with heating and hot water. A wind turbine can generate up to 3 thousand kW-hours per year. The cost of installing such a wind generator is approximately 180 thousand rubles.

Creating your own installation is much cheaper. It is worth taking into account the constant increase in electricity tariffs. Thus, a wind generator can be a good alternative source of electricity.

Where to install

Choosing a place to install a wind turbine is one of the most important stages. The best option there will be a free high point. It is important that the wind generator is not located below the level of nearby buildings that will obstruct the wind flow.

Most suitable places for installation of wind generators: steppes, shores of reservoirs, deserts and hills. In such areas, strong and constant winds most often blow.

In apartment buildings or urban environments, you can place the generator on the roof. This procedure should be agreed upon with the relevant authorities. In order to make sure that the vibrations of the windmill will not harm the roof, it is worth studying its design.

To avoid annoying noise from the generator, it should be installed at a distance of 15-25 m from residential buildings.

One of the main parameters of a windmill is the location of the rotation mechanism (shaft) relative to earth's surface. Based on this feature, devices are divided into horizontal and vertical.

The first ones work according to the principle windmill: the mechanism rotates in search of wind and the blades move from the slightest air currents.

This type of device produces a large number of electricity, which will be plenty for a private home.

Wind turbines with a vertical axis of rotation will ideal solution to provide electricity small area or private production.

In addition, such a device has the following advantages:

regardless of wind direction
not affected by weather conditions
works even at low speeds
The blade area is 2 times larger than that of horizontal wind turbines

U vertical wind generator there are also disadvantages: low efficiency and high level noise. But, these disadvantages are insignificant in comparison with the overall benefits of the device.

So, a horizontal windmill can be installed directly on the roof, but a vertical one should be kept at a distance.

How to turn wind into heat

Even a low-power windmill can provide heat for an entire house. One of the easiest to implement is a heating system with natural circulation.

By installing a vertical windmill with your own hands for heating, you can save a decent amount. In addition, when using the system natural circulation together with a wind generator, there is no need to spend money on a pump.

The heating circuit includes:

Boiler
Conductive straight pipe (to deliver heated water)
Radiators
Return pipe (for delivering cooled water back)

The boiler is installed below the level of the entire system. This is necessary to ensure a natural supply of water to it.

Using forward and return pipes, radiators are connected in series, respectively, to the upper and lower parts of the boiler. The water heated in it will be squeezed upward, falling one by one into the radiators.

This system will allow you to significantly save on heating your home. In addition, it will regulate the temperature in the room.

Wind generator components

To construct even the simplest vertical windmill with your own hands (220 V), you need to purchase the main components:

rotor - the moving part of the generator
blades
mast - may have different design(tripod, pyramid)
stator - coils of copper wire are located on it
battery
inverter - converts direct current into alternating current
controller – designed to “brake” the generator when its power exceeds the set value

It is best to use sheet plastic to make blades. Other materials are subject to severe deformation and damage. The larger the area of the proposed part, the denser the plastic should be.

When choosing a material, it is important to make sure that it is high-quality PVC, otherwise you will have to spend money again on new components and make complex calculations.

Thus, to create your own windmill you will not need expensive or rare parts.

Vertical windmill vs horizontal

To understand which wind turbine design works more efficiently, it is worth taking a closer look at the features of each of them. The horizontal generator has the following advantages:

effective in any direction of air flow
takes a lot less space compared to vertical
operates at high speeds even at low wind speeds
has a simple design
doesn't make noise

In addition, horizontal wind generators are made of lightweight materials and can even be installed on a lamppost. When placed along the road, such structures work even in calm weather.

The service life of both types of wind generators is approximately the same. Proper care and maintenance allow them to operate effectively for up to 25 years. In horizontal wind turbines, the main load falls on the hub and bearing assembly. Vertical products experience more pressure on the blades.

The biggest difference between these types of wind turbines is their price. Horizontal ones cost owners similar designs much more expensive.
It is better to use such a windmill in areas with increased turbulence and frequent changes in wind direction. Vertical ones are more suitable for terrain open type with a constant wind speed above 4.5 m/s.

Based on the comparison results, many summer residents choose a vertical type of wind generator.

Preparation of vertical windmill parts

The blades are made from various materials. The main condition is that they must be light.

Most simple option will be the production of blades from PVC pipe.

They are less susceptible to sun rays and are quite durable.

For a vertical windmill, 4 parts are created from PVC and 2 from tin. The latter are cut in the shape of semicircles and attached to both sides of the pipe.

The blades are attached to the frame in a circle. The radius of rotation of the blades will be 690 mm. The height of each blade is 700 mm.

When assembling the rotor, you will need the following parts:

6 neodymium magnets and 2 ferrite
discs with a diameter of 230 mm (2 pieces)

Neodymium magnets should be placed on one disk, and do not forget to change their polarity, alternating during installation. An angle of 60 degrees must be maintained between them, with a diameter of 165 mm. Ferrite magnets should be attached to disk 2 in the same way. Then they need to be filled with glue.

In order to start making the stator, you need to wind 9 coils of 60 turns each. Typically used for this copper wire 1 mm in diameter. The coils are then soldered together as follows:

start 1 connects with end 4
4 – from 7

The second phase is assembled in exactly the same way, only soldering occurs from the second coil, and accordingly, the third phase is soldered to coil 3. A special mold needs to be made from plywood. A piece of fiberglass is placed in it, and then the coils.

The final stage is filling the structure with glue. A day later, the stator is ready for work.

Now that all the parts of the generator are made, they just need to be connected:

Studs will subsequently be present in the upper one. For them you need to make holes (4 pieces). They are designed to smoothly “land” the rotor in place.
Holes are also made in the stator for the bracket.
The lower rotor rests on it (magnets up).
Then the stator is laid.
The second rotor is placed on top with the magnets facing down. The parts are fixed to each other using nuts.

The design also requires detailed consideration. vertical generator. Its main disadvantages include low efficiency and a larger number of parts compared to horizontal ones. On the other hand, such a product can work effectively even in low winds.

A horizontal generator is more reliable because it can withstand strong gusts of wind. The noiselessness of this type of design is also one of its most important advantages. You can even install a horizontal windmill on the roof of a residential building.

Thus, assembling the main parts of the windmill is not very difficult.

Wind generator design

A wind generator consists of a wheel with blades attached to it, a gearbox (converts and transmits torque), a battery and an inverter.
The product structure is assembled as follows:

Preparation of a three-point reinforced foundation.
The mast is made of durable pipes (you can use water pipes). It should carry the rotor higher than the attic.
Screwing the generator to the finished mast.
Attaching the frame with blades to the generator.
Attaching the mast to the foundation and additionally securing it using a brace.

Collection electrical network is also carried out in a certain sequence.

The windmill must produce three-phase alternating current, converted to direct current using a bridge rectifier. To control the charge level, a standard automotive relay is used. An inverter is connected to the battery, which produces 220 VAC.

Thus, the following results are obtained from the operation of the finished windmill at different wind speeds:

5 m/s – 15W
10.4 m/s – 45 W
15.4 m/s – 75 W
18 m/s – 163 W

There are several ways to increase the energy output of a generator. For example, if you increase the height of the mast to 26 meters, the average annual wind speed increases to 30%. At the same time, 1.5 times more electricity is generated. This is ensured by eliminating the influence of buildings and trees on the speed of air flows.

So, in order for a windmill to work efficiently, you need to calculate its design characteristics in advance.

Windmill care

The following procedures are carried out as regular maintenance of the structure:

Lubrication of moving parts (at least 2 times a year)
tightening bolts and electrical connections
checking mechanisms for rust and loose stretch marks
blade breakage control

The most common windmill damage is blade separation. In winter, a crust of ice appears on them. Frequent cleaning will extend the life of the structure.
Parts are painted as needed. Once a year you need to completely inspect the structure for damage.

A homemade windmill is very different in power values from factory-made products. This is due to inaccurate calculations. A horizontal windmill with a theoretical power of 101 W will produce only 90, and a vertical windmill with 69 W will produce about 60.

In order not to be disappointed in low performance homemade design, it is worth manufacturing it with design parameters 2 times higher than necessary.

Thus, assembling a vertical windmill is a fairly simple option for providing a residential building with electricity. This is due to the ease of assembly of the structure, the low cost of the project and the high efficiency of the device. In addition, it requires minimal maintenance and produces electricity constantly. How to make a windmill yourself is shown in the video:

Manufacturing technology for a home wind power plant (simple wind turbine).

Homemade manufacturing technology wind power plants (simple wind turbine) . The need for electricity appears immediately as soon as we become owners garden plot or at home in rural areas. In this case, individual power plants can come to the rescue, both operating on petroleum products and using wind, water energy, etc., but there is nowhere to buy such power plants - they are not on sale. The most environmentally friendly source is wind. One of these power plants can be made manually, for example a wind power plant (WPP). Using a propeller, an electric generator that charges the battery through a rectifier. A wind farm uses a renewable and free source of energy and does not require constant supervision. However, electricity is generated extremely unevenly - only in windy weather. However, small wind power plants (wind turbines) connected to battery, this shortcoming is almost compensated.

Wind power plants As a rule, bladed propeller motors are produced in factories. Unlike rotary bladed wind power plants have the advantage of higher efficiency. But blade motors are much more difficult to make, so if you want to make a wind power generator with your own hands, or, more simply, a home-made wind power station, experts advise making rotary motors.

Rice. 1. Scheme of a rotary wind power plant:

1 - blades
2 - cross
3 --- shaft
4 - bearings with housings
5 - coupling
6 - power rack (channel No. 20)
7 - gearbox
8 - electric generator
9 - stretch marks (4 pcs.)
10 - stairs.

Important: the rotary engine must be raised at least 3-4 meters above the ground. Then the rotor will be in the free wind zone, and interference from nearby buildings will remain below it. , raised above the ground will perform another function - the function of a lightning rod, and for areas with low buildings this is important.

In the design developed by V. Samoilov, the rotor consists of 4 blades, this provides it with more uniform rotation. The rotor is one of the most important parts of a windmill. Its design and dimensions of the blades play a special role - the power and rotation speed of the shaft driving the wind power plant gearbox depend on their location and design. The larger the working area of the blades, which form a streamlined surface, the lower the number of rotor revolutions.

Rice. 3. Double deck rotor wheel:

1 - bearing
2 - bearing housing
3 - additional shaft fastening with four braces
4 - shaft.
The rotor rotates due to aerodynamic asymmetry. The wind blowing across the rotor axis “slides” from the rounded part of the blade and enters its opposite “pocket”. The difference in the aerodynamic properties of the round and concave surfaces creates thrust, which rotates the rotor. This engine has more torque. The power of a rotor with a diameter of 1 m exceeds the power of a propeller with three blades with a diameter of 2 m.
When there are gusts of wind, rotary wind turbines operate more stably than screw ones. And another important fact is that the rotors operate more smoothly, make less noise, and operate in any wind direction without additional accessories, but the downside is that their rotation speed is limited to 200-500 rpm.
But increasing the speed of the asynchronous generator will not increase the voltage. Therefore, we will not consider automatically changing the angle of the rotor blades for different wind speeds.
Eat different types rotary wind power plants which you can do yourself. Here are some of them:

Examples of rotary wheels.

Four-blade rotor wind wheel, efficiency up to 15%. A two-tier rotor wheel is easier to manufacture, has a higher efficiency (up to 19%), and also develops a higher number of revolutions compared to a four-bladed one. But, in order to maintain the reliability of the installation, it is advisable to increase the shaft diameter. The Savonius rotor has a lower number of revolutions compared to a two-blade rotor. Its efficiency does not exceed 12%. Such an engine is mainly used to drive piston units (pumps, pumps, etc.). A carousel wind wheel is one of the simplest designs. This rotor is capable of developing relatively low speeds and, having a low power density, has an efficiency of no more than 10%.

We'll consider wind power station that you can make yourself, assembled on the basis of a four-blade rotor. Wind energy can also be used as wind pump for water, as a separate installation or combined with a power plant.

Wind wheel blades can be made from iron 100, 200 liter barrel. It must be cut with a grinder; it is not recommended to cut the barrel using any welding, since the properties of the metal along the cutting seam change greatly. The edges of the manufactured blade can be strengthened by attaching reinforcement bars or strips of metal with a diameter of 6 to 8 mm to them.
We fix the blades of the first rotor on two crosspieces with two M12-M14 bolts. The upper cross is made of steel sheet 6-8 mm thick. A gap of 150 mm is required between the sides of the blades and the rotor shaft. The lower cross needs to be made more durable, since it bears the bulk of the weight of the blades. To make it, we take a channel with a length of at least 1 m (this depends on the barrel used), with a wall of 50-60 mm
Mast and main shaft.
In the proposed wind power plant a frame made from a corner for mounting an electric generator is fixed on a stand, which is made of a channel. The lower end of the stand is connected to a square driven into the ground. It is more expedient to assemble the rotor shaft from two components; this will give you convenience when boring its ends for bearings. Bearings (in housings (axleboxes)),
corresponding in size to the shaft, they are mounted on the channel with bolts. The shaft parts are connected to each other. The shaft diameter must be at least 35-50 mm.
To one of the channel shelves homemade wind farm We weld pieces of pipe 500 mm long and 20 mm in diameter, which will serve as a ladder. We dig the stand into the ground at least 1200 mm, and also secure it with 4 guy wires for additional stability. To protect against corrosion, the power plant must be painted with paint based on drying oil.

Rice. 4. Possible schemes for attaching rotors to a vertical shaft:

a, b - carousel wheels;
c - Savonius rotor.
Bottom part of the drawing. Windmill blade made
from 1/4 barrel and cut diagram:
1 - hole for fastening to the crosspiece
2 - side reinforcement
3 - contour of the blades.

We make a wind power station with our own hands in our private home. Let's get acquainted with existing industrial analogues on the market and with the works of folk craftsmen.

Throughout its development, humanity has never ceased to look for cheap renewable energy sources that could solve many energy supply problems. One of these sources is wind energy, for converting it into electrical energy, wind power plants (WPPs), or, as they are more often called, wind power plants, have been developed.

Any person, especially those who have a private or country house, would like to have their own wind generator, providing affordable housing electrical energy. An obstacle to this is the high cost of industrial designs of wind turbines and, accordingly, the payback period is too long for an individual home owner, making its purchase unprofitable. One way out could be to make a wind power plant with your own hands, which allows you not only to reduce the overall costs of its purchase, but also to distribute these costs over a certain period of time, since the work is carried out over quite a long time.

In order to make a wind power plant, it is necessary to determine whether weather use wind energy as a constant source of energy. After all, if wind is rare in your area, it is hardly worth starting the construction of a homemade wind power plant. If everything is fine with the wind, it is advisable to find out the general climatic characteristics and, in particular, wind speed, with its distribution over time. Knowing the wind speed will allow you to choose the right wind power plant design and make it yourself.

Kinds

Do-it-yourself wind power plants are classified according to the location of the axis of rotation and are:

with horizontal arrangement;
with vertical arrangement.

Installations with a horizontal axis are called propeller-type installations and are the most widespread due to their high coefficient useful action. The disadvantage of these installations is their more complex design, which makes it difficult homemade options manufacturing, the need to use a mechanism for following the direction of the wind and the high dependence of the work on the wind speed - as a rule, these installations do not work at low speeds.

Installations with a vertical arrangement of the working shaft are simpler, unpretentious and little dependent on wind speed and direction - orthogonal with a Darrieus rotor and rotary with a Savonius rotor. Their disadvantage is their very low efficiency, about 15%.

The disadvantage of both types of homemade wind power plants is the low quality of the generated electricity, which requires expensive options to compensate for this quality - stabilizing devices, batteries, electrical converters. IN pure form Electricity is only suitable for use in active household loads - incandescent lamps and simple heating devices. For food household appliances Electricity of this quality is not suitable.

Structural elements

Structurally, regardless of the location of the axis, a home-made full-fledged wind power plant should consist of the following elements:

a device for orienting a wind turbine in the direction of the wind;
gearbox or multiplier for transmitting rotation from the wind engine to the generator;
DC generator;
Charger;
rechargeable battery for storing electricity;
inverter for converting direct current into alternating current.

Features of choosing a current source

One of the complex elements of a wind power plant is the generator. The most suitable for DIY production is a DC electric motor with an operating voltage of 60-100 volts. This option does not require modification and is capable of working with equipment for charging a car battery.

The use of an automotive voltage source is complicated by the fact that its nominal rotation speed is about 1800-2500 rpm, and this rotation speed at direct connection no wind turbine design can provide. In this case, the installation must include a gearbox or multiplier of a suitable design to increase the rotation speed to the required size. Most likely, this parameter will have to be selected experimentally.

A possible option could be a reconstructed asynchronous motor using neodymium magnets, but this method requires complex calculations and turning work, which is often not acceptable homemade work. There is an option with phase-to-phase connection of capacitors to the motor windings, the capacitance of which is calculated depending on its power.

Manufacturing

Considering that the efficiency of a power plant with a horizontal axis has better efficiency indicators, and the uninterrupted supply of electricity is supposed to be ensured by storing energy in a battery, it is preferable to manufacture this type of wind turbine with your own hands, which we will consider in this article.

In order to make such a power plant with your own hands, you will need the following tool:

electric arc welding machine;
set of wrenches;
set of metal drills;
electric drill;
a hacksaw for metal or an angle grinder with a cutting disc;
bolts with a diameter of 6 mm with nuts for attaching the blades to the pulley and aluminum sheet to a square pipe.

To make a wind power plant with your own hands, you will need the following materials:

plastic pipe 150 mm long 600 mm;
aluminum sheet measuring 300x300 mm and thickness 2.0 - 2.5 mm;
metal square pipe 80x40 mm and length 1.0 m;
pipe with a diameter of 25 mm and a length of 300 mm;
pipe with a diameter of 32 mm and a length of 4000-6000 mm;
a copper wire long enough to connect an electric motor located on a 6 m long mast and the load that will be powered by this current source;
DC motor 500 rpm;
pulley for an engine with a diameter of 120-150 mm;
12 volt battery;
car battery charging relay;
inverter 12/220 volts.

The DIY manufacturing process is carried out in the following order:

Further, during the operation of the installation, it may be necessary to change the size and configuration of the blades, the gear ratio between the wind engine and the generator - each wind generator made by yourself is individual due to the use of different components and wind generation conditions. Initially, it is recommended to manufacture a wind power plant of small power, at which the received information can be processed without investing a large amount of money.

DIY wind generator drawings. Possible options for making wind generators with your own hands