EolEcole - Fully Functional Wind Turbine

This model allows you to create and assemble a model fully fonctionnal wind turbine that generate electricity ! 

It does not rely on an existing motor and the instructions include the wiring of the generator that can be customized.

It is the perfect introduction to electricity generation for STEM project and a stepping stone to building a household sized turbine.

The original model has been developed by EolEcole. This is the translated instructions.
Link to the original

Link to Onshape Assembly

The Education Kit

The wind turbine kit is an educational tool for learning how a wind turbine works.

Components

Full kit including all the components required for the turbine with or without the 3d printed parts can be ordered by sending an email to [email protected].

The turbine is producing a 3 phase AC current, the electronic card is transforming this 3 phases AC current into a DC current.

Here is the component list:

• Turbine:
  • 4x neodyme magnets 40x20x5mm
  • ~200g of 0.4mm enameled copper wire
  • 2x 608 SKF bearings
  • 1x M8x150mm threaded rod
  • 8x M8 nuts
  • 1x 20x20x40 mm carbon steel extrusion
    
    The carbon steel is used to “guide” the magnetic field. It might be possible to replace it with a 3D printed part if necessary but it will impact the performance of the turbine.
  • 1x PVC Pipe D32mm x 220mm minimum
  • 12x Banana Sockets
• Electronic
  • Documentation needed, refer to https://www.eolecole.fr/kits-p%C3%A9dagogiques/carte-%C3%A9lectronique-basique/

Assembly

Rotor Assembly

Be VERY careful when handling magnets!

They give off an extremely powerful magnetic flux (enough to demagnetise a smart card or damage a mobile phone) and are quite fragile. During the manufacture of a wind turbine, many people have hurt themselves by pinching their finger or hand between two magnets carelessly left on a table. As well as being a real challenge to get two neodymium magnets unstuck, they can break as they attract each other. We would therefore urge you to be extremely careful when handling magnets with energetic young people!

Place the four magnets around the steel tube, so that the North and South poles alternate. (Naturally, they will position themselves in this way, but it is worth checking with another magnet). If you have ferrite magnets (which are thicker and less powerful than neodymium magnets), you may need to glue them in place with a strong glue dot: the latest tests on the kit show that they come loose when the wind turbine is running at high speed. 

To assemble the rotor, the idea is to have two bolts to secure the steel tube (and magnets) to the threaded rod. Two bolts to fix the propeller and the last two bolts to fix one of the two bearings. In this way, one of the bearings is free to move around on the threaded rod, and this is optimal for minimising friction. 

To do this:

• Place the Hexagon plug and the Circle plug at both ends of the steel tube.
• Insert a bolt into the recess in the Hexagon plug.
• Insert the threaded rod into the steel tube until the tube is roughly in the centre of the rod, then place a bolt on the side where there is none.
• Place a bolt, a bearing and then a second bolt on one end.
• Place a bearing on the other end, followed by the first bolt, which will be used to secure the propeller.

Place two coil supports on the two bearings.

For the propeller, place the blades between the front and rear blade noses. The orientation of the blades is important. The flat face is the one designed to receive the wind and the leading edge (the widest) should be slightly further forward than the trailing edge. This is where the wind hits first. You can test different orientations to see which is the most effective.

Be careful with the tips of the blades, as they are particularly fragile. 

Wire Coil

To wind, start by removing the varnish from one end (2/3cm) of the copper wire by rubbing with a blade of some kind. The first connector is then attached to the winder by winding the first end of the copper wire around the threaded part of the connector. In this way, contact is made between the copper wire and the connector (no soldering is required).

You now need to make a large number of turns around the winder. The efficiency of the wind turbine will depend on this number of turns, but the number of turns depends on the size of the copper wire. We recommend aiming for between 50 and 120 turns. You can find more details on the workshop sheet page with the kit. (100 turns weigh just under 15g, so allow at least 180g on the spool at one time). 

Once the coils have been made, you need to cut the wire to the right length to attach the end to the second connector (without forgetting to remove the layer of varnish by scraping it off with a cutter). Repeat the operation for the 6 coils.

They must be exactly the same! The coils must be wound in the same direction. 

Stator and Final Assembly

The base of the wind turbine must then be fitted: 

• Align the long arms of the three (two in older versions) coil supports.
• If you have ferrite magnets (thick and not very powerful), insert coil spacers on the legs of the coil supports.
• Then place the 6 coils.
• Place the top support on the long arms of the coil supports.
• Insert the PVC tube.
• Fix the Foot support to a board.
• Insert the PVC tube into the foot support.