The Model

I spent the last few months of 2008 researching wind turbines. I made many small scale models and experimented with many blade designs and arrangements.

In December 2008 I began building a life size replica model of a 1000 watt machine to better understand the design and assembly.




I found a large blue PVC pipe at the rubbish dump and carved three blades just under one meter long. This PVC is really tough material and is normally available at most respectable dump sites whenever needed. It is actually not bad machining it and it does not damage blades or clog up sanding belts. They work rather well as crude turbine blades and hold up to the out door elements pretty well, but the main advantage is that it is rather easy to make a blade in a hurry. The disadvantage of PVC blades is the weight and the shape. They work, but are not as efficient as properly designed blades. I would estimate them to be around 50% less efficient, give or take ten percent. But they do work. There are loads of Internet sites devoted to the constructing of the PVC blade.

I made wooden replicas of the rotors and stator. In my model their where 12 magnets per rotor and the three phase stator has four coils per phase, totalling 12 coils.

I decided to use the rear brake drum and stub axle of a VW Golf as the bearing hub upon which the turbine will be mounted. They are cheap, available and really more than strong enough to handle the thrust forces destines to be imposed during the turbines lifetime.

I copied the furling design from Hugh Piggots design manuals and welded up a mock version out of light weight metal to get to know the angles and idea behind this ingenious method of regulating the wind effect on the turbine. No springs are needed in this design and it is very effective and simple in concept.

After all the crude model parts where constructed I assembled them and headed off to the open fields to test the device.

Little did I know of what this model was capable of. Out of sheer ignorance and inexperience, I got the machine up in a gale force wind, as a storm was approaching, and had no load of the blades, they where free to go mad, which they really did.

These last two photos are the only ones I have of the assembled model. As soon as I released the beast, a gale came up and got the machine spinning so fast it sounded like a helicopter. My mounting was way to weak and the entire assembly came crashing down, doing some very expensive damage to a vehicle, which foolishly was down wind from the device. Humble apologies still go out to the effected party. No one was injured and the only damage sustained by the model was a broken tip of one of the blades.

It was a very expensive lesson in the power of the wind! I have learned that attention must be given to every aspect of safety and a warning to anyone who plays around with these turbines... they are really, really dangerous things if extreme care is not taken to avoid catastrophic failure.

After licking my wounds, I shortened and reshaped the blades and reinforced my test stand and attempted the test again in far lighter winds the next day

I did some rpm measurements and found the device could run up to 300 rpm in a slight wind. I don't know what the wind speed was but it was under 20 km/h for sure.

I also made sure the furling mechanism worked and that I had succeeded with that aspect of the design.

The model had served its purpose, and then some. Now I was ready to start with the real thing, with a few differences, particularly to the blades. But that is another post.

Why I Am Doing What I Am

I have never been one to willingly follow the masses. I have always felt uneasy about the human situation and have got into a lot of trouble for bringing up questions that most leave swept under the mat of the daily grind. I understand the situation slightly better these days and so don't complain and criticise as much anymore, but still see the real and desperate need to have my questions answered, because my questions are the questions of mankind, whether they know it or not.

I have never understood why we accept unacceptable situations when there are alternatives. My understanding these days is that most of us are conditioned from a very young age to accept the unacceptable, because we have been conditioned by fear for many, many generations. The plot really thickens when one studies the motives driving those who institute the ways we are to live. Most do not have a clue as to why we are conditioned from such a young age to conform to a life of hard work. The history of mankind is one of slavery from the very beginning. The realisation one happens upon after putting the pieces together leaves a bit of a bitter taste that lingers long and confirms many a suspicion running deep for very long.

I am not one to accept the sorry state we are expected to accept and be content with. Life to me is more than that. We are the marvel of the universe, with complexities that will continue to baffle the scientists for the next three hundred years. Our brains are the most complex structures known and our DNA is the code that builds, manages, and records our everything. That we are only using 3% of our entire genome sequence is a testament to what our potential is if we can evolve enough to grow into a bit more of that sequence. We are children of the stars and not destined to be a slave species any more.

The first and foremost most important thing mankind must change is their view of themselves. We deserve more than a mediocre life of slaving away for a system that has served a few greedy heartless bastards, while leaving the majority a broken and miserable many, trying to scrape together enough to eat and feed their foolishly large hungry families. The picture is very, very bad for humanity at the moment. We are on the brink of a major restoring of the balance. The few have taken too much from the many, and the many have taken too much from the earth. 95% of humanity live in dire poverty while 1% of humanity enjoy 95% of the wealth.

I understand that the process must unfold and that consciousness must undergo all experiences, both the bitter and the sweet. I also understand that we have it within us to make the changes we need to make this experience we share a bit more enjoyable for more and more of us. What has to be slowly but surely chiseled away at is the enslavement we have toward the money concept. The idea that only money can bring the things we need to enjoy life is absurd. The idea that we have to work hard doing a miserable job to earn enough to afford the basics of living is even more ridiculous. Food, shelter, access to knowledge, peace and health, adventure, fun and love. These should not come at the price they do. Just because it is that way does not make it right.

So, before I say too much, this is why I am doing what I am. We must stop preaching from the rooftops and criticising the system that we have ignorantly allowed to take over. We must stop talking. We must, in the words of Gandhi, "be the change we want to see in the world". We must take back our freedom from the enslavement of this sick system and rebuild it in a way that is good for all. The rich and the poor all bleed if cut. The Earth too suffers from our situation and so the need to restore balance with all is the most important thing now for us to do. We have discovered many technologies and have learned so much about our surroundings, but at a cost. We must now learn to give back as much as we take. We must learn to rise above our conditioning and give our future generations a consideration. What are we going to leave for our children, a pleasant place to incarnate and learn in peace, or a worsened version of the current mess?

So, because this is a big mess, it is going to take a lot of cleaning up. The first thing to do is to enable people to exist on their own again, as our forefathers managed to do for hundreds of years before the industrial revolution. We need to learn how to feed ourselves and provide our families with the basics the modern age has to offer. Electricity is not as important as food, but it is something that the modern age human should not have to go without. It is warmth in winter, coolth in summer, it cooks food, it preserves perishables, it provides entertainment and brings knowledge to many.

Since we are not going to reform the entire system in our lifetimes, we must learn to work with the system, while at the same time creating an alternative system those brave enough to embark on will enjoy and leave for their children to enjoy in harmony with nature and fellow humans. Because we need money, we need to find a way to acquire it in a sustainable, easy, harmonious way. The way I choose is to let the money blow in with the wind.

This blog will chronicle the process whereby I turn wind into money using wind turbines to facilitate the conversion. Citizens need power, the system needs power to further its onslaught. The system is prepared to pay for any power generated by independent power producers. I intend to exploit this idea and secure enough income for the purpose of furthering the creation of the alternative system. This way everyone wins, and, as long as the system remains, it is a renewable source of income.

I know that this smacks of hypocrasy, but the inertia of the system is so big that is is virtually impossible to exist without it, but we must begin somewhere, and this is where I choose to begin.

A Day To Remember

It will take some time to get up to date with my process as I began one year ago with this project and have only now began this blog. I will get the whole procedure posted with pics as time goes by and eventually reach the present. So I will have to mix current breakthroughs in every now and again out of excitement.

And it is certainly with excitement that I blog this one. Today marks the day that I saw an ammeter rated at 30 Amps get slapped by my newly assembles axial flux generator that I built from scratch.

To those who don't know much about amps and what not, 30 amps is a whole lot, especially at the slow rpm it produced the charge, around 300 rpm. To slap the needle to max as violently as I saw, means there are far more than 30 amps raging through those cables. Very encouraging. The final designed output must be 83 amps into 12 volts, or half that into 24 volts to achieve the desired 1KW mark.

The main joy was to see that everything works. I powered the alternator with my Hilti cordless, which has loads of torque, but it turned out not to be able to maintain the revs, when put under load the generator creates a lot of resistance to turning. Out came the electric 720watt power drill. It to succumbed to the internal flux shear. On measuring the load, a constant 15-18 amps where maintained at around 200-250 rpm.

All is well with the machine, now I have to dismantle it and paint the parts pretty well and find a long pole and secure the beast in the sky.

This entry is way out of sequence but I just have to notch this moment in time.

It works, the bloody thing works!

Energy

Energy is everywhere. In fact everything in the universe is a form of energy. The dictionary definition for energy is to have activity, to operate, to work. It is the element of change, the drive of creation, the pulse of life. It is the single most abundant thing in this universe - and beyond. We exist in a sea of transformed energy, shaped and molded into seemingly endless forms and activities, but always energy. Atoms, electrons, quarks and deeper, energy is found in dazzling complexities, dancing and obeying its own laws of motion. Energy is the medium in which the universe is constructed, and with which it is built, and therefore what we are. We are as much a part of everything as anything. It is on this level that we are one with everything.

There is only energy. Scientists are searching for the fundamental particle and the edge of the universe. They keep discovering new resolutions to the matrix of reality and are constantly bewildered by the ever illusive boundaries of existence. It seems, to those who are open minded enough to accept what the results of all those very expensive experiments show, that there seems to be no end, both in the micro and macro directions from our point of reference. What has become rather blatantly clear though is that instead of fundamental particles or definite boundaries beyond which lies nothing, there seems to be fundamental principles which apply to any resolution of the reality matrix examined. One of those principles is that everything is connected on a quantum level.

This means, on a day to day ethical level, that each being has equal right to the abundance of energy available to us all at any given moment in time.

Some fundamentalists argue that we don't need technology to get where we need to be to advance as self conscious energy systems, mankind has lived long enough without it and that it will be the downfall of mankind as he puts all his value on it and forgets the simple life. True it may be that technology has been the downfall of many a civilisation in our distant past.

I, however, have a different view on the topic. I believe that technology is neutral and that it is man that is at fault if he uses technology for foolish ends. I believe that if wisely created, implemented, and enjoyed, technology will aid our self conscious energetic system evolution rather well.

I believe we are meant to advance in every sphere, in every activity energy deems us worthy of playing with. We must plunge the depths of understanding, and we must learn from our mistakes along the path of understanding and not be frightened by the process.

This then is where I stand in the ethical arena. I believe as living energetic created beings, our purpose must be the striving for abundance for all.

In The Beginning

2nd December 2009

Mankind has come so far over the past one hundred years and achieved so much in the line of technology. The father of modern technology, Nikola Tesla, created the generation of alternating current almost one hundred years ago, along with many other brilliant firsts that we all use to this day in all our technological devices. He is also less commonly known for his efforts in creating a system of free energy, whereby citizens could have access to the abundance of power surrounding the earth in the ionoshpere. This technology was accomplished, but stolen from him, and consequently the people it was created for, and kept for a few greedy leaders to use as weapons in the future. This left mankind swimming in a sea of wonderful new technologies, but which needed to be powered by dirty, expensive, nonrenewable power.

So, the aim of this blog is many fold. Firstly it is to chronicle my slow but steady journey into the world of renewable energy. Secondly it is to introduce the whole concept of free energy to the people. Thirdly, it is to pay homage to the forgotten wizard of technology, Nikola Tesla, and to, albeit on a much smaller scale, continue his quest to bring free power to the people.