One cool feature of this design is it turns when the wind is from any direction. A traditional Dutch-style windmill needs a rudder or other mechanism to turn the vanes to the wind, where this design wastes no time rotating.

Posted at 5:16 pm on Sep 28th, 2008 by TheBlunderbuss

That’s really great. your losing a lot a speed threw vibration at the top. If you put it out in the yard will you get better wind pick-up? like i said that’s really great though keep up the good work i want to see more on this

Posted at 5:29 pm on Sep 28th, 2008 by mike mayfield

I want to make one, maybe more than one, but I don’t think it would work well at my apartment. Maybe I’ll make a micro version and make a light for my deck with it(like a solar light but with wind).

As far as deciding on the generator, I think the satisfaction of building the generator for it would be worth the trouble. But if you really want to use the power from it you will probably get more efficiency from something else.

Nice write-up by the way, simple materials with a great result.

Posted at 6:09 pm on Sep 28th, 2008 by techyguru

A bit of diagonal bracing would reduce the vibration. Otherwise, very nice.

Posted at 6:27 pm on Sep 28th, 2008 by ed3

techyguru- the hardcore wind power guys build their own generators because of the efficiency and cost. as long as you have the time and patience, it is definitely possible to make a cheap, efficient one.

Posted at 7:31 pm on Sep 28th, 2008 by miked

The swept area of vertical axis turbines is far too low to get any real power out of them – that’s why big commercial turbines are horizontal three blade designs. If vertical were any good that’s what the power companies would be using because verticals are cheaper to build.

Posted at 8:53 pm on Sep 28th, 2008 by midow

“Video of the vertical trubine in action after the break.”

Trubine’s are awesome.

Posted at 9:58 pm on Sep 28th, 2008 by pip

It’s OK to play around with as a project but it’s far from a serious turbine. I work for WindEnergy7.com, for those who actually want to build a serious high tech wind turbine, I would suggest getting a kit there. We don’t sell vertical, because as the previous poster says, they don’t measure up to a real well designed three bladed model. Wind Power is not new, these designs have already been figured out through millions of dollars and hours in testing and actual practice. If vertical was good, all the commercial turbines would be vertical. Still, this is fun design and I applaud the ingenuity and adaptation. Pretty cool for a project. – WindEnergy7.com

Posted at 10:02 pm on Sep 28th, 2008 by wind generator

Verticalaxis turbines are the future. check out http://magturbine.com/. Their developing magnetic levitation turbines. to OP, great home project! Keep up the good work.

Posted at 11:33 pm on Sep 28th, 2008 by Dane

I’ve made non toy size like this out of 55 gallon drums and regular car alternators. we built a “farm” of 6 of them that stand on top of 25′ tv tower sections and they generate enough energy for a small 1000 acre farm to not need electricity tie from the grid.

Place them at the top of a hill and you get a constant wind to keep them turning. works great. This little toy is great for experimenting but you need to scale it up to generate real power.

Note: use a belt pully system to the ALT to make it high wind safe. when you exceed wind speeds the belt get’s thrown off and you simply freewheel in the wind and dont blow the alternator up. My design used from altpower website starts in 6mph wind and will run down to 4mph wind. the location we plopped them has a constant 5mph wind and typically has 10-12 mph during the day but never drops below the 5 at night. (gotta love trade winds)

So yeah, this is a neat toy. now scale it up.

Posted at 5:18 am on Sep 29th, 2008 by fartface

Now all we need is an alternator design using magnets from old hard drives.

Posted at 7:38 am on Sep 29th, 2008 by Bob

@bob – http://www.theworkshop.ca/energy/hdgen/hdgen.htm

Posted at 8:10 am on Sep 29th, 2008 by ed3

hey guys, i see you are intersted in Vawt, it is easy simple. please feel free to build one like it and test with it. always give credit where credit is due…happy tesing…..

regards

Faroun

Posted at 2:40 pm on Sep 29th, 2008 by faroun

i added another Youtube video under load check it out. on youtube and instructabels.

regards

Posted at 2:41 pm on Sep 29th, 2008 by faroun

I know he took a shot of a voltmeter, but I can’t see the readout – how much power does this generate?

Posted at 4:25 pm on Sep 29th, 2008 by Guy

Regarding the Maglev turbine above it would seem to be a bunch of hooey. Reason is that it claims to use earth magnets to achieve the Maglev suspension. Wouldn’t this fail for the same reason that you can’t use permanent magnets to create a perpetual motion energy machine? You wouldn’t be anymore able to achieve permanent maglev suspension for the same reason? Maybe I’ll submit this to make the Make and Nuts and Volts forums as well.

Posted at 4:51 pm on Sep 29th, 2008 by Julian

Permanent magnet maglev is basically a magnetic bearing, a not that uncommon mechanical engineering solution. Put the north poles of two powerful magnets together and you get repulsion. You can use this to suspend the weight of the rotor and thus minimize the friction. Using several magnets together you can also shape a complex magnetic field that would hold a rotor up and keep it centered. Less friction equals more efficiency. Would that makeup for a difference in aerodynamics? no idea.

Posted at 8:07 pm on Sep 29th, 2008 by Phil

i had it going arround 400 to 500 rpm and all i got is8.5 volts, i think it will spinn apart if gone any faster.

faroun

Posted at 4:26 am on Sep 30th, 2008 by faroun

I think VAWTs have much potential despite the inefficiencies pointed out already. Even though they have a low output, the sweet spot will be in mass amounts of small turbines ganged together. For example lining the sides of a highway will harvest the low altitude wind from passing vehicles. The low cost of manufacture will outweigh the occasional loss of nodes due to idiot drivers :-)

Mike

Posted at 6:02 am on Oct 3rd, 2008 by Mike Grundy

Awesome, I’ve actually been thinking about making one of these. Imho they seem better than the traditional ones since they take up less space so these actually open up the possibility of putting them in even the smallest of yards, even though they are considerably less efficient. How would a different number of “fins” affect it? Would it be the same as the traditional dutch style where the more fins the more torque and vice-versa? From what I gather that one has 10… I might try making one with 8 if I ever find the time…

Posted at 9:16 pm on Oct 4th, 2008 by Damorian

Just checked out the website…. Lots of fun projects… many that would be really easy to find parts and great educational value.

I’d recommend you try some sort of transmission to get higher rpms in your generator from your turbine. And I’d recommend you hook up a rather large capacitor across your generator before you hook it up to a load so that when the turbine first starts turning it charges up the cap before it sees the load.

Posted at 10:20 am on Oct 5th, 2008 by AD5OS

hey guys you should check out the V8 that i build last week…it is at instructables and youtube..

enjoy..

regards

faroun

Posted at 4:39 pm on Oct 5th, 2008 by faroun

we produce and sell wind turbine : http://www.worldwindturbine.com

Posted at 1:00 am on Oct 28th, 2008 by George

Intelligent writing- will definitely come back again.

Posted at 10:56 pm on Jun 26th, 2009 by home made wind generators

Engaging article,, will come back soon:D

Posted at 11:37 pm on Jun 26th, 2009 by home made wind generators