[Electronoobs] is using some brushless motors to make a DIY wind turbine. His recent video isn’t about the turbine itself, but a crucial electronic part: the three-phase rectifier. The reason it is so important is due to the use of brushless motors. Normal motors are not ideal for generating power for several reasons, as explained in the video below.
The brushless motors have three windings and generate three outputs, each out of phase with the others. You can’t just join them together because they are 120 degrees out of phase. But a special rectifier can merge the inputs efficiently and output a low-ripple DC voltage.
The rectifier will have to handle a lot of power, so it uses beefy devices with heat sinks. The design is very similar to a full-wave bridge rectifier, but instead of two legs, each with two diodes, this one has three legs. This is still not as efficient as you would like. A synchronous rectifier would be even more efficient but also more complicated.
Still, we have no doubt the board will do its job. We’re anxious to see the turbine come together. Want to build your own? Maybe start smaller. Too big? You can strip it down even further.
Pushing 1,5 kW through heatsink designed for a 7805 doing maybe 800 mA peak… yeah hope he’s got some eye protection cause it’s gonna be one hell of a fireworks when it pops.
It’s just diodes dropping maybe 1 to 2 volts. A 7805 drops at least 3 volts and dissipates more power the higher the rated voltage is. Small heatsinks should be fine. If there’s a short, the fuse should reduce the risk of fire. A thermal shutdown can be implemented on the heat sinks but I don’t think it’ll be necessary.
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Ditch the AI please.
Smug reddit post, wrong as usual. P = IV, he’s burning maybe 5-10W per diode if he ever hits 1500W from a wind turbine (he won’t).
For a TO-220 case, the typical thermal resistance from junction to case is about 5 C/W, and the heatsink in question appears to be around 20 C/W, which adds to 25 C/W from junction to ambient.
For a maximum junction temperature of 125 C at 50 C ambient temperature inside a non-ventilated case with no forced air circulation, you’re looking at 3 Watts before the thing self-destructs. For a factor of safety, you’d be limited to a maximum of 1-2 Watts power loss in the component.
…or soak the output in caps.
Umm isn’t this just reinventing the wheel that lives inside most automotive alternators?