How to Build a Wind Turbine?

A wind turbine is a structure that is built to capture the kinetic energy of wind and convert it into electricity. At times, it is called the windmill or the wind generator depending on its other simultaneous uses, like crashing of grain or pumping of water. It is an environmental friendly way of generating energy.

Conditions are to be satisfied

Before embarking on the project, one has to have the facts right. A wind turbine cannot be build anywhere. The place needs to be open and with enough wind speed of at least 10 miles per hour. In addition, it is advisable to get the technical aspects of the whole process from qualified people on how to go about it.

The materials required

Before starting, you will need materials that will be assembled into one to come up with your wind turbine, and these include the following:

• White glue
• A cardboard that is big enough to make many blades
• Washers
• Some disk magnets
• Dowel braces
• Circular dowels
• A piece of plywood
• A magnet wire measuring approximately 120m and
• Some screws

Steps to produce a Wind Turbine

Start by drawing the semicircular design of the blades of in diameter on the cardboard. You can use a piece of paper to make sure that the blades are identical. The more blades you have, the better and more efficient your turbine will be. Draw and cut out a circle of radius 6cm from the plywood, and then drill a hole at the center. Fix a 30cm post such that the hole is almost 8cm above it. Then, using a screw, attach the circular dowel to the frame, which is lying horizontally. Make a tube that is 20cm long and 3cm in diameter from the remaining cardboard.

Wrap almost 200 coils around it leaving 40cm of coil on each end and remove the wire. Remember to secure it using the electrical tape. Still, remove 15mm of enamel from each end of the coil and test the current using the voltmeter. Make more coils in the same manner and lay them side by side with all of them in the clockwise direction before joining them together and gluing them to the wind turbine, at the base.

Cut out another circle of radius 6 cm from the cardboard and punch a hole in the center. Draw a cross through its center and then put the washers on each of the four ends of the cross. Put the disk magnet on the washer such that the North Pole points in the opposite direction to the washer.

Paste the blades on the 6 inches-radius side of a tube cut out of a plastic bottle, ensuring that the blades are evenly funned out. Mount the tube on the vertical pole, and punch a hole for the circular dowel on the other tube end. Then, attach the cardboard that had the disk magnets to the dowel, ensuring that the magnets and the coils are facing each other. Your wind turbine is now ready to go.

Most of the materials used in making the turbine can be bought from a local hardware, and you will find out that it will not cost you more than $2000 to acquire them.