Another good point for an array of smaller devices is that you can build your array over time according to your budget instead of having to pay a huge amount in a single payment.
@@IC86688 Yes it sort of is, but you can’t put one of those turbines on your roof or virtually anywhere it is needed. Robert’s main point in all these videos seems to be about producing the energy where it’s needed. A small solar pv installation on the roof combined with the input from a small wind turbine will provide all the background power for a house. This obviates the need for 50 metre tall pylons marching across the countryside, over a 100 miles of which are proposed in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
A network of the small & many, joined together w/ good connectivity, produces big results. A lesson in the value of democracy is best taught by a humanist engineer. Thank you, Robert.
Direct democracy? where everyone votes on everything? or the current democratic mess where we vote for individuals who then screw things up to their own benefit?
The tower with several Darwin on generators ,wired inline with floating disk with feathers sounds GREAT to me.‼️😁 Any improvements on that will be accepted 🤣🤣 Thank you for caring for people ‼️🥰🥳🎉💃💃💥🙏🙏🙏🙏
You're getting closer to what my personal goal is with your 'Groundbreaking Wind Turbine'. I honestly think a small array of these could create more usable energy than I consume in a day. I'll let you know if I ever get there :)
Yes, I'd be interesting in hearing how it goes, as well. Even Vlcek raised an interesting point of unifying the frequency of the various turbines. Curious to hear how you solve that problem.
Great things can happen with small changes. Thank you for adopting a lapel mic and doing on location videos again. Thanks also for the continuous inspiration you evoke in your videos. You are appreciated Rob. 😊👍
Your channel is the only one I watch that I see a five minute video and I say hum I wonder how much I can learn in five minutes that's for 'll your tinkering I use it if anything for motivation.
I love the dynamic scene changes in this one. Thanks as always for sharing your thoughts, Robert. Youre a lightning pole for your community's ideas and making a difference with what you do!!
It's true that the scale of wind turbines can create awe-inspiring visual effects, especially when they are installed in large numbers, such as in a wind farm. In general, wind speeds tend to increase with height above the ground, which means that wind turbines mounted on taller towers can capture more energy from the wind.
I have not commented in a while. I’ve been very busy. But this is a great example of systems integration. In the 1980s, I suggested that a client of mine use a multiple approach to power generation. Wind, solar, geothermal, captured methane, mechanical weight capture and water tower (yes, water tower) along with solar heat storage and a way to flash water to steam. They laughed at the time, but all of these systems work, work well, and can actually create a way of negative Zero Point energy. Your small pulpit of passion for engineering is doing more good that you could ever imagine.
I love the style of this video. And thankyou very much for looking at this particular motor. The bedini circuit will run these motors ... Hall sensors as trigger coils 😁 if anyone can rig that up it's you Rob
Thank you. You have inspired me a lot. There are two wisdoms that I know. 1 The best deeds for God are permanent work, even if it is small, and it is a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Wisdom 2 is that mountains are made of small pebbles.And I learned from you that the great work is the work that is divided into simple parts, and the linked one is a simple summary that achieves the meaning of greatness. Thank you, my brother, may God bless you.🙏❤️
I agree. Make it small and uncomplicated. Produce the energy where it is needed, if you can. Sorry, for my english Greetings from the middle of Germany.
Two more benefits I can think of to making an array of small turbines are; you can have several in places you can't have solar panels like a condo or an apartment and, they can be arranged on a deck or a bracket outside a window. If you paint them creatively, you can call them art to fool the neighbors and landlord. 😎
Great points! Intermittent renewables need their own dedicated grid, and the minimum wind speed for a small turbine is much lower than one that is 50+ Meters radius.
I absolutely agree that more self production of energy is needed and that installation of small wind turbines or wind harvesters as well as balcony solar in addition to rooftop solar and wind turbines can and should contribute energy - best to be used by those living in that house (stored for night usage as well if more made than used during the day). But we will likely need the grid in dense populated areas in cities and multiple Appartement buildings as well as to have somewhere to supply energy that is not used on the spot and transport it elsewhere. Our industry needs the grid as well since it uses the more energy for production than it likely can produce on the premises they are located on. If we want to reduce our impact on the planet we need to manufacture steel more energy efficient and with less burden on the environment. And we need to produce green energy in abundance to use it in the cold days for heating homes and offices as well as for air conditioning in the hot month which are unfortunately likely unavoidable in future. Interesting times we live in with many obstacles but as well with many opportunities to change how we live as individual and society- as a nation and worldwide.
I'm a big fan, but I must say the presentation, content, locations and editing of this video were just so well done. Bravo for taking extra care in the overall video.
The prevailing wind where I live hits the front of the house, so the gap between my house and the next one is a bit of a wind tunnel. I've often thought that I could bolt a number of small VAWTs to the side of the house, and parallel up the output. And if one fails, I don't lose everything.
Right to the point! When a big windmill has a problem it's out of order then all MegaWatts are lost while with many small windmills there is still power.
I was wondering if a large array of thermoacoustic engines made as generators would be better than one large thermoacoustic engine. I have been leaning towards the array for those same reasons. An array would be more robust, easier to maintain (if set up right), and error tolerant, but I would still have to choose the optimal layout to maximize efficiency and that would likely take up more space. It was nice to hear that I am on the right track. Thank you.
It drives me crazy that the "industry wind is a horizontal axis... sometimes they don't spin. You have shown me a ton of ways to improve wind concepts. And other ways I wouldn't have thought of. Like the coils, or parabolic cones. Magnetic bearings. Been a journey
Speaking of making use of combining lots of small things, out of curiosity, have you ever investigated the ‘Windhexe’ device? Its a fairly simple looking conical metal ‘can’ with injected air that turns it into a powerful air vortex pulveriser, developed by a farmer from Kansas in the 80s. It would seem to have very many useful applications, including for example pulverising waste wood into fine sawdust that could then be made into wood pellets for burning. The possibilities and applications seem very great for such a seemingly simple device. I’m eventually aiming to attempt to make one myself to be able to investigate its potential!
In strategy games you can build tall or wide. And I wondered, for some time now, why people forget there are different ways to achieve the same thing in the end. Good video!
Very thoughtful video but...regarding controllers... whether for 'big or small', they can often greatly increase efficiency. For example, in video 1904, you presented Flux Switching, or Switched Reluctance Generators. These generators (and motors) have many benefits, especially when you use electromagnets. This allows the magnetic flux to be controlled, to better suit the changing winds, by real-time adjustment of torque and speed characteristics of the gen's rotor (or rod, in the clever proof of concept you built in 1904). Because of this, I see great applicability to energy harvesting devices, like many of your creations, as the torque and speed produced often varies greatly with the dynamic nature of the mechanical input. For example, in places where wind speed is constantly changing (GB for certain but really any context), the strength and timing of the electromagnet (magnetic flux) can be adjusted to prevent cogging with weak wind as well as to extract maximum energy when it's really blowing (and prevent overspeed) - twice a year in GB ;) LOL!!! I've seen some folks call them 'software' motors or generators, because the key to best performance is with the algorithm used in the control software (circuitry as well, of course). But this capability does unfortunately add complexity, making it harder to build them. Hopefully better design tools and methods will be available in the future, for DIY folks like yourself. Cheers Rob!
@@ThinkingandTinkering Sorry, I misinterpreted your theme when you presented the washing machine rotor with no controller required. Thank you for clarifying. Love what you said about small vs big systems (aka distributed vs centralized?); so many aspects and qualities to consider - especially related to control systems. I think I understand now, for sure. The appropriate degree of control of a system is fundamental to it's successful implementation and operation; to much or to little control leads to a less desirable result, either in cost or function. Thanks again Rob! And hope you find the info about Switched Reluctance Generators interesting, especially for energy harvesting applications. Best regards.
I agree 100%, especially with regard to these ridiculously large wind turbines where sometimes if they break, they basically destruct in grand fashion. I am definitely considering to build something akin to your Darwin Tower. I am still thinking about it tho. I want to try to integrate solar in the design too.
I have 2 of those washer motors. Not sure exactly what to do with them as of yet but il be keeping an eye on your videos to see what you come up with 🤔
Thought exercise: Suppose there are multiple serpentine-coil-based wind turbine generators you want to link up. Their native output is AC. If we just put them in series or parallel, the voltage/current from one may cancel the voltage/current from another. This means you have to rectify each turbine output prior to linking them together. I assume that the arrangement of turbine connections (how many in series and how many in parallel) is based on the load you're shooting for. Now your extremes (max voltage and max current across different wind speeds) is going to be a much larger range and something you have to contend with... Braking, fuses, shutoffs... I imagine that a slower, higher torque turbine generator design would be more preferrable to narrow the output range a bit, but then you likely lose some potential power in higher wind speeds... This is why it's called engineering. One could argue a network of many small turbines is more engineering work than 1 large one, even if is it has advantages like safety and redundancy. I don't disagree that it's a superior solution to the giant turbines and their challenges, just making a point that it isn't as simple as "wiring them together without controls". Solar panels are much more simple because their max output is limited while a wind turbine's max output is far larger (esp. compared to it's nominal output).
This is the UK! I live in the north where we have heard of this mythical thing called "sunshine" that is needed for solar power but up here rain and wind turbines make much more sence! LOL its not quite that bad but sometimes it feels like it is. 😀
I recently replaced a similar washing machine motor stator which failed because the bearings on the washing machine went south. Interestingly enough the windings are made out of what is called copper clad aluminum. Significantly less expensive and lighter then pure copper would be. The trade-off is that aluminum has higher resistance. For what it's worth I thought I would give you a heads up.
Dr. Smith, where's the money in going small? LOL. Plus you take the control away from the big guy and put it in the peoples hands. We can't have that. Love your channel.
I am completely new to this kind of subject, and i find your video absolutely amazing, and very tempted to buy a 3d printer and start making your wind termbine. One of the best RUclips stations around.
The washing machine motor would make an excellent generator in my opinion .. they have become throw-away items that can be repurposed .. but what is the best way to utilize and spin them up using some of the information we now have?
Hello Robert....yet another great video....i think you should use that washing machine motor on a project but take those ceramic magnets out and replace them with some neodymium magnets...i have heard that those motors can produce up to 5000 watts as a generator if you replace the magnets....i would love to find out if this is true because I have a few of them set aside for a water turbine project that I might try to stack up to five of them on top of each other on the same driveshaft and see how things go.
Well Rob looks like you've nailed a great analogy not just for power generation in general - but also a more ideal means of living without absurd government over-intervention... smaller SELF-governing systems all operating in tandem, cooperation and appropriate coordination makes a far more robust and efficient system overall (with built in redundancies) than one outdated monolithic centralised system obsessed with overarching control and regulation with inherent points of potentially catastrophic failure. Decentralised microgeneration (from truly individual to small scale community/village/town level) seems to be the only truly viable way out of our dependence on 'big energy' and the inherent failures of over centralised & profit-obsessive models. Just look at how much area those dang wind and solar farms take up! Microgeneration makes use of plenty of open real estate on rooflines, building walls, open roads (recylcled hardened cglass solar harvesting forming the actual surface of the road in modular replaceable panels), you name it - and the chances for massive ecological devastation is truly minimized! Great vid as usual! Becoming quite the David Attenborough of independent energy generation and tinkering! 💪
A natural teacher, very nice. That washing machine motor is also very nice, I do like that, lots of coils already neatly wound for me and no doubt cheap if you can find a used and unloved one. So, how does one take the boaty turbine idea and an old washing machine motor and make the magic happen? Thanks Rob... 🤞
This video reminded me of Sir James Burk's videos. Connections and Connections 2. (BBC) Live locations do sell knowledge and inspiration. Thank you RMS. DVD:) .
Love to see that washing machine motor wired up as a VAWT! I have one and it puts out huge amounts of power at relatively low rpm but nobody has VAWT blade assemblies for sale!
I find the wind wall to be very appealing in multiple ways. Is there a reference for calculating size and shapes of rotors and spacing. It seems like an artistic way of creating power that won't upset the NIMBY neighbors. I'll search it of course, but I appreciate it if you have some good resources to share.
Good video and I'm liking this new video production style, very professional looking. You'll have the BBC knocking on your door to do a science and technology series soon.
Love the series! Quite keen to see what your findings of the small-scale tests are. And I would also love to see if stacking the serpentine coils with an offset would have any appreciable effect. Similar to how high torque motors do.
I’m an IT project manager. Ask any older project manager what happens to big projects: they almost always fail. Do you want something robust? - then do a lot of small…
Robert an idea i'm working on just waiting for my ptc elements to arrive, take pc heatsink and its fan add a ptc element on the front place next to each other in an array and power by solar panel directly
Interesting video Robert. From personal experience with my small 2kw wind turbine unfortunately controls are a must. You need to guard against over voltage, run away, breaking etc and then potentially have back systems for those as you really don't want a run away turbine 😊
Aah, I was hoping was going to be a video about the best/efficient way to use the coils from a washing machine as I just grabbed a ring that was dumped in the woods last week... Still a Great video though.
I have long been a proponent of small scale everything. My firm beliefe is that the larger the scale the larger the problems when something goes wrong. Bear in mind such things as food or fuel shortages in cities when the supply chain is disrupted or a garbage strike. I even go so far as to say that whenever anything becomes an industry it becomes corrupted and a negative influence. Or looking at it another way it becomes a detriment not a benefit. I believe the ideal way of living is rural and power production can be done by each individual homeowner. Essentially each residence can be a cell in a network of rural cells where construction and power production can be done in a hybrid way with each site utilizing its unique options.
I have built many windmill form the Fisher and Paykel washing machines , These start of in New Zealand as washing Machines .I pull down to make windmill out of them, i can get 6 amp out on my mates Farm .There are book on how to do this in New Zealand,One is Call EcoInn ovation ,
If you call around washing machine repair places you can get many of these motors with broken wires that can easily be repaired if used as generators . If used as motors then they have to be repaired better for correct control but as generators not so much !
Got solar on my houseboat, a series of small wind turbines would be useful for the grey days and nights but with no moving parts the panels only require occasional cleaning. I think a series of turbines is going to need a fair bit of maintenance by comparison and there will be noise and vibration to think about.
what would be nice to do a video on is a manual method of switching when voltage is reached so as volts change it switches between coil arrangements to keep getting a set amount of voltage (with in a set range like say making sure it stays between 11 and 13 volts, for charging something that is intended to be 12 volts, which can then be used to run an inverter system, to get 120 or 240v AC (depending on your region) also there is a very good tute you guys could highlight on how to make a pure sinewave inverter using Arduino's as the control for single split wave, and the basics for both a split wave and triple phase electric that could be filled in from the modified or square wave to being a pure sinewave inverter that is split phase or triple phase, Something to look at, I am still working on obtaining the higher power transistors for building a decent powered unit, for all three, on the cheap ;) (need fast acting ones as well as high power dissipation on those, as the pure sinewave unit is using PWM spaced out so after being sent into an inductor it smooths out between the pulses to create the ramping smoothly into an arc rather than either being a linear angle ramp or square wave to anyone other than rob and luke reading this, as I am sure they already know this, but figure anyone else can hunt that link down pretty easily with the search terms "arduino DIY pure sine wave inverter" as that is how I found them, and after the programming and testing with my oscilloscope, they are definitely good code, just need those power mosfets as it seems either you get low weak fast units or super high power units that are slow as a cucumber LOL )
Go many and go bigger! I have "working on " a counter rotating Ugurnsky. the idea was to put one or two generators in between them and mount a few of them around the property. They really catch the wind but I am not sure I want dot my yard with spinning sculptures so maybe something more like Bee Hives ( Darwin turbines) would be more aesthetically pleasing. So bigger parabolic shells and a powerful axial generator at the bottom. I checked video 1490 ( I think) where you built larger parabolic cones. How do you think you could similarly "cast" stacking ring slices for the intake (the wind gathering portion) as in your boat/camper generator video 1901 . Your videos are like a library. I will consult video 1835 and 1837 before deciding. Do you have a preference for wind gatherer?
Well Robert, quite the conundrum! Which leads to this question will the output from a serpent coil be greater or less than the output of those small individual coils shown on this video from the washing machine? Can I take it that the small individual coils take much more copper compared to the serpent coil. As always very thought provoking, but great to watch. Cheers Dennis “Herne Bay”.
Speaking of solar panels, I'd love you to create one that would be cooled by water (to increase efficiency) which in turn would heat the pool. I'd love to install such system when I build a house.
I saw a guy who made a generator that was either 18 or 26 coils that he sealed in epoxy and he made a sandwich of the coils with magnets on both sides of the coils. I need to find the video, but the guy was pusing like 40 to 50 amps with a a bout a 5 or 6' across 10 blade turbine. All I can be sure of is that he was pushing 40 amps at low rpm. I will find it later and post it. He is in your part of the world, I think he's scottish. It was so long ago I saw it. I know I saw it!
Your editing confirms you would be a great candidate to be funded to start a BBC series. Worth asking after showing this video to the line up directors of the BBC. DVD:)
something you had not mentioned too, is you get a law of diminishing returns on building something bigger and bigger, in many instances, and while you might get more power per cubic foot of machine, you will get reduced time before something wears out like bearings, compared to the micro sized devices, and the wind wall experiments you did show that if you arrange the units properly together they will increase the output of each other to come pretty close to matching if not superseding the power output of just a single unit, However I still want to see more work on directional baffling on VAWT designs to show how much they can be altered to get the massive power and speed that normally is missing from them, due to the spinning blades are being pushed on blades forcing them to attempt to rotate in both directions, and the shape of the blades just reduce the amount of resistance on the side that would push it the opposite direction,. while redirecting that wind from the back of hte blade to join the portion of wind hitting the front of the blade, will increase output by both reducing the wasted energy and reducing the resistance to spin the direction desired, then just put those all on a lazy susan so they can always make sure which ever direction they face will ultimately be into the wind to catch it and control direction, OR put a coil and magnets on them too so as they rotate around changing the direction of input some to increase it, you get some power too, out of it and maybe use the coil to control position with a detector all powered from it moving freely initially. lol
I have been thinking about optimized wind arrays for a decade now. Since coming across Viktor Schauberger. I thought there should be an optimized way to get maximum flow and resulting torque with vortex dynamics and capturing more of the actual force of the wind economically without the stressors on the materials used when "going big". Go small and wide instead seems like a more effective, and maintainable approach.
Keep working for the rest of us who wish we could do so. One open source solution would transform the world out of oligarchy monoculture big box dystopia into independent free people saying FU to all that.
Could you use a large cone of 15 degrees or less (to get the venturi effect) and funnel wind energy into a small area, which could run a small turbine? Would this work?
I agree. Large scale wind farms are expensive, inefficient at low speed and dangerous. Mass production of 12ft tall, 5ft wide vawt turbines would be cheaper Then there's also the archemedes screw wind turbine. They're pretty nifty
on those magic transistor mosfets, that are both ultra-fast acting and super high amperage (or wattage in general) being so rare, its in the cheap range that they are rare, you can find them for sale but the price is almost so high you might as well just buy a completed pure sinewave inverter LOL
Go many, no question. The power management is a pain but the difficulty of maintaining large units and dealing with failed windings and mechanisms on large units. As many alternators as possible too, if you’re dealing with solar. If it fails, you’re dead in the water.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Another good point for an array of smaller devices is that you can build your array over time according to your budget instead of having to pay a huge amount in a single payment.
that is a very good point mate - thanks for taking the time to make it
@@IC86688 Yes it sort of is, but you can’t put one of those turbines on your roof or virtually anywhere it is needed. Robert’s main point in all these videos seems to be about producing the energy where it’s needed. A small solar pv installation on the roof combined with the input from a small wind turbine will provide all the background power for a house. This obviates the need for 50 metre tall pylons marching across the countryside, over a 100 miles of which are proposed in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
A network of the small & many, joined together w/ good connectivity, produces big results. A lesson in the value of democracy is best taught by a humanist engineer. Thank you, Robert.
This is what I want to do!
cheers mate
Direct democracy? where everyone votes on everything? or the current democratic mess where we vote for individuals who then screw things up to their own benefit?
Robert you have the eyes and ears of many tuned into you creativity, I am so proud of everything you continue to share. Thank you Sir.
Awesome production! Really enjoyed that
i am so glad mate - cheers
The tower with several Darwin on generators ,wired inline with floating disk with feathers sounds GREAT to me.‼️😁
Any improvements on that will be accepted 🤣🤣
Thank you for caring for people
‼️🥰🥳🎉💃💃💥🙏🙏🙏🙏
people are awesome!
You're getting closer to what my personal goal is with your 'Groundbreaking Wind Turbine'. I honestly think a small array of these could create more usable energy than I consume in a day. I'll let you know if I ever get there :)
keep at it mate you will do
That sounds really interesting Colin.
Would enjoy reading the details of what you've achieved thus far mate
Let me know as well!
Yes, I'd be interesting in hearing how it goes, as well. Even Vlcek raised an interesting point of unifying the frequency of the various turbines. Curious to hear how you solve that problem.
That last shot of the wire fence, and what you said, just inspired an idea in me. Each fence post could have a wind turbine on top! 😃
Love the video and your production is fantastic. Your enthusiasm and common sense approach to things is awesome. Thank you Sir
wow - cheers mate
Great things can happen with small changes. Thank you for adopting a lapel mic and doing on location videos again. Thanks also for the continuous inspiration you evoke in your videos. You are appreciated Rob. 😊👍
Another awesome video, god I love this channel. Cheers Robert.
wow - cheers!!
Just luv your thinking !!!
Another Great Video with Plenty of Information and Inspiration!!
Many Thanks!!
Oops,, I need to go check on a few little things!!🙂👍👍
lol - go check!!
Your channel is the only one I watch that I see a five minute video and I say hum I wonder how much I can learn in five minutes that's for 'll your tinkering I use it if anything for motivation.
I love the dynamic scene changes in this one. Thanks as always for sharing your thoughts, Robert. Youre a lightning pole for your community's ideas and making a difference with what you do!!
Well done great video Rob. I Like the format.
My new favourite channel
Oh wow, I'm in Kent too, few miles from there. Fantastic video.
Awesome vid Rob! I really like the "out and about" format 👍 Great work sir, thanks for sharing!
Nice new format. Makes the topic much more entertaining. I wished for a longer video though.
0:11 he draws a shadow on the castle with his finger!
Magic!
It's true that the scale of wind turbines can create awe-inspiring visual effects, especially when they are installed in large numbers, such as in a wind farm. In general, wind speeds tend to increase with height above the ground, which means that wind turbines mounted on taller towers can capture more energy from the wind.
Very nice film. You are showing you should be on Television for explanation to the masses. I am enjoying your RUclips additions.
I have not commented in a while. I’ve been very busy. But this is a great example of systems integration. In the 1980s, I suggested that a client of mine use a multiple approach to power generation. Wind, solar, geothermal, captured methane, mechanical weight capture and water tower (yes, water tower) along with solar heat storage and a way to flash water to steam.
They laughed at the time, but all of these systems work, work well, and can actually create a way of negative Zero Point energy.
Your small pulpit of passion for engineering is doing more good that you could ever imagine.
Love the production value here. Wonderfully done 👍🏼
I love the style of this video.
And thankyou very much for looking at this particular motor. The bedini circuit will run these motors ... Hall sensors as trigger coils 😁 if anyone can rig that up it's you Rob
Well, that was a change of pace!
picking it up a bit lol
The production of these videos have not stopped getting better. Thanks for the effort and value.
Thank you. You have inspired me a lot. There are two wisdoms that I know. 1 The best deeds for God are permanent work, even if it is small, and it is a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Wisdom 2 is that mountains are made of small pebbles.And I learned from you that the great work is the work that is divided into simple parts, and the linked one is a simple summary that achieves the meaning of greatness. Thank you, my brother, may God bless you.🙏❤️
I agree.
Make it small and uncomplicated. Produce the energy where it is needed, if you can.
Sorry, for my english
Greetings from the middle of Germany.
your english is awesome mate - cheers
@@ThinkingandTinkering thanks Google 😬😬😬
Two more benefits I can think of to making an array of small turbines are; you can have several in places you can't have solar panels like a condo or an apartment and, they can be arranged on a deck or a bracket outside a window. If you paint them creatively, you can call them art to fool the neighbors and landlord. 😎
I must get one of those washing machine motors. Cool. Best channel on RUclips! Thanks for this Rob!
Great points! Intermittent renewables need their own dedicated grid, and the minimum wind speed for a small turbine is much lower than one that is 50+ Meters radius.
Hahaha, nice to see you out and about.
I absolutely agree that more self production of energy is needed and that installation of small wind turbines or wind harvesters as well as balcony solar in addition to rooftop solar and wind turbines can and should contribute energy - best to be used by those living in that house (stored for night usage as well if more made than used during the day). But we will likely need the grid in dense populated areas in cities and multiple Appartement buildings as well as to have somewhere to supply energy that is not used on the spot and transport it elsewhere. Our industry needs the grid as well since it uses the more energy for production than it likely can produce on the premises they are located on. If we want to reduce our impact on the planet we need to manufacture steel more energy efficient and with less burden on the environment. And we need to produce green energy in abundance to use it in the cold days for heating homes and offices as well as for air conditioning in the hot month which are unfortunately likely unavoidable in future.
Interesting times we live in with many obstacles but as well with many opportunities to change how we live as individual and society- as a nation and worldwide.
I'm a big fan, but I must say the presentation, content, locations and editing of this video were just so well done. Bravo for taking extra care in the overall video.
Ooops. I guess I just stated what was obvious to everyone. (Just read the comments)
The prevailing wind where I live hits the front of the house, so the gap between my house and the next one is a bit of a wind tunnel. I've often thought that I could bolt a number of small VAWTs to the side of the house, and parallel up the output. And if one fails, I don't lose everything.
Nominating you for best editing!
Great Video, Robert. Thanks.
cheers mate
Your an inspiration to to young & old 👍
Absolutely love this channel!
wow - cheers mate
Wipe your cupboards down it is really noticable on camera, even the work shop deserves to be tidied up once in a while. Love the channel
Right to the point!
When a big windmill has a problem it's out of order then all MegaWatts are lost while with many small windmills there is still power.
We now go to Rob, who's out on location...
Love it!
I was wondering if a large array of thermoacoustic engines made as generators would be better than one large thermoacoustic engine. I have been leaning towards the array for those same reasons. An array would be more robust, easier to maintain (if set up right), and error tolerant, but I would still have to choose the optimal layout to maximize efficiency and that would likely take up more space. It was nice to hear that I am on the right track. Thank you.
It drives me crazy that the "industry wind is a horizontal axis... sometimes they don't spin. You have shown me a ton of ways to improve wind concepts. And other ways I wouldn't have thought of. Like the coils, or parabolic cones. Magnetic bearings. Been a journey
Brilliant video, mate!
thank you mate
The washing machine motors are great for connecting to a pelton wheel and feeding them with a water tank.
If form follows function those old buildings are possibly generators, batteries, wave guides, bell circuits etc. That would make them really awesome.
The function was to disillusion the hosts to their invasions
❤ Great video . Thank you
I am glad you liked it
Speaking of making use of combining lots of small things, out of curiosity, have you ever investigated the ‘Windhexe’ device? Its a fairly simple looking conical metal ‘can’ with injected air that turns it into a powerful air vortex pulveriser, developed by a farmer from Kansas in the 80s. It would seem to have very many useful applications, including for example pulverising waste wood into fine sawdust that could then be made into wood pellets for burning. The possibilities and applications seem very great for such a seemingly simple device. I’m eventually aiming to attempt to make one myself to be able to investigate its potential!
In strategy games you can build tall or wide. And I wondered, for some time now, why people forget there are different ways to achieve the same thing in the end. Good video!
Very thoughtful video but...regarding controllers... whether for 'big or small', they can often greatly increase efficiency. For example, in video 1904, you presented Flux Switching, or Switched Reluctance Generators. These generators (and motors) have many benefits, especially when you use electromagnets. This allows the magnetic flux to be controlled, to better suit the changing winds, by real-time adjustment of torque and speed characteristics of the gen's rotor (or rod, in the clever proof of concept you built in 1904).
Because of this, I see great applicability to energy harvesting devices, like many of your creations, as the torque and speed produced often varies greatly with the dynamic nature of the mechanical input. For example, in places where wind speed is constantly changing (GB for certain but really any context), the strength and timing of the electromagnet (magnetic flux) can be adjusted to prevent cogging with weak wind as well as to extract maximum energy when it's really blowing (and prevent overspeed) - twice a year in GB ;) LOL!!!
I've seen some folks call them 'software' motors or generators, because the key to best performance is with the algorithm used in the control software (circuitry as well, of course). But this capability does unfortunately add complexity, making it harder to build them. Hopefully better design tools and methods will be available in the future, for DIY folks like yourself. Cheers Rob!
i didn't say you didn't need controllers i said the amount of control needed is over-estimated
@@ThinkingandTinkering Sorry, I misinterpreted your theme when you presented the washing machine rotor with no controller required. Thank you for clarifying. Love what you said about small vs big systems (aka distributed vs centralized?); so many aspects and qualities to consider - especially related to control systems. I think I understand now, for sure. The appropriate degree of control of a system is fundamental to it's successful implementation and operation; to much or to little control leads to a less desirable result, either in cost or function.
Thanks again Rob! And hope you find the info about Switched Reluctance Generators interesting, especially for energy harvesting applications. Best regards.
I agree 100%, especially with regard to these ridiculously large wind turbines where sometimes if they break, they basically destruct in grand fashion. I am definitely considering to build something akin to your Darwin Tower. I am still thinking about it tho. I want to try to integrate solar in the design too.
one good thing to say about them - when they do blow up it is spectacular lololol
I have 2 of those washer motors. Not sure exactly what to do with them as of yet but il be keeping an eye on your videos to see what you come up with 🤔
I love riding the coast up to that castle. long way along the sea wall but worth it.
it is awesome
Thought exercise: Suppose there are multiple serpentine-coil-based wind turbine generators you want to link up. Their native output is AC. If we just put them in series or parallel, the voltage/current from one may cancel the voltage/current from another. This means you have to rectify each turbine output prior to linking them together. I assume that the arrangement of turbine connections (how many in series and how many in parallel) is based on the load you're shooting for. Now your extremes (max voltage and max current across different wind speeds) is going to be a much larger range and something you have to contend with... Braking, fuses, shutoffs... I imagine that a slower, higher torque turbine generator design would be more preferrable to narrow the output range a bit, but then you likely lose some potential power in higher wind speeds... This is why it's called engineering.
One could argue a network of many small turbines is more engineering work than 1 large one, even if is it has advantages like safety and redundancy. I don't disagree that it's a superior solution to the giant turbines and their challenges, just making a point that it isn't as simple as "wiring them together without controls". Solar panels are much more simple because their max output is limited while a wind turbine's max output is far larger (esp. compared to it's nominal output).
This is the UK! I live in the north where we have heard of this mythical thing called "sunshine" that is needed for solar power but up here rain and wind turbines make much more sence! LOL its not quite that bad but sometimes it feels like it is. 😀
I recently replaced a similar washing machine motor stator which failed because the bearings on the washing machine went south. Interestingly enough the windings are made out of what is called copper clad aluminum. Significantly less expensive and lighter then pure copper would be. The trade-off is that aluminum has higher resistance. For what it's worth I thought I would give you a heads up.
Dr. Smith, where's the money in going small? LOL. Plus you take the control away from the big guy and put it in the peoples hands. We can't have that. Love your channel.
I am completely new to this kind of subject, and i find your video absolutely amazing, and very tempted to buy a 3d printer and start making your wind termbine. One of the best RUclips stations around.
The washing machine motor would make an excellent generator in my opinion .. they have become throw-away items that can be repurposed .. but what is the best way to utilize and spin them up using some of the information we now have?
Small also allows it to be 3d printed. You can also go quantity over height and keep where you can work on it.
Hello Robert....yet another great video....i think you should use that washing machine motor on a project but take those ceramic magnets out and replace them with some neodymium magnets...i have heard that those motors can produce up to 5000 watts as a generator if you replace the magnets....i would love to find out if this is true because I have a few of them set aside for a water turbine project that I might try to stack up to five of them on top of each other on the same driveshaft and see how things go.
Well Rob looks like you've nailed a great analogy not just for power generation in general - but also a more ideal means of living without absurd government over-intervention... smaller SELF-governing systems all operating in tandem, cooperation and appropriate coordination makes a far more robust and efficient system overall (with built in redundancies) than one outdated monolithic centralised system obsessed with overarching control and regulation with inherent points of potentially catastrophic failure. Decentralised microgeneration (from truly individual to small scale community/village/town level) seems to be the only truly viable way out of our dependence on 'big energy' and the inherent failures of over centralised & profit-obsessive models.
Just look at how much area those dang wind and solar farms take up! Microgeneration makes use of plenty of open real estate on rooflines, building walls, open roads (recylcled hardened cglass solar harvesting forming the actual surface of the road in modular replaceable panels), you name it - and the chances for massive ecological devastation is truly minimized!
Great vid as usual! Becoming quite the David Attenborough of independent energy generation and tinkering! 💪
A natural teacher, very nice. That washing machine motor is also very nice, I do like that, lots of coils already neatly wound for me and no doubt cheap if you can find a used and unloved one. So, how does one take the boaty turbine idea and an old washing machine motor and make the magic happen? Thanks Rob... 🤞
This video reminded me of Sir James Burk's videos. Connections and Connections 2. (BBC) Live locations do sell knowledge and inspiration. Thank you RMS. DVD:)
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I would like to see your serpentine coil or individual coils around the smart drive motor.
Love to see that washing machine motor wired up as a VAWT!
I have one and it puts out huge amounts of power at relatively low rpm but nobody has VAWT blade assemblies for sale!
Nice editing.
It reminded me of Sir Attenborough nature videos.
lol - cheers mate
I find the wind wall to be very appealing in multiple ways. Is there a reference for calculating size and shapes of rotors and spacing. It seems like an artistic way of creating power that won't upset the NIMBY neighbors. I'll search it of course, but I appreciate it if you have some good resources to share.
Good video and I'm liking this new video production style, very professional looking. You'll have the BBC knocking on your door to do a science and technology series soon.
Love the series! Quite keen to see what your findings of the small-scale tests are. And I would also love to see if stacking the serpentine coils with an offset would have any appreciable effect. Similar to how high torque motors do.
Yeah, totally agree. Oh, you made a passing comment on using a diode. As far as I know, solar panel arrays do a similar thing with bypass diodes.
they do mate but at the panel level not at the cell level i believe
I’m an IT project manager. Ask any older project manager what happens to big projects: they almost always fail. Do you want something robust? - then do a lot of small…
Robert an idea i'm working on just waiting for my ptc elements to arrive, take pc heatsink and its fan add a ptc element on the front place next to each other in an array and power by solar panel directly
Very well said sir.
Awesome video mate, loved the editing, nicely done
Interesting video Robert. From personal experience with my small 2kw wind turbine unfortunately controls are a must. You need to guard against over voltage, run away, breaking etc and then potentially have back systems for those as you really don't want a run away turbine 😊
you do need controls mate - my main point was over control not control per se
even the awe-inspiring cathedrals are made of a lot of small little stones and bricks linked together
Aah, I was hoping was going to be a video about the best/efficient way to use the coils from a washing machine as I just grabbed a ring that was dumped in the woods last week... Still a Great video though.
I have long been a proponent of small scale everything. My firm beliefe is that the larger the scale the larger the problems when something goes wrong. Bear in mind such things as food or fuel shortages in cities when the supply chain is disrupted or a garbage strike. I even go so far as to say that whenever anything becomes an industry it becomes corrupted and a negative influence. Or looking at it another way it becomes a detriment not a benefit.
I believe the ideal way of living is rural and power production can be done by each individual homeowner. Essentially each residence can be a cell in a network of rural cells where construction and power production can be done in a hybrid way with each site utilizing its unique options.
I have built many windmill form the Fisher and Paykel washing machines , These start of in New Zealand as washing Machines .I pull down to make windmill out of them, i can get 6 amp out on my mates Farm .There are book on how to do this in New Zealand,One is Call EcoInn ovation ,
Brilliant we’ll made video. Decentralised network is the future for robust capability
@Robert Murray-Smith That collection of coils from the washing machine has potential for home projects. What make and model is it out of?
If you call around washing machine repair places you can get many of these motors with broken wires that can easily be repaired if used as generators . If used as motors then they have to be repaired better for correct control but as generators not so much !
Got solar on my houseboat, a series of small wind turbines would be useful for the grey days and nights but with no moving parts the panels only require occasional cleaning. I think a series of turbines is going to need a fair bit of maintenance by comparison and there will be noise and vibration to think about.
i think it depends what you go for mate
what would be nice to do a video on is a manual method of switching when voltage is reached so as volts change it switches between coil arrangements to keep getting a set amount of voltage (with in a set range like say making sure it stays between 11 and 13 volts, for charging something that is intended to be 12 volts, which can then be used to run an inverter system, to get 120 or 240v AC (depending on your region)
also there is a very good tute you guys could highlight on how to make a pure sinewave inverter using Arduino's as the control for single split wave, and the basics for both a split wave and triple phase electric that could be filled in from the modified or square wave to being a pure sinewave inverter that is split phase or triple phase, Something to look at, I am still working on obtaining the higher power transistors for building a decent powered unit, for all three, on the cheap ;) (need fast acting ones as well as high power dissipation on those, as the pure sinewave unit is using PWM spaced out so after being sent into an inductor it smooths out between the pulses to create the ramping smoothly into an arc rather than either being a linear angle ramp or square wave to anyone other than rob and luke reading this, as I am sure they already know this, but figure anyone else can hunt that link down pretty easily with the search terms "arduino DIY pure sine wave inverter" as that is how I found them, and after the programming and testing with my oscilloscope, they are definitely good code, just need those power mosfets as it seems either you get low weak fast units or super high power units that are slow as a cucumber LOL )
Go many and go bigger! I have "working on " a counter rotating Ugurnsky. the idea was to put one or two generators in between them and mount a few of them around the property. They really catch the wind but I am not sure I want dot my yard with spinning sculptures so maybe something more like Bee Hives ( Darwin turbines) would be more aesthetically pleasing. So bigger parabolic shells and a powerful axial generator at the bottom. I checked video 1490 ( I think) where you built larger parabolic cones. How do you think you could similarly "cast" stacking ring slices for the intake (the wind gathering portion) as in your boat/camper generator video 1901 . Your videos are like a library. I will consult video 1835 and 1837 before deciding. Do you have a preference for wind gatherer?
Well Robert, quite the conundrum! Which leads to this question will the output from a serpent coil be greater or less than the output of those small individual coils shown on this video from the washing machine? Can I take it that the small individual coils take much more copper compared to the serpent coil. As always very thought provoking, but great to watch. Cheers Dennis “Herne Bay”.
Speaking of solar panels, I'd love you to create one that would be cooled by water (to increase efficiency) which in turn would heat the pool. I'd love to install such system when I build a house.
i like that idea mate
@@ThinkingandTinkering Great! Then I'm looking forward for implementation :)
I saw a guy who made a generator that was either 18 or 26 coils that he sealed in epoxy and he made a sandwich of the coils with magnets on both sides of the coils. I need to find the video, but the guy was pusing like 40 to 50 amps with a a bout a 5 or 6' across 10 blade turbine. All I can be sure of is that he was pushing 40 amps at low rpm. I will find it later and post it. He is in your part of the world, I think he's scottish. It was so long ago I saw it. I know I saw it!
Your editing confirms you would be a great candidate to be funded to start a BBC series. Worth asking after showing this video to the line up directors of the BBC. DVD:)
Scaleing up..
you have the washing machine drum you adapted
And with a little carpentry.. be interesting how much a home generator can produce?
something you had not mentioned too, is you get a law of diminishing returns on building something bigger and bigger, in many instances, and while you might get more power per cubic foot of machine, you will get reduced time before something wears out like bearings, compared to the micro sized devices, and the wind wall experiments you did show that if you arrange the units properly together they will increase the output of each other to come pretty close to matching if not superseding the power output of just a single unit, However I still want to see more work on directional baffling on VAWT designs to show how much they can be altered to get the massive power and speed that normally is missing from them, due to the spinning blades are being pushed on blades forcing them to attempt to rotate in both directions, and the shape of the blades just reduce the amount of resistance on the side that would push it the opposite direction,. while redirecting that wind from the back of hte blade to join the portion of wind hitting the front of the blade, will increase output by both reducing the wasted energy and reducing the resistance to spin the direction desired, then just put those all on a lazy susan so they can always make sure which ever direction they face will ultimately be into the wind to catch it and control direction, OR put a coil and magnets on them too so as they rotate around changing the direction of input some to increase it, you get some power too, out of it and maybe use the coil to control position with a detector all powered from it moving freely initially. lol
I have been thinking about optimized wind arrays for a decade now. Since coming across Viktor Schauberger. I thought there should be an optimized way to get maximum flow and resulting torque with vortex dynamics and capturing more of the actual force of the wind economically without the stressors on the materials used when "going big". Go small and wide instead seems like a more effective, and maintainable approach.
i agree mate
Keep working for the rest of us who wish we could do so. One open source solution would transform the world out of oligarchy monoculture big box dystopia into independent free people saying FU to all that.
Could you use a large cone of 15 degrees or less (to get the venturi effect) and funnel wind energy into a small area, which could run a small turbine? Would this work?
I agree. Large scale wind farms are expensive, inefficient at low speed and dangerous. Mass production of 12ft tall, 5ft wide vawt turbines would be cheaper
Then there's also the archemedes screw wind turbine. They're pretty nifty
Redundancy rocks! Big numbers mean more maintenance but it’s cheaper than maintaining the big stuff.
on those magic transistor mosfets, that are both ultra-fast acting and super high amperage (or wattage in general) being so rare, its in the cheap range that they are rare, you can find them for sale but the price is almost so high you might as well just buy a completed pure sinewave inverter LOL
I have brushless motors from rc aircraft. What if you rewound the coil with thinner, single wire?????🤔🤔
Go many, no question. The power management is a pain but the difficulty of maintaining large units and dealing with failed windings and mechanisms on large units.
As many alternators as possible too, if you’re dealing with solar. If it fails, you’re dead in the water.