Windmill Manufacturers or DIY
Due to global energy crisis, more and more home owners turn to alternative energy sources to enjoy the freedom of using free energy. One of the energy sources home owners usually turn to is wind energy. It is a clean free and reliable energy anyone can use. Wind turbine manufacturers also joined the frenzy and flooded the market with ready to install windmill kits. But are windmill kits from windmill manufacturers really worth your time and money? These windmill kits can be a quick road to getting free energy if you don’t mind paying thousands of dollars.
Ready to install windmill may only require a few assembly but can be very costly. If you are willing to spend thousands of your dollars for a windmill, then a ready to install windmill kit is the best way to go. However, it may take several years before you can recover your investments. So the energy you’d get from your windmill can’t be considered free for probably two or three years.
So what would be the best way to save energy and save from ready to install kits? The answer is simple; create a home-made windmill. Even though you have no engineering degree, you can still create a fully functional windmill for your home. All you need is a good energy guide and some legwork to collect all the materials you need. Windmills are made up of parts that can get damaged over time, and at times requires replacement. You can collect the same parts and assemble them yourself. Believe me, buying windmill parts individually cost way less compared with buying one that is pre assembled.
I’ve also mentioned you’d need a good energy guide. A good energy guide will provide you useful information about the parts that you’ll need, how to find high quality parts that are within the budget, and most importantly how you will assemble the device. Again, you don’t need to have a ph. D to qualify and make a windmill. A good guide is already enough to provide you with the important details.
As an alternative energy enthusiast, I’ve come across literally hundreds of energy guides. But most of them only come with fancy offers and solutions. So far, one of the alternative guides I would recommend is the Earth4Energy guide. What’s good about it is it contains all the necessary information you need to know about constructing a windmill. They also have instructional videos making most of the complicated and tricky tasks when making a windmill very simple and easy to do. As your fellow windmill enthusiast, I’d suggest you create your own windmill. Don’t waste money on expensive systems offered my windmill manufacturers.
Windmill Parts – How it Works?
Over the years, different windmill designs were developed to enhance windmills efficiency and to increase its productivity. There may be hundreds of windmill designs variations and modifications made but the basic windmill parts still remain the same.
The windmill, otherwise known as the modern day wind turbine is a device which harnesses the winds energy and converts it into a more useful form of energy such as electricity. Early windmill have a much different purpose. Years ago, windmills were popular devices used for grinding grains and even rocks. The early settlers that came to the southern part of the U.S. also relied on windmills to pump water from the ground in order to survive the arid foreign land. After a century, the people’s needs have change. Wind turbines these days are no longer just for grinding or pumping water, instead it’s it has proved itself to be a reliable device for generating electricity.
Small scale home application wind turbines and industrial scale wind turbines used in wind farms shares the same basic windmill parts.
Blades- The blades are usually the first thing you’ll notice when seeing a wind turbine. These are either made from plastic, wood or aluminum, and it often looks like a World War 2 planes rotor. The number of blades on a single wind turbine varies. Most wind turbines used in wind farms, have three blades and this is the least number of blades you can put on a wind turbine. Small scale home application wind turbines can also have three blades but can also range up to twenty blades depending on the design.
Tower – It is a tall structure that holds the blades and the generator high in the air. The height varies depending on the wind speed on the specific area. Areas with low wind speed usually requires taller tower to achieve consistent wind speeds at high altitude. The tower is commonly made of either steel or polyvinyl chloride depending on its application. Wind farms usually use either steel or aluminum for their towers to ensure durability and reliability. Small scale wind turbines often use polyvinyl chloride tubing to form the tower structure.
Generator- The generator is a device that sets modern wind turbines apart from early windmills. It is a device that converts the mechanical energy from the rotating shaft into electricity. The generators capacity will define how much energy your wind turbine can generate, so when getting a wind turbine, it is very important to know how much electricity the generator can create.
Transmission – The transmission is made up of sets of gear used to adjust the turbines rotation speed according to the wind speed. Transmissions are not used on small scale wind turbine applications, but it is very important for industrial grade wind turbines.
Base – The base is also another important part of windmills and wind turbines. It is a strong solid foundation that keeps the tower on the ground. Gust of strong winds can easily tumble a tall structure like a wind turbine. The base secures the tower firmly on the ground.
A Brief History of the Windmill
Due to the ever increasing global demand for energy and the ever supply, the whole world is currently suffering from energy crisis. One of the permanent solutions to energy crisis is alternative energy sources. Before fossil fuel was ever discovered, ancient civilization has already used much powerful and unlimited supply energy and that is wind energy. The first wind turbine ever discovered was in ancient Persia. Archeologists say that it was a type of vertical axis wind turbine which has sails for harnessing wind energy and were used for grinding grains, pumping water and irrigation
Windmills became popular in the US in the early 1900’s. It was an automated way of pumping water out from the ground. One of the most successful designs ever created was the aermotor windmill. Aermotor windmills were known for its efficiency and its durability. In fact some of the aermotor windmills built a century ago still operate up to this day.
The application for energy and the use of windmills are not just limited to grinding corn or pumping water. Although the trend has changed, wind power still proves to be beneficial in many ways. One of the solutions to our current energy crisis is wind energy. Using a wind turbine, the energy from the wind can be converted into electrical energy. The modern day wind turbine functions very much similar to a traditional windmill except that it only generates electricity.
Using wind power has so many advantages over conventional methods of producing electricity. Much of the energy generated today comes from fossil fuel. This type of energy is non renewable. According to experts, we have already consumed half of the supply of fossil fuel and they’ve estimated that with our current rate of consumption, the entire supply will only last for 35 more years. Fossil fuel is also no doubt the biggest contributor to pollution and global warming. On the other hand wind energy is completely limitless. We can enjoy wind energy today, our children and our grand children without ever worrying that it would run out. Producing electricity out of the wind is completely safe to the environment. There no exhaust gases or fumes that can potentially harm the environment. Most of all, wind energy is free. Although we might have to pay some amount for the transmission, etc. But it would surely be at much lesser compared to what we are paying these days.
More and more countries are now using wind power to generate electricity. And it’s a good to know that the total amount of energy produced from wind power doubles every year.
Savonius Windmill
A savonius windmill could be just the thing you need to harness free energy at home. Free energy is all around us. Wind power is one of the richest energy sources that we can harness using a wind turbine. One of the simple and easy to make turbine designs we can use is known as the savonius wind turbine.
This type of windmill was developed by a Finnish engineer by the name of Savonius in 1920. The device was then widely used for pumping water and grinding grains. In recent decades, savonius design is a great alternative to conventional wind turbine since early designs were quite sophisticated and costly to maintain.
The savonius wind turbines is a very simple design. Any DIY enthusiast can create their own savonious wind turbine at home. Homemade savonius turbines are usually made from oil drums split lengthwise. The two halves are then joined together at one end forming two scoops with an “S” shape when looking down on the rotor from the above.
Unlike conventional wind turbine with horizontal shafts; a savonius wind turbine is one of the very few designs which have a vertical axis also commonly referred to as VAWT. The “S” shaped scoops rotate around a vertical axis. Due to the vertical axis design, the system will work at any wind direction. The system also functions well even when it is close to the ground so it doesn’t require any tall tower to operate which is a big advantage.
Putting up a tower for a conventional wind turbine can be quite costly. Keeping the system on the ground also means that maintenance can be carried out with ease. A typical horizontal axis wind turbine will only work at areas that have winds speed reaching up to 11 miles an hour and with minimal obstruction.
If your area doesn’t meet the requirements of a conventional wind turbine; a savonius windmill may be your best alternative. The rigid design and the low profile makes the savonius turbine sturdy and reliable even at bad weather conditions.
Due to the simplicity of its drag type design, and its lack of tower,the savonius design also has its limitations. The savonius windmill doesn’t offer much efficiency. The system can only generate as much as half of the energy produced using horizontal axis wind turbines.
