Author Archives: hugh

About hugh

I live off-grid in NW Scotland and have spent my life playing with wind turbines. I also love small hydros. Hands on renewable energy is my thing and I like to learn and to share my experiences.

Electronic edition of Wind turbine plans

Posted on 03/08/2010 by hugh

My Wind Turbine Recipe Book is now available in electronic form on Amazon Kindle. As yet, this is only the metric edition but if the project is successful I will also adapt the ‘English units’ (inches) edition for Kindle too. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | 2 Comments

Chris Olsen writes on rust prevention

Posted on 03/08/2010 by hugh

“Hi Hugh, “I remembered just now about a post you made in one of those threads on Fieldlines where you are investigating ways to prevent magnet corrosion. “I have been painting my rotors with a product called Rust Master Primer … Continue reading →

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Nicely welded frame and tail

Posted on 28/07/2010 by hugh

Michael Jones in Ireland sent me these pictures of his wind turbine.

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Answering some questions about rooftop wind

Posted on 27/07/2010 by hugh

My answers to some questions: (1) We’re looking at some of the design problems of rooftop turbines, and we had an expert installer tell us that in a best-case scenario, a rooftop turbine can generate 18 to 33 percent of … Continue reading →

Posted in Rooftop madness | 2 Comments

Treadle Powered Computer

Posted on 22/07/2010 by hugh

Thanks to Jean-Paul Tarit for these pictures of his treadle powered computer.

Posted in People | 2 Comments

Real world data

Posted on 12/07/2010 by hugh

Here is a site with some real world kWh per month as generated by Eoltec, Proven and Bergey machines in the UK. Data uploaded by users. http://www.renew-reuse-recycle.com/ Direct link to spreadsheet

Posted in UK small wind scene | Leave a comment

Courses in England and nearby

Posted on 25/06/2010 by hugh

Some course dates in England for imminent courses that I will not be teaching but they are based on my design: V3 are doing the following: Introduction to Building a Wind Turbine -Weekend Course16th – 18th July, Workhouse, Wales How … Continue reading →

Posted in Notices, UK small wind scene | Leave a comment

Blade hub question

Posted on 22/06/2010 by hugh

Hercule writes: Hello I’m trying to sketch in CAD the blades for a 3m turbine using your 2009 metric recipe book (I’m enjoying the read so far). For some reason I am getting an overlap of 76mm (see image attached). … Continue reading →

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Galvanised disks

Posted on 16/06/2010 by hugh

I have just received a batch of galvanized disks for making magnet rotors. Some ten 300 mm diameters and a pair of 660 mm for my big windmill. No more rusty magnet rotors! It cost me 64 pence per kg, … Continue reading →

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Bike pedal power project at school

Posted on 14/06/2010 by hugh

Here is a nice video from Delaware about a bike using the axial flux alternator for a school class project.

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