Kestrel e400i wind turbine on Scoraig

Posted on 13/11/2011 by hugh

It’s time I mentioned the Kestrel e400i that will celebrate its first year of trouble free operation here on Scoraig in January 2012.  It’s installed at the Dome on a tower that was originally used to test the prototype Proven 6kW turbine (now the Kingspan Wind 6kW) in the late 1990s when Topher made the blades for that turbine.  That old turbine finally died of magnet adhesion failure.  I had to weld on an extension pipe to the tower for the Kestrel’s blade clearance.

Here are some photos:

I have yet to hear a bad word spoken about this turbine.  There were no issues with it during installation and it has never gone wrong.  (This is rather a spooky experience, given my previous knowledge of the technology.)  This turbine was designed by a Scotsman, Jim Carpy, and is built in South Africa. Eveready SA acquired Kestrel wind Turbines in 2006.  It does not as yet qualify for Feed in Tariffs via the MCS process.  I am told that the same turbine is now available as the upgraded Kestrel e400nb with a 3.5kW rating. “The e400nb is on independent testing with TUVNEL in East Kilbride since July 2011 and has also operated faultlessly. The test machine is grid connected with a Power One Aurora 3600 inverter.”

I fitted the system with a DC energy meter by Eltime Controls and we log the energy production every month.  Over the last 9 months it has averaged 400 kWh per month.  In October it produced 650 kWh (22 kWh per day).  During some of these months the turbine as been out of action for periods due to shortcomings in the load control system.

This is a legacy 110 volt battery system with 5 kW sine wave inverter and some very old sealed batteries from a military site.  (Note the 9 PV modules in one photo.)  For reasons of economy and to avoid the noise associated with PWM load control systems, battery charge control is achieved using two Morningstar Relay Drivers.  The first channel in each RD is used as an input.  The six outputs drive five heaters and a wind turbine trip signal that shuts the turbine down via its own ‘interface unit‘.

This works ‘adequately’ and provides a lot of heat, but there were teething troubles during which the inverter cut out, causing the turbine to trip.

The Kestrel runs very fast, but is smooth and quiet.  The sound it makes is businesslike, clearly audible but not intrusive.

Posted in Scoraig, UK small wind scene | 35 Comments

Alun Bush’s Scorraigweave Website

Posted on 30/10/2011 by hugh

Alan Bush is a friend and neighbour, and the original pioneer of Scoraig living.  He went to Tasmania for fifteen years but returned when MS had reduced his mobility.  We have done a lot of wind turbine work together and he has taught me a few tricks.

Alan and Kath make woven and knitted goods, and Alan writes books.  There is more information at their web site Scorraigweave  You can also find some of Alun’s ramblings and photos on this site.


View Scoraig in a larger map

Posted in Scoraig | 4 Comments

WindEmpowerment site worth a look now

Posted on 28/10/2011 by hugh

Jimmy of irish Solar has built a nice site for WindEmpowerment

Lots of information on the worldwide use of small wind turbines in local development

Posted in People | 1 Comment

Curso de Fabricación de Aerogeneradores de Baja Potencia

Posted on 20/10/2011 by hugh

500rpm in Argentina

are running a course for wind turbine construction

Download pdf

http://www.500rpm.org/detalle_noticia_rpm.php?ID=233

Posted in construction, courses, Notices, People | 3 Comments

Another wind turbine scam

Posted on 18/10/2011 by hugh

People will buy anything.  It’s important to check out the product!

Posted in Rooftop madness | 1 Comment

Wind tunnel testing in Holland

Posted on 15/10/2011 by hugh

TU Delft are conducting tests on the 1800 turbine

The identification of the performance of the wind turbine will be done by means of wind tunnel testing. For this a 1.8 diameter wind turbine based on the design of Hugh Piggott will be used. The first set of wind turbine tests will result in a powercurve for the potential aerodynamic performance for different types of loads on the turbine.

From a second set of wind tunnel tests the real powercurve will result. In this test the complete generator system including the battery will be tested. From this test also the furling behaviour will be identified. These first wind tunnel tests will clarify the performance of the wind turbine and make bottlenecks visible. Next to the wind tunnel test also experience and feedback from the field is required, to make a plan for an improvement of the wind turbine. The new design will be tested in the wind tunnel again and compared to the current design.

I am not sure that the wind tunnel will give a realistic idea of the way the turbine furls in real winds, but the testing is bound to reveal ways to improve the design.

Posted in People | 3 Comments

Proven reborn “Unfortunately it seems likely that Proven’s new owners will not be obliged to honour its guarantees”

Posted on 14/10/2011 by hugh

source

Receivers KPMG  said it had now sold the business and its assets to Kingspan Renewables.

The receivers said the successful sale not only safeguarded the jobs of 20 Proven Energy staff but provided an opportunity for continued manufacturing at the company’s Stewarton facility. “Kingspan Renewables intends to launch 6kW and 3kW turbines, incorporating the high performance, reliability and key features of the Proven P11 and P7 models, and will manufacture these products in Stewarton.

“A decision on whether or not to launch a 15kW turbine will be made at a later date, but any launch is unlikely to be before January 2013.”

Meanwhile, KPMG said suppliers or customers who have any claims with regard to warranties or other matters relating to the P7, P11 and P35 turbines should lodge a claim via the receivers and not with Kingspan.

“Unfortunately it seems likely that Proven’s new owners will not be obliged to honour its guarantees, which is not great news for farmers who have turbines on their land that are standing idle and who invested in the technology in good faith.”

…

See also Icon Energy collapse in wake of Proven and kingspan

Scottish farmer article

“The entry of larger organisations should also mean improved standards and procedures, with reliability and quality not an issue as the sector moves away from the cottage industry approach.”  teehee yeah right.

See also Myriad CEG helplines for Proven customers

A technical note.

DiameterMost useful rating kW ratingMax power rating Name(MWh/month @6m/s)
3.5 metres 3kWsince early 1990s Proven7
5.5 metres 6kWsince late 1990s Proven11
8.5 metres 15kWsince early 2000s but Proven35not yet fully developed.
Posted in UK small wind scene, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

rien zilvold upscaled 1800 12 volt windturbine

Posted on 14/10/2011 by hugh

Hi Hugh,
My upscaled 1800 12 volt windturbine is up and works fine
I used   Upscaled   1800-2150 m’n blades.
Tsr 6. 2 discs with magnets.
THE stator has 1.5mm coils with 120 turns.
The stator reaches 12 volt at 190 rpm.
I did open the airgap by 1 mm,so the 12 volt point wil be closer to 200 rpm.
It is not perfect yet because the tail is too light and i want to optimize the win turbine for 10-15mph winds also the stator is thicker then i wanted which makes the breakswitch less effective.

I am really  pleased with it especialy because I made it myself. I can now live off grid for much longer than with solar as the only energy source.

Posted in construction, People | 2 Comments

Pedal power using electric bike motors

Posted on 13/10/2011 by hugh

This video by

is from this interesting web page about bike motors

 

Posted in construction, pedal power, People, Video links | 1 Comment

Iliocht’s Wind turbine story at Irish site ‘Build your own wind turbine’

Posted on 13/10/2011 by hugh

There are some good photos and history of a 2.4 m diameter turbine with corroded magnets at the Build Your Own Wind Turbine site in Ireland.  A paint job on some corroded magnets in 2009 and we get to see how effective this was.

The story begins in 2009 with this servicing workshop.  The magnets were quite badly corroded. but they got cleaned up and painted as below in the next installment of the story here.

Here is a paint job they did in 2009.  Jump to 2011 and the turbine is revisited.

The alternator is pulled apart and this is what it looks like:

Not too bad really considering what it looked like in 2009.  I would probably have replaced them but they are very expensive.  There is another story here.

And a discussion on the Fieldlines Board covering the issue of neo magnet corrosion.

Finally some photos on facebook here.  Not all completely on the magnet topic.

Posted in construction, People | Leave a comment