Hugh Piggott's blog

Picture diary from Leucate France

Posted on 25/04/2010 by hugh

Lots of nice photos from the Leucate course in the south of France on a clifftop in an abandoned communications base near a lighthouse.
There is a page dedicated to the small 1200 diameter turbine (watch out it rotates to the left or counter-clockwise as it is known in the USA)

Also some details of an interesting wire tensioner invented by Eddy of Tripalium. We managed to get all the coils identical and the right size to fit exactly in the stator. (This also involved some experimenting with different thickness shims.)

I am working on some video footage. I also taught a second course in Normandy, also with Tripalium, straight after, so I am a bit overloaded with material right now. And trying to get home but have to go to a conference in Glasgow instead.

too much fun…

Posted in courses, People | Leave a comment

Warning…These magnets are Extremely Dangerous….

Posted on 24/04/2010 by hugh

Harold Graley sent me this:

Warning…These magnets are Extremely Dangerous…. I was prying two Magnets apart when all of a suddon, the two magnets slammed together pinching my index finger between them… There was no one around to help me, so I pulled them off myself taking a piece of my finger 1 cm long x .5 cm wide. or in English 1/2 in x 1/8 inches with them… Please … Don’t do this alone… These Magnets are Extremely Dangerous… Thank you … HD Graley – USA

Later he expanded on what happened and sent me this sketch.

They were N42 Ni-Cu-Ni 2 in x 1 in x 1/2 in … It happened while trying to take one from the stack. I found that if you take a wooden wedge and drive in between them, then there is no problem…The wedge I used is the piece of wood that I cut from the root section of the propellers…. I will send you a drawing of the method I found safe and easy…

That’s a pretty slick system. I usually just rotate the magnets and then lever them off, taking great care to pull them well apart. I have found that lately since I emphasise the dangers I do not see injuries with handling the magnets in my classes but the risk is certainly there as the magnets tend to be surprising.

Posted in construction, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

pdf drawings of how to build a wind turbine

Posted on 21/04/2010 by hugh

Piet Willem Chevalier writes

I posted my drawings on my site that helped me allot explain to the local malians how to make the wind turbine. Please tell others who might be interested in it for training purposes in developing countries, that they can download it from here .

Posted in courses, developing world, People | 2 Comments

Recipe book axial wind turbine plans now translated into Spanish

Posted on 18/04/2010 by hugh

Bajatec are now selling the my metric axial plans in Spanish

The Hungarian translation is nearly ready too.

Posted in Books, People | Leave a comment

Coil winder made from 5 mm steel sheet

Posted on 14/04/2010 by hugh

Noam Dotan writes:
Hello Hugh. While making the laser cut for the new turbine, we have decided to spoil ourselves and cut the parts for the coil winder from 5 mm metal sheet. We made the coils yesterday and they cam nice and easy. Attached are few images of the parts and an AutoCad drawing of the part. The narrow slot is for the start and end wire. The wide slot is for the adhesive tape to hold the coil before opening the winder front part. The longer screw is to hold the start and end wires so one person can do the whole thing by himself. The spacing between the two parts is maintain by copper or brass 10 mm OD pipe that is cut to 10 mm length and inserted on the 8 mm screws. One can weld the screws head to the back part of the winder, so they stay in place and thus to take it apart you need to open only the middle screw nut. We cover the edges of the metal parts with tape so it will not harm the copper wire while winding It might be an overkill for a workshop but if you make quite few of them coils it is really more easy and the end result is nice. All the best. Noam

More about wind turbines in Palestine in this article.

Posted in CometME, developing world, People | 1 Comment

When the wind stops

Posted on 03/04/2010 by hugh

Vivek Mundkur writes:

Hi Hugh

I got hold of 100 LED modules and lit them up with the pedal generator.
With effortless pedalling they work. I could light up 100 more I think. Each LED takes only 0.72 watts power but gives as much light as a 15 watt incandescent bulb.

Cheers

Vivek

Posted in developing world, pedal power | 2 Comments