Let’s make a DIY horizontal axis wind turbine project using wood. I have already created two horizontal and two vertical axis wind turbine projects for the New Physicist. You can find those tutorials on this blog by searching ‘DIY wind turbine’. The propeller of those wind turbines was made from PVC. Recently I decided to make a real wind turbine propeller.
Table of Contents
Materials/Tools You need
- 1 meter Long/2.5″ width/ 1″ dia Wood Pieces 3 Nos
- Supporting Wood pieces for tail and hub
- GI Pipes in Required length
- Geared DC motor as Dynamo
- Other Foundational Requirements
- You need Angle grinder/sander
- Wood/metal Cutting Tools, both hand and Powered
- Welding Machine and other Necessary Tools
- Drill andall required Drill bits
- Paint, sanding paper and Brushes
A propeller is what converts energy in the wind to mechanical energy. How do they do that? There’s some aerodynamics involved in converting wind energy to mechanical energy. You know that wind turbine blades are shaped like airplane wings. When the wind is flowing and there is an angle of attack (the angle between the chord line and the direction of wind flow) there will be an aerodynamic force that moves the blade in a particular direction. This force is called “LIFT”. You can read more about airplane aerodynamics. or wind turbine aerodynamics.
Step1: Make Propeller from Wood
You can skip the text-based explanation and just watch the below video to learn how to craft a perfect wind turbine propeller using teak wood. Or, if you have any doubts you can refer to the following guide. Let’s begin.
As we all know a propeller is the most and primary component of a wind turbine. The efficiency of the wind turbine depends mainly on the aerodynamic efficiency of the propeller to convert wind energy to mechanical energy. So, you must pay extra care while building the propeller. We have to cut three pieces of teak wood into an aerofoil shape. I am embedding some images of the process. But if you got doubts kindly refer to the video.
Home made wind turbine blades Step by Step
A wind turbine propeller blade as an aerofoil cross-section. Refer to the second image. We have to carve an aerofoil from the wood pieces. Three such aerofoil blades are needed to make a wind turbine. Do you know why wind turbines have three blades? If you have any doubts refer the video.
The homemade wind turbine propeller is ready. I suggest you use teak wood. So that you can easily sand them and carve the required shape. The most important and tricky part of a wind turbine is its propeller. Rest is a piece of cake. Make sure each blade weighs the same. Unless they are equal we cannot balance the propeller perfectly. Any imbalance caused by weight difference will lead to a drop in performance.
Step Two: Wind Turbine Gear&Generator Assembly
to be continued
I wonder if you could have used the wooden blades as a mould, then softened PVC on them to create the same shape in the PVC. That way, you’d have the same shape but much lighter blades, and you could reuse the wooden moulds to create a whole bunch of blades.