Going to bite the bullet - Futurenergy Turbine

WOW Shawn that looks cool!!!

Im thinking about doing the same as your one now and not the futerengergy one!!! as it would be more of a challenge!!

just got a few questions as it is odd ie a electric bike motor!!!!

1) what motor did you use ie 250w / 500w 1000w motor ( just looking on ebay there are several)

2) how much energy have you got from this unit in one day?

3) the wire that comes out of the motor i guess goes down the metal tubbing ( ie you have extending the wire )
and what does it connect to after that ie an inverted / controller etc?? I guess im just a bit shocked a bike motor would work in that way as i never seen it on any other websites.

many thanks

Tim

It generates three phase so has to rectified.
Its spec as a bike motor was 48v/400w brushless and gearless.
I just used bullet connectors and some 30A 110v extension cable to the rectifier.
Dont know what it does in kwhs but if its 20mph winds in two days it can run a tv for 8hrs at around 70w.

Puddingbag
Not odd at all when you think about it!

Permanent magnet motors also work backwards as generators/alternators, and most electric bike hub motors are engineered from the start to work reliably at low RPM, in a hostile, wet, and heavily-vibrating environment, and to keep their electrical bits as safe as they can by keeping them still and having the magnets whizz around instead.

Only slight drawback as far as I can see is that bicycles lean into corners, so their bearings are all designed to take very heavy radial loading punishment from crap roads and fat riders, but naff-all axial loading. Push a bike hub motor up on a stick as a wind turbine though, and although it will bear its own weight radially, the reaction thrust on those bearings when the blades actually spin is axial, and they are not designed to take that at all.

Rolls-Royce designs like the Ginlong units, and home-made Piggott type alternators using car or trailer hubs, use proper tapered thrust bearings. For the rest of us using the other ball-bearing types, they knacker and have to be replaced every so often. But what the hell, theyre cheap, its part of the game of DIY, and I personally like playing around anyway.

hi ben ,

i happened to know the future energy pma are made in china, with bearings as used in motorcycle wheels.
which work very well,
regards mike

I believe deep groove radial bearings are perfectly acceptable on small machines.
I would always go for a thrust bearing personally, just me.

Ben.