I'm thinking of taking plastic chemical drums (I can get em free) and cut em into quarters and mounting say six of the quarters on five foot arms from the central shaft. I figure the further out I can get them from the center the more speed I can get on the main shaft


the PVC thing was for the horizontal axis turbines on that web site

I gotcha now !

I've looked into wind power quite extensively. What surprised me was that they have a 120 volt brake system that, if you're not using a battery storage system, will shut the turbine down whenever the power grid goes down in the area. The reason for this is they don't want you sending power into the grid when they are repairing it. So batteries are must.

Check your area to see what windzone you are in and if it would support a turbine. Vertical turbines need a lot more wind than horizontal ones. Most won't even start to produce electric until 8 to 10 mph.

Higher (more expensive) is better as the wind isn't disturbed by groundbased objects which means units must be installed far away from trees and buildings.

Hope this helps.

All this talk about pole mounting and vertical versus horizontal positioning is uh...well...

You can have the best ideas and designs but your local or state building codes may prohibit installation depending on your local code or how your property is zoned. See your building code/permit dept. first. They might even have plans on record and should have the owner's names on record. If it is public information, well you might want to contact someone who has installed one. They might have very useful information about not only the ease of installation, but what pitfalls to look out for or even how to get around code problems. You also don't want to invest time and materials only to find out that you are not to code and have to tear down your structure. I am sure that if you were going to sell your electricity back to the grid, somewhere along the line someone in the building code/permit office would notice. Good luck on your project.

I have seen so many new wind generators out here. Its amazing to me when looking and thinking their costs,,as the most popular one is a vertical shaft with a horizontal three winged (fan blade style)one..Each wing is about 140 feet long and they use three of them. THEIR EVERYWHERE!
Like EVERYTHING designed to be or do better, I have also seen MANY of these DOWN from not working right? Plus,,I am not a genius here, but every action and its reaction,,causes life expectancy to where out? I wonder how long of life do these generating motors have before they need rebuilt??
THEY BETTER last twenty years or more,,for the price I am sure they COST,,,at least the ones Ive seen?
200 a month could be saved through solar energies being built for your hot water? And Glass windows on your roof for the sun to naturally heat? And if you wanted to create a truly cool cost efficient home,,,,in-ground is really the way I would go..
Why heat and cool above? When ground temps, stay the same year round, with one small wind fan and solar, and glass,,,you could live, cost free, except for water, and electric,,yet your generator might subsidize THAT to?
Let me hit YOU with an idea,,please, try not to laugh to much..
We all played with a magnifying glass when we were young,,and burned holes in paper right? OK,
SO now I ask,,why hasn't anyone(I have never seen one)ever built a
kind-of LARGE magnifying glass over a giant rod and have the magnified glass centered at its top core of that rod.
THIS has to heat that rod, if the rod was centered in a special made home,,its center would be true to this house and all its rooms..as the rod heats up,,it heats the house..
It could retain its heat for some time? Like through a night.
YET,,I have never even heard,read,or this, being a topic of conversations till my own here or anywhere???,lol,
That rod would be about four feet in circumferences and 10 to 15 feet high...and made of a metal known to heat quickly and hold its heat?

where I live (in the desert) there are no building codes or inspectors even

I've been reading about the "Grid Intertie" circuits

it has to be three phase and the phase cycle of each (the three phases are 120 degrees out from each other) and each phase has to be synchronised to its correponding phase on the grid. So it has to be retarded or advance to match

like this


so a wind turbine dynamo will have to be rectified to clean DC and then inverted to get the 60hz prefereably with a delta. I doint like star or wye for some reason. I haven't used em much so I'm just more comfrtable with delta



and they want multiple kill switches between it and the grid

and a backup load resistance for when the grid is down to burn off the power when your making and they aint taking

My vision of that setup is

insteadof the magnifying glass(too smallscale) is a fresnel lens. A fresnel lens is stamped plastic with rings engraved into it. the rings are arranged like micro prisms and focus the sun a order of magnitude better than just a transmissive lens.

especially if you coat the parabola with a extra reflective dielectric coating

normal reflection from glass. its not rreally ini phase but is almot canceling the phase


but a extra reflective coating is the right thickness to bounce back in phase to create constructive interference

high reflecive mirrors, mirror curve withg wavelength (we want high say 2 -3 microns (0.7micron 0r maybe 0.8ish for some peple is the highest we can see)
reflectance curves by lambda for Gold and silver front surface mirrors



fresnel lens cross section demonstrating the stamped prisms and reflectors




anyway set the fresnel lens over a parabolic arc mirrored trough. in a parabolic arc all incoming rays are focused to one spot

as shown below


run matte black high temp tube down the trough at the coinciding focal points of the parabola AND the fresnel lens and meter a premeasured quantity of water to flash steam it. It should hit 1000 to 1200 degrees.

But I want the steam to work a single piston to harness mechanical energy from the sun. maybe run a dynamo or a well pump or a giant band saw. pretty much anything. Its about 10% energy conversion. but its free so who cares?

might work. gonna take a few prototypes for proof of concept