Off Grid Reaper Wind Turbine Producing 2.6 kW!
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Published 2019-04-04
In an area with a mean annual wind speed of 11 mph (5 mps) or higher, this turbine will produce 500 kWh+ of energy every month, nearly enough to take an avg home completely off the grid:
www.windatlas.ca/rose-en.php?ni=1117&nj=380&height…
Apologies for the quality (recorded from my DVR system while I was away at work). This video shows the Reaper axial flux wind turbine exceeding the amp limit of the charge controller and producing ~2.6 kW in ~24 mph dirty wind (ie: turbulent wind - I need to raise the turbine another 20 ft to get above the tree canopy and into cleaner wind with more consistent speed). Exactly what the wind power equation P = 1/2ξpAV^3 says it should be producing with a 30% coefficient. Gotta love math.
As some of you know, the Midnite Classic 200 controller that I'm using can only handle a boost current of ~78 amps on 12-48V systems, which means that the maximum input power from the turbine while it's connected to my 24V battery bank is ~2200 watts. The maximum input voltage from the turbine that the controller can handle is 200V. When the turbine exceeds these limits or the batteries become charged, the controller will disconnect the turbine and - if no clipper/diversion control is hooked up for protection - it ends up free wheeling out of control at high speeds. Because I haven't yet installed a diversion load, that scenario is exactly what's shown near the end of this video. Those new blades dug in and the tower held its ground, though.
The next step will be to upgrade to a 48V battery bank as soon all this snow melts and I can get the rest of the PV installed and do it all at once. Then the controller can handle up to ~4400 watts from the turbine instead of 2200.
I need to add a bit of weight to the tail as well, because it seems to be furling in wind speeds somewhere between 15-20 mph, and would prefer that it furled at 30 mph instead.
I also want to try out a couple of new high voltage stators and see how much I can improve low wind production.
In the meantime, I'm already onto the next project. If you don't already, follow me on Facebook to catch the first glimpse of what it is. I'll be posting pics in a day or two.
Get the plans for this turbine: www.resystech.com/3-kw-wind-turbine
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