Wind turbine V4

thingiverse

I've built a turbine to generate electricity for small devices like smartphones or powering an LED strip since I couldn't use solar panels due to my balcony's limited sunlight. Fortunately, I live near the sea and experience consistent winds with the tides, making wind power a viable alternative. This wind turbine is remarkably reliable and robust, having survived numerous storms with minimal damage (some nuts loosened but were replaced by nyloc). You can view more information about this project on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8p_QvocnHA. The turbine starts producing electricity at a wind speed of approximately 3m/s (about .10km/h) with no load. At 20km/h winds, the measured torque is around 0.25N.m, which I believe should be sufficient to drive a stepper motor and produce some power but would likely increase the starting wind speed. I'm using a stepper motor from Digikey as the generator and a full bridge rectifier to produce 12V. You can also repurpose a motor from an old printer for this purpose. The transmission is a chain, which I prefer due to its ease of finding in local shops. At 15km/h winds, the turbine produces approximately 11.5V, 2mA (measured with a multimeter and anemometer). You can adjust the gear ratio to increase or decrease the speed of the generator as needed. I haven't yet recorded any charts but plan to do so with some additional electronics; stay tuned for updates! Currently, I'm working on storing the generated electricity in a 12V battery and restoring it for use.