any 3rd World Windmill (land-bases) designs?s

[Squidly-Diddly]

I've seen a few ideas for boats for 3rd World here, but how about some sailing rigging expertise to design a land-based windmill?


I'm thinking of something that could be constructed of any sticks or linear material and use any sort of fabric(or thatching) and most likely run a generator/altinator of automotive origin, with possibility of running more than one off the same windmill.

Hopefully, it would be semi-self regulating/flurring/trimming, maybe with a weight on a rope to regulate amount of force being transmitted and/or trim the sails to acheive higher RPMs in lighter winds.

The tricky part would be figuring out a super-low tech method of trimming the sails while they are in motion. Maybe a gate where their relievant parts get adjusted on each revolution?

I'm thinking of something about 20' tall with the post secured by trianglation of 3 ropes.

Gearing it up is another big problem as I imagine the windmill would be turning at approx. 60RPM but an automotive generator wants 1000s of RPMs. Maybe a large diameter crude pulley on the windmill driving a rope which would be tensioned by a weighted pulley?

[gonzo]

Just look at any old windmill. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.

[Poida]

Your right Gonzo, and there's no point in reinventing the windmill either.

Australia's full of windmills. There is no need to change the angle of the blades, as they are set to the worste conditions so they are really good in the best conditions.

For electricity they normally charge batteries so the speed of the windmill isn't changed, the current is electrically regulated.

For water, any excess water, when the tank is full, is drained back down the hole it came from, recycling.

Windmills are better manufactured in an industrial area as they can be completely disassembled and transported to site. However for water you need a hole in the ground, bit of a problem.

And electrcity in a 3rd world country isn't much good because you can't eat electricity.

[ancient kayaker]

Some info on Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windmill
Images old and new here http://www.google.ca/search?q=windmi...w&ved=0CGMQsAQ

[gonzo]

What I like about old windmills is that they are made out of sticks, sometimes brick or stone and natural fiber sails or wooden slats.

[masalai]

Much of the "third world" I have seen both personally and researching for stuff on the web is adequately serviced locally, yet still arrogant fools still try to deliver technology and scale up for "efficiency", without researching that, "that is just overkill and not worth-while" - (Yes put it - we will then have something to sell that is really useless for our situation...)

[Boston]

go with a vertical axis turbine that you can make out of old barrels and a car alternator. Really primitive and parts are everywhere

check out

these turbine alternaters are easy to make

[Leo Lazauskas]

Originally Posted by Boston

go with a vertical axis turbine that you can make out of old barrels and a car alternator. Really primitive and parts are everywhere

check out

these turbine alternaters are easy to make

They are certainly cheap to build, but they are not very efficient. Being drag
devices they also need a very strong support structure.

Here's an extended version of a paper on another vertical axis device that
was published today in the journal "Renewable Energy":
http://www.cyberiad.net/library/pdf/...feb%202012.pdf

The published shorter version is at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...60148112001395