Small Wind Turbine With A Blender Motor (VIDEO)

Wind-powering one's home typically means one of two things: buying into a pool of money that offsets the cost of running a wind farm -- that is to say, buying electrons that are probably generated by conventional means and blindly subsidizing the work required to build or run wind projects, which will (probably) feed "clean" electrons into the grid elsewhere -- or planting a huge, expensive and sometimes loud wind turbine on your property.

One entry in a Google-run contest would like to change that, according to the Seattle Times:

Imagine walking into a big-box retail store and grabbing a wind turbine off the shelf.

"For me, so many of these [wind] systems just aren't practical," Maglaque said, referring to expenses and inspections needed to install other wind devices. "I should be able to go down to Costco and pick one up by a big jar of mayonnaise."

Here's what his idea looks like:

What do you think?

Quick Poll

Do you think home-use wind power can work?

No, it's too ugly

No, it's too loud

No, there are too many certification problems

Yes, this guy has the right idea

Yes, but not like this (explain in comments)

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Comments

[AngieMom57]

Way too cool!

[SimJack]

What I see is a lovely roost for the birdies on windless days. If the surfaces are teflon coated, then maybe all that bird crap will just slide off onto my roof where it will be easier to clean up.

[darkclouds55]

Making electricity with wind power is very simple, making ENOUGH power to make a significant difference is a little more complicated. These type solutions are like making a cup of gasoline to run your car after several days work. Not realistically helpful.

[Stop the NWO]

I call SCAM!

[jerryd]

Not much here is useful.
The blade type is very ineff getting less than 10%
The motor will not turn fast enough to produce power even if it has a PM field. It probably has series field which does not work as a generator. It certainly won't make AC power
The only eff, useful windgen is a 2-3 blade horizontal type like you see in wind farms. All others are scams.
To build your own isn't that hard for a handy person and very cost effective. Google Axial-flux wind generator and join a good RE or wind generator list for help like wastewatts­@yahoogrou­ps.

[Elahrairah]

Something isnt right here. Im an artist, what do I know? But it seems really dangerous to put a blender with fins on your roof and then plug it in to a wall socket? How is that supposed to work? Sounds like a good way for a no-nothing kind of guy like me to get hurt.

[Chad Maglaque]

Folks, the Jellyfish doesn't have an actual blender motor inside - but it's as simple as plugging in a kitchen appliance. As noted above, it uses an induction motor-generator and the same proven technology that has been used in the wind power industry for years - only on a smaller scale. For more details, go to www.jellyfishwindpower.com

[research]

Yes!

These motors have been used in Wind turbines for a long time and are very reliable, better than inverters based systems. Most wind turbines, even the small ones, are variable pitch.

http://necec.engr.mun.ca/ocs2007/viewpaper.php?id=6&print=1

The big advantage is the cost. Grid connect inverters cost more per watt than The wind turbines themselves.

[KillTheMessenger]

research, you are buying into a simple Youtube scam here (there are plenty of them). And that inverters are more costly than the generator is nonsense. They are hard to design, that's true. But the total bill of materials and the per item cost is negligible in comparison to a well designed, efficient wind turbine.

[joebaggadonuts]

Folks have been building wind power generators for years. If you notice, the designs change rapidly as the technology advances and there is _no_ simple, build it from a left over appliance motor plan. Several folks on here have already debunked this in technical terms. Don't try this at home.

[stuporman]

the focus of this is to send electricity back to the grid rather than getting OFF the grid.

[instagladiator]

Whoa! Although I haven't seen the movie, have viewed portions of it on YouTube, but, Idiocracy seems to be "just around the corner"?

This is one peachy little scam for those who have no idea of what E, I and/or R is. I cannot help but chuckle at the thought of the guy down the street doing one of these and then going banana's when he see's the blades are turning against-the-wind (depending upon how the motor was mounted). "IT'S A MIRACLE!!"

But, rest assured there will be those out there that will try this, I've no doubt about that.

And the author of this article needs to do a little research on wind power, etc. That's evident.

[smokeystover39]

Use a blender motor huh? Snap out of it - that motor is an AC motor and is incapable of generating ANY elecrticity no matter how long or how hard you spin the armature. Magnetic lines have to be cut in order to induce an elecrtical field in a winding. The magnetic field can come from either a magnet as in the old automobile generators OR induced with a small amount of current as in an auto alternator. So-o-o using the alternator as an example and the formula V X A = Watts you could theoretically generate 1,200 watts with the auto alternator, BUT here's the catch your voltage would be 12 volts and your current would be DC - NOT AC. OH darn...now we need something to change the DC current into AC AND step up the current to 120 volts PLUS clean the voltage to avoid spikes. After viewing the video I thought - "Yep, P.T. Barnum would be proud - his maxim still applies."

[instagladiator]

How true how true.

[quiviran]

And synchronize the phase of the local generator to the grid. Just not quite so simple, but it could be done. Even so, the amount of power generated would be small compared to the total use in a home.

[tinrobot]

Plugging a motor directly into a wall outlet will draw power to run the motor, so you'll create an electric fan, not a windmill.

If you're running a motor backwards as a generator, you first need the right type of motor. After that, your output will most likely not be the 120v/60hz that your house uses. You'll need to run it through an inverter to get it to the point where you can feed it to the grid.

This video is very deceptive as to how easy it is to make one of these.

[NWBrunette]

Its not necessarily deceptive, its simplified. Remember there are millions of people in the country who voted for George twice and they likely don't understand the difference between a fan and a windmill, or a motor and a generator, or know what an inverter is. You have to start at first base for a lot of people and hopefully generate a little interest, the potential for getting them outside their normal box. This seems like a thoughtful approach. Just because you market something doesn't mean you have to hit them up front with all the details.

[KillTheMessenger]

Too bad that "simplified" does not work in engineering. A machine either works or it doesn't. This one, as many have pointed out, doesn't. And that's pretty much the end of the story.

In any case, if you want a wind turbine, you can buy one. It's just not going to make you any money if you have electricity at average rates. If you happen to be off the grid, it's a whole different ballgame.

[quiviran]

Never mind GWB. Think about how few people have a clue about what goes on inside a cell phone!. Yet they use them every day.

[politigal]

Not an electrical engineer- but truly did not get the plug in wall bit- seems to me the power generated would need to be stored in batteries or immediately converted to enter through your main electric panel to feed your appliances. Wouldn't you need a splice so that when windmill was generating it would replace/add to the electric coming to your home from the grid.
The example in the video is not attractive enough for widespead residential use. A super modern house might carry it, but I wouldn't place it near my little dutch colonial.
I have thought about trying to set up a small residential windmill system, I wanted to do 3 of them, varying heights in a corner garden- largest maybe 25 ft tall. Honestly do not know what something small like that could generate - lots of research needed- but thanks to the economy- I am probably years out from being able to build my "green" house & in the meantime, something might be developed.

[philosopherkingtomas]

dangerous !

[mclain]

I've worked on commercial wind turbines that are built this way, except we used elevator motors (in 1985). As a concept, it can work. However, modern turbines use generators that are much more efficient. As for the comment about the controller, you need one if you are going to prevent _using energy_ when the wind isn't blowing - it turns into a fan instead of a wind turbine. Things get more complicated there since you need to match up the generator output sine wave with the sine wave on the power grid to keep things from going boom when the turbine switches to generation mode.