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Josh8loop · 08-15-2011, 07:07 PM

Fellas,

This is really intersting stuff! I have a small wind turbine at my house that is based on a PMA(Permanent Magnet Alternator). It is more efficient than it's rotor excited counterparts such as car alternators that use up to 30-50 watts to get going. The only issue I have had with mine is that the voltage varies with rotor RPM which is to be expected of course. I am using very low voltage drop Schottkey diodes to rectify the 3 phase output to DC. Since the DC voltage varied so much, I needed a way to tame it and make it usefull. I ended up finding some DC-DC converters on Ebay that have the unique ability to take anywhere from 18-75 Vdc and put out a constant user adjustable voltage output. Overall the system works quite well. I wonder if rectifying the car alternator output with some low voltage drop diodes(like mentioned above) and coupled with using DC-DC converters could increase the alternators efficiency a bit?

08-15-2011, 07:07 PM	#63 (permalink)
Josh8loop Definately a Modder! Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Port St. Lucie, Florida Posts: 94 Thanks: 5 Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts	Fellas, This is really intersting stuff! I have a small wind turbine at my house that is based on a PMA(Permanent Magnet Alternator). It is more efficient than it's rotor excited counterparts such as car alternators that use up to 30-50 watts to get going. The only issue I have had with mine is that the voltage varies with rotor RPM which is to be expected of course. I am using very low voltage drop Schottkey diodes to rectify the 3 phase output to DC. Since the DC voltage varied so much, I needed a way to tame it and make it usefull. I ended up finding some DC-DC converters on Ebay that have the unique ability to take anywhere from 18-75 Vdc and put out a constant user adjustable voltage output. Overall the system works quite well. I wonder if rectifying the car alternator output with some low voltage drop diodes(like mentioned above) and coupled with using DC-DC converters could increase the alternators efficiency a bit? __________________ 2002 VW Jetta TDI 5-speed(completed 01M-5-speed swap at 155K miles) 45 MPG City with the 01M, 5-speed 60+ MPG City. Nokian Entyre Low RR Tires. Experimenting with the "Hybrid" 205 Deg F T-stat: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread...=306799&page=4 .. Last edited by Josh8loop; 08-16-2011 at 07:55 PM..