ceiling fan to vertical wind generator

[bgoner]

Hey there,
saw a project: plastic bottle to vertical wind generator. Would try and make it from the big ones. For this I took old russian 220V celing fan
When I plug it in the 220V system it's working and spinning but when I spin it up with an electric drill it does not produce any Voltage(veeeery tiny).
The seller said it's brushless. I couldn't disassemble it completely but there aren't really any brushes. So ... is there any way I could make it work?

[Ryland]

Turning that motor in to a generator is going to be on par with turning a tractor in to a race car, you would be better off starting from scratch.
Welcome to OTHERPOWER.COM is a great place to start, they build real wind turbines with off the shelf parts that work, not like vertical axle "turbines" that are hard to get a measurable output from.

[Steaming]

Ha!--that's really inventive.

Maybe there are other "off the shelf" items that would make good candidates for re-engineering? There are guys who use alternaters to make a generators.

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by Steaming

Maybe there are other "off the shelf" items that would make good candidates for re-engineering? There are guys who use alternaters to make a generators.

Yes, there are and there are a lot of people who buy them too, but they are designed to spin faster so they have a low output and people end up frustrated because their "wind turbine" doesn't work even tho it spins, I can fold a piece of paper in to a pin wheel and have it spin! that doesn't make it a wind turbine, if you want to use a car alternator then you need a gear box, that adds cost, weight, complexity and drag, there aren't any alternators that I know of that are designed to spin at lower speeds that are not made for wind turbines.

[abogart]

I believe that most, if not all, ceiling fans use shaded-pole AC motors because they are quieter, but not necessarily more efficient. A DC motor is the best to use because they require almost no modification to work as a generator. Universal and split-phase motors work better but require some modification. I'm sure there is a way to make it work, but it might be difficult with that type of motor. Do some research on converting shaded-pole motors to generators and see what you can find.

[gone-ot]

...shaded-pole AC motors work on rotating magnetic field, which is generated by the incoming AC voltage and delayed (ie: the 'shading') by a shorted "field" loop.

...without the rotating magnetic field, the motor cannot become a generator. Conversely, the permanent magnetic in a DC-motor serves this function...something for the magnetic field to "push" against and be "pulled" toward.

[phw]

I seen on utube a man put magnets all around the outside frame and created electricty by spinning with his finger????