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My love for a VAWT is showing again. Here is the image of the F&P Smart Drive motor mounted on a trailer axle spindle with arms to connect to the vanes. My intention was to put this up on my tower with a set of Lenz2 blades. If you have interest in this style mount, let me know. Check out my "Current" page for more info. Below is some more info on these wonderful permanent magnet motors. |
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Great news! Randy's Workshop has acquired a large quantity of Fisher & Paykel factory second motors. These have passed electrical tests but can not be shipped as new because of cosmetic defects. Typically a radial crack in the plastic. They Are, perfect for use as a generator. These are the absolutely latest technology and come with the new sought after High strength SD type 4, 48 pole magnetic hub. These new hubs were designed to make up the performace difference when they change to aluminum wires. According to the factory engineer, when used on the copper wound stators these new hubs increase the performance by as much as twenty percent. The Fisher & Paykel Smart Drive Permanent Magnet motor is comprised of a hub, stator, and main shaft. You will need two bearings and a bearing holder. The new Stator is stationary and comprised of 36 wound coils. The ends of the windings are easily accessible for re-wiring. Since this doesn't have brushes, when the hub is spun it actually becomes an alternator producing AC current. The new Hub alone is worth more than what I am charging for the bundle. If you are interested please send me an email quickly since this price will change soon. |
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Now that I know where these motors come from,(both Whirlpool and Maytag have started using them) I've come up with a new pivot weldment. The picture to the left shows my new weldment. This utilizes common pipe and a few laser cut pieces of steel plate. The vane pivot is tilted both from the pole axis and main shaft axis like a proper furling pivot. |
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I've gone ahead and made a page showing how I re-wired my F&P unit. Click on the picture to the left to go there. Or here www.randysworkshop.net/smartwiring.html. I thought this might help people to see just how easy (and FUN) these units are to work on. This page has been updated to include the new 36 pole model 60 stators. |
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Here is a picture that one of my customers sent to me of his F&P powered windmill. I designed this universal mount to accept one Smart Drive motor. |
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Here is a picture of my test stand for collecting data on these new model 60 Smart Drive motors. It is so hard to keep everything going. I just heard that the factory is planning on using aluminum wire for the next generation Smart Drive motors. If you have any interest, you need to get one now. All of mine are wound with copper wire. Click here to go to my "Test Data" page. Here is a link to my first attempt at a YouTube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4avuQig5rs |
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