Windbelt: Innovative Generator to Bring Cheap Wind Power to Third World

Within the next few months, we hope to start seeing more about an intriguing small-scale wind power technology that was first announced a few years ago. The Windbelt was devised as a wind power generator to meet the very modest power needs of families in third-world countries. The device is revolutionary for being non-revolving — most wind power is produced by something going around in a circle and turning on an axis to drive a generator. Windbelt, however, uses the oscillation of a thin strip of material held in tension with a spring to vibrate a magnet that generates electrical power.

In late 2007, Shawn Frayne’s Windbelt was cited as one of Popular Mechanics’ Breakthrough Awards winners. Frayne has gone on to found Humdinger Wind Energy LLC, a company to develop and license the windbelt technology.
Humdinger has been working on three scales of application for the Windbelt technology. At the smallest scale, the microWindbelt is only roughly 5 inches long and 1 inch tall and can provide power for sensors or small electronics. A larger Windbelt in a 1-meter long frame, called the Windcell, can provide 3 to 5 watts of power, enough for an LED light or other relatively low-power needs. Windcells can also be assembled into panels. A 1 meter square Windcell panel is anticipated to be able to produce up to 100 watts, and have a panel cost of around $1 per watt.
That might not go very far for the average American house, but it would provide a useful amount of power at a cost lower than solar panels. To be effective, windbelts need a moderate breeze around 6m/sec (13 mph), but generate some power even at lower wind speeds. The first planned demonstration of Windcell panels is expected to take place in a few months.
For urban installations, windbelts offer advantages that might make them particularly appealing. With no dangerously fast moving parts, windbelts offer a method for generating energy without endangering bats and birds. Windbelts may also be better suited to the varaible, gusty winds of an urban setting where rotating generators are less effective.

Going Off the Grid in 5 Steps

Step 1. Do an energy inventory of your house.

Check out those old, inefficient appliances that gobble up power. Many of today’s energy efficient appliances consumer markedly less energy and can save you almost 50% of what the older ones used. The reason this will be relevant is that new green technology has streamlined the power habits of today’s new appliances. This is a significant point and really should be taken relatively seriously since taken as a whole, appliances contribute to a significant part of the home energy costs.

Step 2. Investigate solar power.

This vital step will need your entire attention for a little while. Here’s how to do it correctly: do some research on solar panels. You can buy expensive commercial panels, of course, but solar panels are not that complicated and there are many places that will help you actually build quite useable solar panels yourself. The reason why this is very important is that the average home can generate perhaps 20 to 70% of its energy needs through solar panels. That’s a big saver.

Step 3. Look into the solar heating of your water.

The same principle applies here. There are very efficient ways to heat your water using the power of the sun. You do this so you can offset those costs racked up in energy consumption by hot water heaters. Additionally you will want to look into a new more efficient heater, as well.

Step 4. Use wind power.

Windmills and wind turbines are all the rage these days. You can generate a surprising amount of reserve power from a homemade wind turbine that can easily fit on your lot. Meaning, the backup power of a windmill that charges batteries can help keep the lights on and heat going when a storm disrupts commercial power.

Step 5. Better insulate your house.

The more insulated your house, the less heat escapes. This makes a huge difference in wintertime energy bills. In addition to that, a well-insulated house stays cooler in the summer months, meaning you save money on air conditioning.

Harvesting Electricity from the Sun Puts Money Back in your Pocket

Harvesting electricity is easier than harvesting vegetables in a garden. There’s no weeding, no tilling, no fertilizing, no pesticides, and no watering. All the labor is in the system design and installation. The best thing about sunshine is that it is absolutely free and we can count on the sun rising every day to provide solar energy. That’s why plants rely on photosynthesis for survival. Conversion of solar energy to electricity is economical and a properly designed solar electric system is very reliable. Once a system is installed, the only thing you need to do is figure out how to spend the money that you are no longer paying to Long Island Power Authority.

Powerful energy is produced by the sun from nuclear fusion of hydrogen. Solar energy travels through space, penetrates the Earth’s atmosphere and supports life as we know it. Solar cells are silicon semiconductors that absorb sunlight and cause electrons to flow. This is the photovoltaic effect, or using English, this is the light electric effect.

The electrons are gathered using a grid of metal strips. This flow of electrons is direct current electricity. The amount of electricity is increased to a useful amount by connecting many solar cells together to create a solar module. A solar electric system includes solar modules assembled to make up a photovoltaic array, brackets to hold it in place, wires to connect it, and an inverter to make the electricity useful in your house.

There are a variety of semiconductor materials available and many different manufacturers of solar cells and modules. Several rail or bracket systems also exist. In addition, there is a range of technologies for inverters; you can use a large inverter for the entire array or microinverters, which accompany each module. These are the details that determine how much electricity will be produced and how long a solar electric system will last. Quality counts.

Here’s how we got to where we are now: The large rectangular modules are most common for rooftop and ground mounted systems due their durability and reliability. Their life will far exceed that of a thin film or laminate photovoltaic material. Wear from weather is limited since the photovoltaic cells are encased in sealed glass with rugged metal frames around the edges. Metal frames enable strong attachment to the rails. The size is convenient and allows for portrait or landscape orientation. This allows flexibility for a layout that is helpful with the variety of roof sizes and shapes. When solar modules are installed using a modern rail system, the result is a continuous photovoltaic array with no gaps between the modules. Eliminating gaps ensures that the shingles on the roof beneath the array are preserved from wearing due to weather and sun.

A quality system will produce electricity for more than 30 years and a system can be installed for less than $10,000, which will produce more than 2,000 kilowatt-hours per year of electricity. More than half of that money comes back to you in your 2011 tax return, if you pay income tax. With a final price of less than $5,000, you can see why these things are popping up on rooftops all over the place. Many roofs can fit more, and it’s a more a matter of what your checkbook can handle. Prepaid electricity is an investment that continues to pay back year after year. Producing electricity using free solar energy is a winning Sustainability Solution.
Reference : hamptonbays.patch.com

Solar Air Heater

Introduction
Air collectors can be installed on a roof or an exterior (south facing) wall for heating one or more rooms. Although factory-built collectors for on-site installation are available, do-it-yourselfers is better way to go if you have time.
The collector has an airtight and insulated wood frame and a black painted aluminum sheet for absorbing heat with black soda or beer cans and glass in front of it. Solar radiation heats the aluminum which, in turn, heats the air in the cans. An electrically powered fan or blower pulls air from the room through the collector, and blows it back into the room.
Roof-mounted collectors require ducts to carry air between the room and the collector. Wall-mounted collectors are placed directly on a south-facing wall, and holes are cut through the wall for the collector air inlet and outlets.
Simple “window box collectors” fit in an existing window opening. They can be active using a fan, or passive. In passive types, air enters the bottom of the collector, rises as it is heated, and enters the room.

Before Building the Solar Air Heater
First you will need 72 large soda or beer cans (“tall boy”), the cans will be laid down in 8 x 9 grid. The moment you acquire the cans we suggest you stack on top of one another 8 cans. After you are done stacking, measure the height of the 8 cans, than measure the width of a single can. The reason for this is since all cans differ by few mm, we cannot present you with exact dimension for the casing, and therefore you will need this measurement for the fabrication of the case for the cans.
You will need enough plywood to construct a frame for the tin cans. The measurements of the inside of the case will be: the height of the 8 tin cans stacked on top of one another + 1”, and the width of a single can x 9. With these measurements you can fabricate tight enough casing which should just fit the tin cans. Just to get an idea how the casing should look when it’s done take a look at the first image in the next chapter.
You will also need an aluminum sheet that will lie inside the casing which the soda cans will be attached to, and a glass or Plexiglas to cover the casing once the cans are inside it.
And finally you will need matt black paint to paint the tin cans and the aluminum sheet, and silicone to attach the cans to the aluminum sheet and the Plexiglas or glass to the casing.



Building a Solar Air Heater

Step 1: Building the Case
First of all make a box out of plywood. Set the dimensions of the width of the interior of the box exactly the same as the width of 9 tin cans next to each other, and the height as 8 cans on top of each other plus one inch.
For increased efficiency, you should insulate the box to prevent heat escaping through the plywood. If so, size your box so that the cans and insulation will fit snuggly.

Step 2: Drilling the Cans
For the air to pass through a column of cans, holes must be drilled into them. Since there is already a hole at the top of each can for drinking, you will only need to drill a hole through the bottom of the cans.
The bottom and top can of each column a 1/2 to 1 inch hole is drilled in the side. This is done so the air can flow from column to column. Take a look at the images below so you can see the arrangement of the cans and the size of the holes.

Step 3: Building the Can Columns and Painting
The cans of each column are glued together using silicon adhesive and painted using black paint to help them absorb the sun’s energy.
The inside of the box must also be painted with the same paint before the columns of cans are glued into position using silicon adhesive. The outside of the box should be treated with preservative, varnish, or paint to help it survive the elements for many years.

Step 4: Sealing the Solar Heating Box
Ideally the whole unit will be sealed with a sheet of tempered glass. This glass is very strong and resilient to heat. However, tempered glass is also very expensive. Therefore Plexiglas can be used, but it will degrade far more quickly.
A hole at the top of the box is drilled so it acts as the hot air outlet and can be connected to the building/room to be heated using an insulated pipe.

Step 5: Mounting a Fan (Not mandatory)
A PV Electric Solar Panel could be used to power a small fan to drive air through the snake. The final temperature achieved would be lower, but having a large quantity of 30 degree Celsius air entering a room is much better than a much smaller quantity of 50 degree Celsius air.

Step 6: Mounting
You will mount the Solar Air Heater on a south wall or the roof facing the south. On the top of the solar air heater you should drill a hole from which an insulated pipe will come out and will go in the room through a wall. This pipe will bring the hot air inside the room. The same thing should be done with the bottom of the solar collector. The difference between the top and bottom pipe is that the top pipe is used to bring hot air inside the room while the bottom pipe is used to bring cold air inside the collector. If you decide to mount a fan on the collector it should be mounted only at the top pipe.