Turbine intended for homes and small businesses

The Swift Wind Turbine is a building-mountable unit that developers say provides a quiet, cost-effective renewable energy source for domestic, community, and industrial use.

Each Swift, from Cascade Renewable Energy Solutions, Grand Rapids, Mich., can provide about 2,000 kWh/yr in areas with above average or favorable winds (class 3 or higher), which equates to about 20% of the annual energy usage of a typical home. The turbine can mount to a single pole or attached to a house. The table tells of a few more specs.

HPM America launches 1kW to 1 MW wind turbines

Wind-generated electricity in some locations is close to the cost of power from conventional utility generation. Wind power, the world’s fastest-growing energy source, will provide industry, businesses, and homes with clean, renewable electricity for many years. So in keeping with this year’s theme at NPE (National Plastics Exhibition) 2009 in Chicago of “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy” along with “Going Green” HPM America unveiled its newest product line – WIND TURBINES.

Introducing this line of turbines lets HPM America, Mount Gilead, Ohio, address the needs of home owners, businesses, schools and universities, governmental institutions and other applications. The new turbines will be available from small 1kW units to 1MW versions. People throughout the world are advocating for wind turbines and their positive effects on the environment. HPM America says it is devoted to helping people purchase and attain wind power electricity sources.

HPM says its turbines will use Axial Flux Permanent Magnets (AFPM) which generate power more efficiently and at lower wind speeds due to its coreless technology. The generators eliminate traditional cogging issues, making them ideal for wind turbines.

In addition, the generator design eliminates need for a gearbox as part of the unit’s drive train, thereby minimizing down time and reducing maintenance costs over the life of the system.

In AFPM generators, a coil wraps around a specially designed disc at the center axis. Magnetic discs then rotate on the sides of the coiled disc and generate electricity. This kind of power generating technology is ideal for generating power from the wind because its initial operation torque (cut-in speed) is lower than the often used Radial Flux Permanent Magnet (RFPM) method.

AFPM power generation is classified into two configurations, the inner type and outer type. In the inner type configuration, only the magnetic disk rotates while the generator housing remains fixed. In the outer type configuration, the whole generator body rotates by fixing the magnetic disk to the body. Both configurations can be provided depending on the application specifications.

When the generator is producing electricity, it also produces heat, and as heat increases, generator efficiencies decrease. To solve this problem, HPM generators are liquid cooled. This significantly reduces associated wear that high-temperatures can cause, and thus improves the generator’s life-span. What’s more, the company says the price point on its systems ensures a faster return on investment to the end user.

HPM America manufactures and supplies extrusion systems, injection molding machines and die casting equipment along with providing contract manufacturing from its headquarters in Mount Gilead, Ohio, U.S.A. HPM America maintains offices in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Chennai, India along with a network of manufacturer representatives and consultants that cover Mexico/Latin America, China and the Pacific Rim, and Europe. In the U.S. and Canada, HPM works directly with customers.

A turbine for homeowners

Designers of a six-ft diameter turbine put permanent magnets at the tips of its blades and coils in a shroud for 95-lb unit that its developer says generates electricity in wind speeds from 2 to 40 mph. The design eliminates a gearbox, shafts, and traditional generator for an almost friction-free design. Homeowners will be able to buy the wind turbine and mount it on rooftops, attach it to chimneys, or put it on a pole. Developer WindTronics, Muskegon, Mich. says it will sell for $4,500 as the Honeywell Wind Turbine and distribute it through Ace Hardware stores in the U.S. starting October.

WindTronics calculates that the fan-like turbine can generate 2,000 kWh/year for a home with a Class 4 wind resource. The power figure is 15 to 20% of the annual electricity consumption for an average U.S. home.

The company says the turbine’s installed cost is about a third the cost of traditional turbines with a lower installed cost/kWh than any turbine on the market. What’s more, federal and state rebates cover from 30% to 100% of the overall cost. The unit comes with a computerized controller, inverter, and inter-connect switch to wire the system into a household panel.

All turbine functions are controlled by a computer connected to an anemometer, constantly reading wind speed and direction. The controller interacts with the turbine’s yaw motor, optimizing the turbine’s positioning, maximizing wind capture up to 40mph.

Editor’s note:  An analysis

Find your electric bill and then divided your monthly charge by the kilowatt-hours (kWh) used. In northern Ohio, electric power costs about $0.12/kWh. Hence, the dollars spent on the turbine would purchase: $4,500/$0.12/kWh = 37,500 kWh of power If it generates 2,000 kWh/yr, then, 37,500 kWh/2,000 kWh/year = 18.75 years till a payback. In areas where power cost $0.22/kWh $4,500/$0.22/kWh = 20,454.54 kWh 20,454.54 kWh/2,000 kWh/yr = 10.22 years to payback. Of course, if the wind is stronger, the payback will be shorter. And it might be shorter in any case with incentives from the Federal government and state agencies.

Roof-top turbines work in slower wind

The roof tops of office building seem a good place for wind turbines but few are mounted there because of weight and complexity. Green Energy Technologies LLC in Akron, Ohio, may have a solution in the WindCube. It’s a 60 kW rooftop wind turbine for on-site power generation. The turbine’s shourd captures and amplifies the wind, say developers. The design fills a previously unmet need, says the company, for wind turbines that can be put in service in a small footprint and take advantage of the nation’s net metering laws.

The WindCube relies on the wind-tunnel effect of the Bernoulli Principle. “While the rest of the wind industry generates energy from freestream wind, our design captures and amplifies the wind, which produces more kilowatt-hours, ” says Green Energy President Mark Cironi. As wind enters the shroud, it concentrates, increasing in speed and hence, power. The company says the amplification effect lets the design capture energy from wind as low as 5 mph. What’s more, the unit has no gearbox. This lowers the cost of ownership, they say, because the gearbox is the source of most maintenance problems and failures on conventional wind turbines.

“Building owners anywhere can consider being a part of the renewable energy picture, ” adds Cironi. “And the design makes it unnecessary to have access to the wind on the Great Plains to become a generator of wind power, ” adds inventor John Fedor. “The payback can be as little as three years in states with renewable energy incentives, moderate wind, and high electric rates. ” The turbine comes as a single (60kW) or dual (120kW) unit and in rooftop or tower-mounted designs. The unit’s 22 x 22 x 12-ft frame is said to produces the same amount of energy as a traditional 50-ft dia. turbine.

The company adds that an average wind speed of about 15 mph is enough to let the design generate about 160,000 kWh/year. When an owner produces more electricity than is needed in a building, the electricity meter spins backward, providing a credit to the electric bill.