Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hey, I've been called MANY different variations of that name... comes from using a handle from a foreign language... I didn't even notice, knew you were talking about me You just want to hear how some ppl butcher it when they try to pronounce it! :-)

Thanks Kuda thats what I thought, I don't really understand, I mean apart from losses on converting, I think your better off still producing the 10Kw's of electricty which can be used for many things, rather than gaining the mechanical advantage just to run Blowers.

Just my opinion.

Cheers
Ron

Hi wind enthusiasts

I read everyone's comments. Here's the rub with electric wind turbines, at least where I live: to use one you either need to have it connected to the power grid with what's called a grid-tie inverter, OR you need an expensive pile of batteries and you STILL need an inverter to turn that power into 120v-240v to run electric blowers with. In other words, to run a 10 kW electric wind turbine (which costs $18-22,000 or so, not including tower and installation), you need an $8,000 grid-tie inverter or $8,000 worth of batteries and inverter.

The people who noted about the losses are correct: even if you could afford this, you would still lose 10-15% of the mechanical energy embodied in the windmill blade at the alternator/generator, you would have another 2-3% loss in the transmission line to the electrically-powered Sweetwater blower, and another 10-15% losses at the blower itself. If you had the technical knowledge and weren't prohibited from building your own 10kW electric wind turbine by local laws (as I am, it needs an Underwriter Labs number on it here in Hawaii to connect to the grid) it would still cost you $8-12,000 for parts for such a machine.

The wind-powered blower I am developing does not exist anywhere yet. The parts cost for this machine I'm building (that can put out an equivalent amount of blown air as a 10kW electric wind turbine connected to a regenerative blower) is about $2,500. I have most of the parts now, some need to be machined. Because it directly converts mechanical energy into another form of mechanical energy (using a Dayco cog-belt drive system with low losses) this machine should only have about 8-10% total losses instead of the 22-33% losses of the electrical setup.

The only drawback is that this machine will only make low-pressure blown air that could only be useful to an aquaculturist or aquaponicist. But I could sure use some free air. I'm paying $700/month for air now. For those who were interested in the small version of this, I will put out the CAD drawings in the next month or so and if you get me your emails I will email them direct to you. Not something I could post on the forum because of size.

Sure you are, you and me anyhow, but 1 of these blowers is not going to supply all his blower requirements, so for him, it's perfect.
Add to that the capital expense Tropic mentions, and it's a crap solution. The design he has is fully manufacturable from scrap, which batteries and grid connections aren't
I would like to get some for home, and mine would be electric for the reasons you mentioned. But Tropic has a unique requirement.
Anybody with the space to put in one of these should, also for environmental reasons, the expense environmentally in motors, generators, batteries is phenomenal compared to refining some steal and harvesting some wood.
IMHO, windmills to pump water to head, should be foregone for pumps, especially coal powered electric pumps.
Windmills can be used for a great many things other than pumping air and water though. It would be interesting to hear what other uses can be found for a dedicated windmill

Its to bad there is not a way to directly collect the wind and hydraulic blow it into the water without the use of any mechanical means to compress the air.

Its a shame but to make it useful it has to be compressed otherwise you may as well just let the wind make small waves on the surface of the tank to aerate..you don`t even need the windmill then
Most windmill aerators i`ve come across seem to use diaphragm pumps, this one presumably uses a belt driven regen blower..is the blower assembly a shop bought item or is it homebrewed as well? Homebrew would be nice as they`re pretty pricey over here.

Hex,
have you (or anybody else) received plans or CAD drawings from Tropic Bird?
I have requested them in reaction to the post where he volunteered to send them to whoever interested (dec 16)
so far no reaction from his side

frank

I requested them also. I have not yet received them. I am sure he has been busy, I do hope to see them, I think I have a great opportunity to use them here.

Mathew

Impatient buggers

aaaahhhh
yessss
I admit to being impatient on this subject

frank

hehe, nope because i didn`t ask for them
They say.. All good things come to those that wait

Still like the idea of making a windmill/blower. If I can get one on top of the pole in the back yard it would be a good backup to the system. Tho it might be easier to start with one on the ground. If I use a large blade then it can be geared to run an old blower or would it be easier to make up the air part.

Might start smaller. Would having a small windmill spin a shaft with an fan just under the surface of the water add a lot of o2. It could be housed inside a large bit of PVC and lift water from the bottom of the tank. Gearing this type to spin it faster would help also.

Hi DL
I was thinking along the same lines, i have an old 3" outlet blower (5MS11/080) that i doubt i`ll ever use as it takes a fair amount of juice. Its not a regen but it will do about 22" wc, probably enough for a shallow sump. Just tear the motor off it and replace with a pulley

Wonder how many rpm you need to make it worthwhile. Using different size pulley you could speed it up as long as the wind mill had large enough blades. Being belt driven would allow it to slip when the wind was too strong.