Roofline Rotating Ventilator To Generator - Part 1

[@Rick_Bagnall]

Greetings form Franklin, NH, USA! I always appreciate your videos because of their content, but more importantly, your infectious enthusiasm with your projects and their results. Very inspiring! Thanks!

[@endadalton]

Rick Bagnall , thank you no one could have said it better. Entertaining and informative!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

thank you mate and thank you for taking the time to says so

[@charlesbova722]

good morning, I have two on my roof that spin 24 7 just need a generator and storage. thank you for all that i have learned

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

glad I helped mate

[@endadalton]

I bet there are many interesting and interested people viewing this channel. Robert you cover so many interesting topics that this channel finds many people. Short and to the point. I often wondered what these lovely shiny silver vents did, thank you.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

Wow, thank you mate

[@stevetobias4890]

Super cool Rob. Looking forward to this video with much enthusiasm. Really good that you purchased from a viewer and he acknowledged that also. Very nice indeed. 👍

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

yes - I liked that too mate - happy co-incidence though

[@dcawkwell]

Great it got there. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

yep no worries - cheers mate

[@RogerJonker]

Yes please make something cool with this. I was planning for years to make a generator with these things, never came to it tho.

[@dremaboy777]

Me also. look forward to this one. been planning for some time to try one of those also.

[@supertom7908]

Me as well.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I'll give it a go mate

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@ThinkingandTinkering It is well worth the experiment. Thanks to who ever sent it in, they are not cheap.

[@sham1234567891]

Great stuff David! I have been thinking about same for a couple of years now. Never got opportunity to go ahead with the idea. The interesting point with this extractor is that it sucks warm air out through the roof. And therefore is independent from wind. It is definitely something to explore. I shall find some time to experiment and fall back to you. Greetings.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

let me know how you get on mate

[@jackjones9886]

Great project! I love watching the what IF community can do. And I'm sure that many people have observed these wind turbines in action, and ask themselves, could I make it generate electricity ? Only a few of the curious will take the steps to achieve a prototype that actually works. Thank you for giving it a go. And sharing it with the rest of us. There are many ways to generate electricity, build & wind your own coils or go old school and use a telephone magneto, that can generate both a/c or d/c voltage and current. The modern washing machine pump, is a good example of a magneto that can generate electricity, just by spinning it. No matter what method of generation you use, it's best to eliminate friction from the process, and the best thing in the world to do that is use magalube G on your shafts & bearings. This will improve the overall rpm. And allow more work to be done. Whether you buy or build it, you want to get all the energy possible from your project. Right ?

[@hernan2907]

I'm building one, I want to stay out of the grid.

[@ozgamergdu]

I'm brand new your channel. I put two of these on the roof of my shed in Victoria, Australia, they never stop spinning even when there's wind. As I'm new here and this is first of your vids, thst I've seen yet and this is a year old video, I haven't yet been able to find the follow ups on how this turned out. I appolgise if you discovered this already/since, but these turbines are not solely reliant on wind to make them spin. I don't know the fancy scientific specifics and terms, but these are disigned to draw heat out and temperature alone will make them spin so long as it's warmer inside the shed/roof than it is outside, the hot air inside the shed rising is enough to make them spin. I don't have any airflow pipes or tubes attached, they simply sit over the top of holes cut in the tin roof near it's apex. It's always hot in the shed during summer, and I have a wood heater in the shed for winter, so it's pretty much always warmer inside than out. I subscribed and I'll search through the rest of your channel for follow ups on this. My shed is powered but i'd love to save some $$ on my power bill even if it's only a tiny bit. I wouldn't expect these to be able to generate enough power to run a fridge or power tools but I'd imagine they might be able to charge a battery that can at least power some LED lighting.

[@sailingoctopus1]

I've always been facinated by the static chimney cowls that have, essentially, an horizontal aerofoil that serves both to prevent rain going down the chimney flue and accentuate the natural up draught to improve the draw of the chimney. Essentially the aerofoil creates a low pressure area at the opening at the top of the chimney and air from the chimney is sucked into the void, causing a draught up the chimney. Inspired by the lateral thinking of the Sterling Engine, I thought rather than mount massive complicated turbine, gearbox and generator equipment driven by huge moving blades to the top of a massive tower, perhaps it would be possible to simply move the force of the wind to the bottom of the tower, where it can be more easily harnessed. My thought was that if you scale up the design of the static chimney cowls and use a proper disk-shaped aerofoil you have an omnidirectional device that could induce a significant force of airflow up the chimney. You then have the option of installing a turbine and generator at the bottom of the chimney, where they are easy to maintain. If this generated sufficient force in the up draught, remembering that force increases with the square of the velocity, perhaps aided by using the Venturi effect to increase velocity, then you have the making of a low maintenance omnidirectional wind turbine, with minimal moving parts, greater structural strength, lower structural stress, that will operate in high winds without risk of damage and without causing bird strikes and possibly with little noise. I also wondered whether, rather than a massive structural chimney, it would be possible to build a voluminous version of this device out of light weight material, that could be flown at great height, like a massive kite, using dual opposing omnidirectional disk-shaped aerofoils to suck/blow air through a pipe between the aerofoils past a turbine, and transmit electrical power down to the ground through the tether cable. In my more fanciful moments, I imagined using the same idea to power ships, but instead of a turbine and generator you have fixed forward-facing horizontal aerofoils in the chimney flue that extract force from the updraught, just like a sail, except they would pull the ship forward regardless of the wind direction, so you could have ships literally sailing into the wind using no moving parts, other than molecules of air.

[@paulmaydaynight9925]

remember the heat rising is creating the low pressure as is the faster moving outside wind flowing over the stack the so called Venturi effect,chuck one end of a pipe facing downstream and under a fast flowing river, you get a vacuum on the other end... but yes chimney cowls have uses beyond the assisted flow design

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

mate - I think that is clever thinking - I can see what you mean - this would be well worth a few experiments I think

[@Jacktors]

I had this idea years ago . My thoughts on how to do it had my thoughts spinning ever since. Looking forward for you to tackle this.

[@gm3045]

I've been contemplating this type of setup for a wind turbine for quite some time. The fact that wind is constantly changing direction makes this an ideal candidate for capitalising on that. What needs to be taken into consideration, as someone else had mentioned, is how much torque is generated. You may need some gearing to increase torque, which will in turn reduce rpm, so you may be better utilising a low rpm generator. The biggest reason why I haven't started into putting something together is because of trying to figure out what method of furling to employ.

[@aomanchutube]

I recently saw a video where a conventional propelled bladed turbine was tested on the same spot as a vertical axis turbine. Vertical axis was not even close. This was for a 500w rated turbine ~meter diameter.

[@gm3045]

@@aomanchutube using the same generator isn't really a fair comparison, to be honest. You need to consider the rpm and torque generated and match it to the right generator, just as you would need to consider a lower rpm generator if you were in an area where you had constant, but slower winds

[@aomanchutube]

@@gm3045 true, but I was referring to the square foot section swept by the blades vs usable power obtained using an mpp charger. One would expect similar power output, unfortunately that was not the case.

[@gm3045]

@@aomanchutube I do have to wonder if the efficiencies change based on location. Traditional wind turbines seem to do better on their own pole at a greater distance off the ground, but would this generator be better suited to a roof top, for example?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@supertom7908]

Wow, I’ve been meaning to try this for a long time. Can’t wait to see the build.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@kavy7304]

Holy Moley! You actually did it! I was thinking about this decades ago! Why isn't every house equipped with a few of these whirly birds as wind turbines?

[@phbrinsden]

I’ve got four of those attic ventilators on my roof in Houston. They keep busy letting hot air out in our hot summers. The offset slides in the trunk allow it to be upright no matter what the roof pitch is (within reason).

[@etherlonX]

Got two on my roof. Where I live in northern Australia they turn constantly in the day. Never touched them while spinning to get a feel of the torque they might have but I can't imagine there would be much. It will be interesting to see what happens with your setup. Cheers.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I imagine the torque is pretty low mate - but I am ok with that

[@pasastrayamatthew1460]

Maaaate, I've been enjoying this channel for months and i find it very inspiring i'm trying to get me aquaponic system as off grid as posibil

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

awesome mate - glad you like the channel

[@hissst69]

Hi Rob, I was told in roofing (I used to be a roofer and then a roofing salesman) by the manufacturer that these are for the heated air in the peak of a roof to escape, there is a large section of screen in the dormer of the roof as the intake where the ambient is let in, the attic space then getting up over 160 degrees f rises and pressurizes inside the attic and shoots through the whirly gig and spins it. I don't think it was meant to spin by outside lopsided forces on one blade side, it's meant to spin by even pressure from within and thus spins quite well... anywho, just a heads up, if doesn't spin very well in wind on the out side try capturing the wind and directing it up inside, it will then spin awesome. The reason I was told this is because in spinning it by hand I told them there was no way wind would move it in any meaningful way, their response was it is not supposed to ! And that it will spin very very well when evenly pressured from the inside, and so it did.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

there are a couple of designs mate - one is wind assisted - but you are basically spot on - this is meant to draw air from the inside and 'push' it out not the other way round so an interesting problem right there - but as I prefer to see problems - an opportunity to do better lol - cheers mate

[@hissst69]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Indeed ! :)

[@sadaavedan]

Looking forward to a power generating video on this. I have a two ft diameter exhaust turbine sitting around unused. They sell for around $80 herr. But these are not mounted on strong bearings to last for a long time, or high speeds.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it's going to be interesting for sure

[@AdricM]

ive always wanted to try one on a long black vent pipe. to see how much it helps with an updraft. cant wait for a video about its innards, ive only narrowly resisted the urge to try and buy one.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lol - give in to the urges mate lol

[@tjacksonwoodworker3726]

I enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work. Smart is the new sexy! I also like reusing what I have for repurposing. I have been taking things apart and saving parts for as long as I can remember. Love the challenge. Again, good work.

[@thornhedge9639]

By the way Robert; a tall vertical black pipe in the sun will give you that same updraft effect without the mechanical component. My grandfather stacked 10 55galon drums with ends cut out and installed an auto cooling fan on a generator motor and it worked great in the sun. It was of coarse painted black and raised off the ground to allow for air flow.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

nice one mate thanks for the tip

[@cyclonemind7585]

Looking forward to see the results !!!

[@campbellspears3929]

Please do make a video on generating power, can't wait for one to be honest, great idea to boot.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

sure

[@billschas9202]

Those things were ubiquitous on the US Gulf Coast in the 50s & 60s, put on houses to cool down the attics in the warm seasons. Temps below the roof in a Texas summer get over 120 deg F, and these things suck a lot of that heat out of the attic, thus cooling the house. Canadians use them to fight humidity in their attics in the winter, preventing ice buildup and damage above the ceiling. They have fallen out of favor in recent years in the US as other types of roof vents with better esthetics have become available, however, their potential foe wind power generation has always interested me.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I still see them all over the place for sure

[@billbaggins]

Good story, Look forward to seeing the outcome

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

You and me both! lol

[@PeterMilanovski]

We have those things in Australia, you can get them at the local hardware store, I personally don't have one but I was looking at my neighbours roof where he has one and I was thinking that I don't think that I have seen seen it not spinning! So I'm thinking that it might actually make a good secret wind turbine! And then today I see your video! Coincidental? I think not.. their primary use downunder is to keep the roof space ventilated and I believe that the one's we have here also have a flap that opens automatically when it's hot to stop heat build up in summer.. I really wonder what bearings those things use because my neighbor has never serviced it and it only takes a slight breeze to start spinning.. Anyway I can't wait to see what you have for us in the next video! Edit: just remember that before you decide which motor to use as a generator, what you would want to have is high voltage and low current output! The importance of this becomes apparent when you see as how much load is placed on the motor as the current draw goes up, so it's better to go as high voltage as possible, use an MPPT Charge Controller that has a PV input voltage at around 150V or better, it will then convert the high voltage low current to something more useful.. 12V and high current output from a generator is extremely inefficient.. that's why the grid tie solar systems fitted on Australian rooftops have all their panels wired in series.. 150+ volts going into the inverter means less conversion needs to be done, the voltage difference is less between the two.. it's kinda like a vacuum tube amplifier, operates on 400 - 900V but only needs microamps of current, the output transformer handels the voltage and current conversion.. efficiency!

[@antonypilepich8947]

After the last string of videos, and' just last week, I was standing in my back yard (in Melbourne, Australia) and looked at the one i have fitted on my shed to help keep the shed cool. and i noticed how well it spins in even the slightest breeze, and and thought it would be a perfect candidate, I also have a new 33802 stepper motor for which i have no use. and loos like a simple task to fit it to the turbine shaft, I am going to give it try tomorrow, and see what it does. Thanks Robert for all the inspiration. Where in Aus are you Peter?

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

to be honest mate I am just going to strap on whatever I have laying around - I have a small budget for projects and can't really spend a lot on them

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

go for it mate let me know how you get on will you?

[@PeterMilanovski]

@@ThinkingandTinkering yeah all good 👍 I understand, just trying to get something across, the thing that I have noticed is there's always some form of conversion going on, like converting petrol power to electricity, the idea is to generate higher voltage at lower current because it's the current that puts the load on the generator, so you use a solar MPPT Charge Controller to take the high voltage and low current and output it as low voltage and high current, that way the MPPT Charge Controller does all the heavy lifting instead of generator. Incidentally, I have just purchased two MPPT Charge Controllers from eBay, they are $10AU each plus $5 shipping, so total amount cost $25 for the two! They are just a PCB with components, they have multi turn trim pots to set the output voltage and current, there's also an adjustment to match up the incoming voltage so you can get it to work at it's maximum efficiency... Great for solar panels or anything where the input voltage is higher... Like a wind turbine.. they are rated for 5A each it's the cheapest MPPT Charge Controller that you can purchase at the moment. A very handy device which I think that you would find a lot of use for... But hey! It's your channel and I'm going to watch regardless. Waiting for the next video!

[@PeterMilanovski]

@@antonypilepich8947 I'm also in Melbourne, north of it... Let us know how you went with it... I don't have one but I'm wondering if my neighbor will notice his one if it's missing lol, no I wouldn't do that! He just upgraded his grid tie solar system and he just gave me all his old gear, 10 panels in total a the grid tie inverter!... The panels are 24V versions too!

[@shanealexander9952]

Could an attic get set up like coffee machine? Open the soffit vents when there is no back pressure, flywheel the roof turbine so it draws in after the thrust of expansion is over creating a slight vacuum that draws in cooler air again. Creates a slight pulsing effect that overspins the roof vent. A Stirling roof that generates power. I know you will say try it mate but funds in this time won't let me. I do however have a shed.............I have had something like this in mind for a while. Perhaps the turbine power could allow for a brief spin of a small fan in the soffit that would open a flap and burst some cool air in briefly. A barametric relay switch. Like stirling though it would need starting. Hi Mr Smith I know you read these :D

[@shanealexander9952]

I can forsee all kinds of complications that would need to get worked through. Would it accelerate a fire? Would it build up moisture during off periods? (One main point of the vents anyway) The whole thing would need to not have air leaks. I wouldn't start with a whole roof, just box in 2 rafters maybe where the turbine exists and have the intake inside. I would concider the bellows to push air in triggered by low air pressure. I would use solder link so any fire would disable it in a fire. I was looking at an internal turbine horizontally on the ridgerow but this might be more interesting and easy. Everything is open when not working.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I don't have that many funds either mate - it's why I use what I have laying around and what I can scavenge off the street - I like the idea - but you are right this is something I think you should be exploring tbh

[@timcollins3484]

I wondered when you would finally get around to these. Quite useless as a ventilator but makes the best wind generator. told you we were doing smart things in Thailand lol

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

do they now - that is interesting mate cheers

[@timcollins3484]

@@ThinkingandTinkering Only me, Everyone else thinks they make good ventilators, they don't.

[@alternativeenergychannel2289]

I always like your ideas sir.. pls find a treadmill motor they are permanent magnet motors and rated for high rpm and high dc voltage and high current .. so when u use them as generator they produce a respectable amount of voltage and current at low rpm.. with that motor you will need to spin it at the rated rpm to take the 12 v output and its impossible with that.. pls try for one time the treadmill motor and you will stuck with them they are perfect for all of your inventions..

[@petergambier]

Nice idea for energy production and funny story of the man with the spinning things who saw you on KZbin.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

yeah I thought it was awesome

[@100roberthenry]

excellent, looking forward to what you do with this..... cheers matey.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

for sure mate - cheers

[@SuperVstech]

I have seen and installed thousands of these. My recollection is hey don’t have much spin torque... mostly they simply let hot air out of attic spaces... I’m interested to see what you make of it.

[@paulmaydaynight9925]

well they are like that amiga 1000 and 1084 you found and did something! with ,versatile when you see the effects its useing, rather than just a bit of bent sheet steel/plastic/wood, ohh i can burn it,melt it,blow it up Idiocracy style thinking. its useing the Coandă effect, and the coriolis effect on the large surface area, (The Coandă effect is the tendency of a fluid jet to stay attached to a convex surface. convex> C

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

worth looking at is my thought mate

[@BushImports]

That was nice of him. We use those here too.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

he didn't just send it mate- I paid for it

[@MerwinARTist]

This will be interesting .. I have three on top of my house! It's the heat in the attic that rises up causing it to turn!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I think so mate - we'll see anyway

[@MrSmith-no5pg]

I can't wait to see what you make of it...

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@WayneTheSeine]

Very cool indeed. I am surprised it did not turn when you looked at it. :) This is going to be fun!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lol - for sure

[@davidnolan6087]

These are popular in Australia for heat extraction from roof spaces.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I have watched a few vids on them already and a lot have been from Oz

[@littleworkshopofhorrors2395]

Hey what a coincidence, I watch your channel too.😉

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lol

[@TheKlickitat]

Years ago I drew up the plans to attach these to a black pipe 10 meters in the air and connect to pipes that were in the ground that ran out to a perimeter that drew in the air at ground level, ran a meter down into the ground, and then back up to feed the black steel pipe. This would have given cold feed air at the bottom and the sun would have heated the black pipe, thus expanding and forcing higher volumes of air up the pipe to turn the fan along with any wind being caught.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

did you build it?

[@TheKlickitat]

@@ThinkingandTinkering I never got the chance to as we ended up moving shortly after I drew up the plans.

[@mrpants8976]

i would be interested to see one of those placed on top of a rocket stove

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

that would be good I think

[@Red9GearHead]

I have often thought these might make a good power source. I can’t wait to see your progress.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@toml.8210]

I always wondered if the wind turned that ventilator, or if there was a motor inside.

[@gorillafighter4037]

Where are you from. Within the UK I mean

[@robclark7956]

I like what you do. I have some good ideas for you. Unfortunately I'm not a member yet. But I had an idea about batteries. Would almost be easier to tell you in person.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

you can always post the ideas here mate

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Those will work but the more open ones will turn faster as they are designed to take smoke out. there are more for Rayon gas.

[@jeremyallen7442]

I started a patent on this about five six years ago the idea that hurt the most was the turbine on a water tower ...

[@james10739]

I was thinking the same that it is supposed to move air but just adding a traditional wind generator type of blades underneath for more power or efficiency

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

that is what I was thinking

[@mackelby1]

Brilliant!!

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@Cooliemasteroz]

I think we are going to be impressed.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I am looking forward to it for sure

[@binmanblog]

A lot of these small scale generators have the potential for "burst" power. I.E.Trickle charge a battery of cells or to compress air for a generator. Even small scale pumped hydro using a car/truck windscreen washer pump.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

for sure mate - that is the core of renewables - they are good at burst and rubbish at sustained

[@mekuranda]

First thought I had is with loading...i.e. when these are designed they are looking for the lowest friction and hence highest rpm etc...using an MPPT module you could optimise for power generation...there are many cheap low power modules on eBay...and not sure if these could be optimized for wind turbines of such low potential power...most of the real wind generators have algorithms to allow a threshold RPM to begin power tracking...a simpler method would be for a voltage threshold before current is harvested.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

for sur mate

[@olivierroy1301]

I think you can make a better generator by adjusting the brush angle in the motor. I red on these motors and they are not optimal for regenerative braking. It can either be a good motor or a good generator, but not both at same time.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I agree mate - by far the best thing is to buy one for the job - but I tend to use what's laying around because I just don't have the money to buy everything

[@WTFaq]

Always wanted to do this one.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

awesome

[@cecilcooper6210]

It probably doesn't have alot of torque: I'd be interested how much.

[@DeliciousDeBlair]

Torque is easily produced, especially if you have a larger version, but pretty much it is dependent upon the total strength of the wind, and the diameter of the turbine, as the force of the wind enacts with the edges, and this force is leveraged against the central fulcrum, you get more torque as the speed of the wind picks up.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

I don't think that its the issue here really mate

[@pulesjet]

Thought about these things often. I've seen building with butt loads of the things. Enough to do some real work I would think.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

worth looking at for sure

[@technicalfool]

Well.. heck. Looks like I'm going to have an answered question. And possibly even more questions afterwards, but I get the feeling I'd be better off shutting my big yap and waiting to see what happens. :>

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lol - well it was a good question lol

[@NEVUoficial]

this look promising

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

it's certainly interesting mate

[@tronetrickard7130]

It will not work I tested many times Anti force stop rotation

[@tamaseduard5145]

🙏👍🙏❤️🙏

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@stuffoflardohfortheloveof]

👍

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

cheers mate

[@frederickbarger1594]

Crap..I thought you where making popcorn...dag

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lol

[@recyclebills]

KISS Fewer moving parts the better.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

for sure mate

[@Seriouslydave]

Its like my brain just asks the same questions, and you tube has been there done it a year ago.

[@juicedmaster]

Been thinking this for years! Beat me to it! Sorry all for ruining '69' comments lol

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lol - wel i have been mulling it over myself for a while

[@davidnolan6087]

I have three on my roof.

[@ThinkingandTinkering]

lucky lucky lucky lol - I had to specially order this

[@davidnolan6087]

@@ThinkingandTinkering they are very common here and come colour coded to Colorbond roofing sheets so they blend in. It would be great to be able to generate power from them.