This Wind Turbine Spun Backwards and It Made Me Quit Making Windmills

I thought I knew pretty well what I was doing, but my latest windmill made it very apparent to me that I didn't know as much about VAWTs as I thought I did.
It wasn't for this reason alone, but for several reasons that I feel like I've exhausted my interest in DIY windmills for the immediate future. I'm sure I'll be back, but for now, I think I'm going to focus on a broader range of projects. :)
My Camera:
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My 3D Printer:
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#windmill #vawt #diy

[@danedmiston9673]

Very cool design in the way you can test many variations for quick comparisons of performance. It helps to think like the wind. The wind does not see a "lift" or a "drag" turbine, it just "sees" an object it needs to get around. In avoiding objects it is much more likely to create low pressure zones than high pressure zones. Airfoils are designed to let the air slip around the as easily as possible while forming a low pressure zone on one surface for "lift. I think the narrow Vs facing the wind are letting the air slip around them as intended but are also forming a low pressure zone behind them that pulls on them more than the Vs that are moving against the wind are being pushed by the wind. I think of it as a "lift" turbine.

[@NoahStone-gu4hx]

Maybe try bringing the tips of the butterfly wings together so the air does flow right over them through the gap

[@peterrud3850]

If you thing that windmill design is over .. pls thing again .. i found you because of wildmill and im hoping that you will keep sharing your ideas and design .. Im just staring out on the wind energi side now, and im hoping that any ideers of a new design will come from people like you to bring us to a new future of energi So pls don´t stop :D

[@rb3020]

I believe that your props are filling with air to decree in the scoop to a point that it becomes a higher pressure zone than the front of the prop where the pieces connect and make a point or an arrow has the path of least resistance versus the scoop side and the air is dragging across it kind of like a plane or an F1 car or the pointy side is less resistive ergo it spins backwards and spins because of the air's drag on the surface area of the more pointed side/prop meeting point. If you were to add a hole where the props meet to let air through but it was small enough of a hole to restrict the flow, you just might get your older design to (at least) spin in the direction you wanted. (I am no engineer but I do understand some basic aerodynamic principals) maybe a cone shaped prop with a hole in the center (like an ice cream cone with the bottom bitten off) might do the trick and get a similar result to the wind vein (the hemispherical wind measuring device, I'm clarifying because I feel I might be using the term the wrong way). Good luck and don't give up!!!!

[@genericuser4266]

I'll give you the best advice I got. 3d print everything at 1/4 scale or smaller. Use a small fan in your home to test turn direction at various angles. This will allow you to fail and iterate out of failure fast. Building full size things that then don't work is time consuming, expensive, and frustrating. I used to do it, and its just terrible. So don't do it. Plan to fail, accept it as part of your process and you'll have a lot more fun with the process. When I'm not sure about a process I try to make one 1/4 size mock up of a new idea every day, test it and then try again the next day, kind of on the side, while I'm working on my main projects. So I have some success that day, even if the scale model fails. And the scale model usually fails. But who cares? Its a scale model that cost .10 in filament, took a half hour to make and now I know more than I did that morning.

[@JeanReneRodrigue]

Maybe the V-shape of your blades act like an aerofoil and create a negative air pressure in front of the blade.

[@christophersfactory]

That may also explain why it spins so poorly. I wonder if the airfoil lift affect could be counteracting any drag from the other side? 🤔

[@nicewhenearnedrudemostlyel489]

This is hard to tell if being coy. Lol. This is essentially exactly the case. I also take slight sleight to calling those airfoils. Fin vs airfoil.

[@yasirrakhurrafat1142]

May i suggest that you implement a one way gear in your windmill . So as if your windmill decides to go backwards it'd do basically the same thing .

[@Jehutynd]

Lol! Made me laugh- I’m subscribing- “falling and killing somebody beneath”

[@hommerdalor6301]

Hi, maybe the wind is slower on the balcony and faster outside? Would it work better if the farest part of the v blade was alined with the center of the next v? I mean turned counter clockwise 90°. Cheers. Christophe.

[@platibyte]

Maybe they turn backwards because of up or down windstream. Maybe it creates a unfortunate pressure zone. Air flows do not like rough geometry.

[@benjaminclements8217]

It’s been 6 month… congratulations on graduating!

[@christophersfactory]

Thank you! 🎉🎉🎓👨🏻‍🎓

[@evanbarnes9984]

I'm enjoying all the videos you're putting out! Windmills, cool gear mechanics, whatever really. Keep it up! Also, you mentioned you're finishing school soon; what have you been studying? I'm trying to figure out grad school in the next couple of years so it's always interesting to hear what people are studying.

[@AndyMacaskill]

I trust you tried turning the 'butterfly' vanes the other way, and it wasn't just that the wind was coming from the side?

[@CaptainJack2048]

I can't think of what's causing the problem with the double bladed windmill, but I suspect that the airflow is pretty funky. There may be some backwash and swirling between the blades, for example. I'm sure the fluid dynamics would be really hard to calculate (well, okay, that's pretty much always true). What you might try, someday, is building a wind tunnel with some clear acrylic sheet. Mount the turbine inside, and put a fan or other air source at one end and vents at the other. Use a chimney tester or some such to send smoke into the tunnel from the fan end to visualize the air movement. That might make the problems more apparent. Plus, you can probably get at least a few videos out of building a wind tunnel. 😀

[@christophersfactory]

Airflow is so unintuitive. That’s a big part of why these windmills are so enthralling to me, there’s no one right way to do things. The things I’d give to have access to a wind tunnel! It would certainly have made many prototypes much more diagnosable, especially this one. Good suggestions on the smoke and chimney tester, thank you!!

[@izzydo3494]

Design a bicycle peddled 3D printed stepper motor generator! Good use for people wanting to sit and move their legs to charge their phone or something.

[@christophersfactory]

This would be a fun project! It’s very humbling to compare what a human can produce to how much electricity the average human uses

[@izzydo3494]

@christophersfactory well in light of all the new years "fitness and gym" stuff, I always found it an incredible waste of electrical energy production opportunities from all those elliptical and peddling machines doing nothing to generate anything useful. A lot of those machines get their resistance from water or air or friction-induced and don't require any power to operate. Heck why not make them generate electrical power for the resistance power of magnets?

[@yasinnabi]

Success is growing, once you stop growing you are not counted as successful person. it is just my humble opinion. By the way I enjoyed watching your videos, a fellow creator.=====