Is Cleanfield Energy in trouble?

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It appears that Cleanfield Energy, a Canadian vertical wind turbine manufacturer is running into difficulty. They have triggered an event of default, which basically means the bank is coming after them for money.

According to the news release, Cleanfield’s board voted to either wind-up or liquidate the company.

“Furthermore, because of Cleanfield’s lack of positive cash flows, its inability to secure additional working capital and weakened demand for the Company’s products, the Company is unable to properly operate.”

It’s unfortunate to see another VAWT manufacturer’s operations stop turning, after the well-known failure of Helix Wind several years ago. The energy business is cutthroat and if there’s no customers, there’s no money. Perhaps another wind turbine manufacturer will step in and buy the technology.

Here’s a look at one of Cleanfield’s installations at Durham College in Ontario, Canada:

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGfZ9ETsHSA’]

 

Urban Green Energy wind turbine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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Here’s a video showing one of Urban Green Energy’s vertical axis wind turbines operating in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It looks incredibly surreal, with the blades turning hypnotically under the calm Florida skies.

The installation was done by Automated Life, Inc. based out of Boca Raton, Florida. Automated Life started as a home automation company, but has ventured into renewable energy. This installation appears to be a demo unit or temporary installation, as evidenced by the trailer mounting.

The vertical axis wind turbine is Urban Green Energy’s 4kW version, the UGE-4K. Standing just over 15 ft high, it provides 4kW of energy or 4000 Watts. The carbon fibre and fibreglass blades on this turbine can spin in winds of 7 mph and can also withstand winds of 123 mph.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mM3GnVCRTY’]

 

Large Homemade Helical Wind Turbine

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The helical wind turbine in the video is pretty big. It looks like a simple homemade wind turbine on the corner of someone’s house, but if you look closely at around 0:28 s, you will see a man in the lower left corner of the screen. This shows the true scale of the wind turbine, which is more than twice as tall as the man.

Helical wind turbines are the prettiest looking of VAWT family (in my opinion!) because when moving they look like a continuous screw turning. Pretty cool!

Some details from the comment section of the video:

  • wind turbine generates 400 W at 5m/s wind speed (speed in video).
  • blades are made from galvanized/Aluzinc steel sheets, hand bent to shape.
  • the turbine survived wind speeds in excess of 120 km/hr
Check out the video below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRO4avB-dqM[/youtube]

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DIY Vertical Wind Turbine with Car Alternator

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Here’s another great DIY wind turbine video. The last DIY vertical wind turbine video was a Savonius wind turbine and so is this one. A Savonius wind turbine catches the wind using scoops rotating around a shaft. These are definitely the easiest style of VAWT to make, since the scoops can be made of virtually anything.

This vertical axis wind turbine has the scoops mounted on a bicycle wheel. Bicycle wheels are handy since they are so ubiquitous. It’s not hard to find one lying around.

Can You Use a Car Alternator in a DIY VAWT?

The interesting part of this set-up is the use of a car alternator. The bicycle wheel is linked to the alternator with a belt turning the alternator shaft freely. However, once a load is applied (i.e. the alternator is turned “ON” to generate electricity), the wind turbine isn’t strong enough to turn.

As this video shows, car alternators are not ideal candidates for a homemade set-up. The rpms have to be much higher before any effective energy is drawn through the alternator. Some newer alternators turn much slower, but when you’re trying to build a DIY vertical wind turbine from scrap material, older alternators are more readily available.

Additionally, when the wind isn’t turning the wind turbine, the alternator will draw energy out of the battery, draining it. A proper controller with inverter will prevent this and compensate for the fluctuating energy during changing wind conditions.

Check out the video. It’s an interesting attempt at a DIY wind turbine.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BE5cuap2AQ[/youtube]

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DIY Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

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This video shows a do-it-yourself Savonius wind turbine in action. The language is Polish, but a quick Google translate gives us some pertinent information.

Parts:

  • front bicycle wheel hub
  • motor and flywheel from an old VCR
  • cut up paint cans mounted on a plate of wood
  • capacitor and inductor

Power output is 100 mA with high winds and about 30 mA average. Wind was blowing around 5 to 7 m/s or 11 to 16 mph.

An interesting set-up. Pretty quiet rotation and I love that orangey-red color! Most DIY VAWT’s are savonius turbines, which catch the wind and turn. I guess it’s easier to find concave pieces of material like pails, pipes and drums, then to fashion a contoured blade that will generate some lift!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HylhATL_Sek[/youtube]