| Windmill Maker |
October 6, 2017
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| He was fascinated with wind power generation. A couple of months ago, he was bothered by stray cats. Stray cats came around his house and meowed all day, every day. His house was located on a hill in the suburbs. He remembered that some houses put out PET bottles with water in them, which was believed to shun away stray cats; maybe cats disliked something shinning. He tried this, but it didn't work. Next, he remembered that some houses set out pinwheels. They were usually handmade, made of PET bottles. He searched on the Internet and found a website which provided a design of a PET bottle windmill. The only thing he needed was to buy a gimlet or an electric drill to make a hole in the middle of the cap of the PET bottle. He bought an electric drill thinking that it might be useful in the near future. Because he retired from his job recently, he had time to do some much needed repairs on his house. Plus, in addition, he liked carpentry. He cut a 500 ml PET bottle into three parts: 1/3 that had the cap, 1/3 body, 1/3 bottom. Then he cut out three blades from the body that had the cap. He made a hole  in the center of the cap with his new drill. Then he put the top and the bottom together again. Then he put pieces through a straight hard wire. He bent the wire at a right angle, and set it in a straight pipe and put it in the ground in the front of his house. Soon the thin plastic blades caught the wind and the windmill started to spin, and turned to the direction that the wind was coming in. It started to spin smoothly. He was amazed that this simple gadget spun efficiently. And, he was also amazed that it was at almost no cost. However, as he found out, it didn't work for cats, though."But...," looking at the windmill revolving he thought, "This is almost free. And if I can generate electricity with this, it means that I can get electricity for free." He searched on the internet. Thanks to the ecologically concerned society, he found a website which introduced micro-windmill generation. He followed the instructions on the website and bought a motor (3V, 20mA, 1,050r/min), a LED miniature bulb (1~5V, 0.25W), and wires. He set it to the PET bottle windmill. It started spin and soon the bulb was lit. He shouted with joy like a kid. Next, he tried to generate more electricity. His PET bottle wind power generation system generated 20mA. It is 0.02A. If you want to generate electricity enough for an electric appliance of 100V, 100W, it needs, 100W/100V=1A. It means 50 PET bottles. If you want to use the microwave (100V, 500W), you would need 250 PET bottles! He gave up the PET bottle idea. But, he continued to surf on the Internet and found a kit of a wind generation system. It consisted of some parts, 3 metal blades, a shaft, a dynamo (a small generator ~you can see it on a bicycle), bolts and electric wires, and a small gadget with a USB receiving hole. It was a 0.4A type, 20 times more powerful than the PET bottle system. It costed about a 100 dollars. He ordered it and a couple of days later it was delivered. It only took an hour or so for him to assemble it. He cheerfully set it on the clothing pole. It was a windy day but it didn't spin at all. He adjusted the angle of the blades but it didn't spin. He sighed and revolved it with his hand for a try. Maybe it needed stronger wind. He took an electric fan with an extension cord from his house and set it on maximum speed and turned it on. The blades started to revolve at a certain speed. He connected his smartphone to it and it started to charge. This has no meaning: using an electric fan in order to generate electricity! This thing needed a hurricane or a typhoon to move it. "But..." looking at the electric fan, he got an idea. He switched the fan blades of the windmill with the fan blades of the electric fan. His activity was accelerated. He also found a website which introduced more elaborate windmills for higher electrical generation. One was from an inventor from New Zealand. He introduced his wind turbine that uses a bicycle's rim and aluminum plates. The website also offered a PDF of the blue prints for each item. (This is called 'open source'.) One could print them, and cut a sheet of aluminum according to the blue print lines. They also offered a YouTube demonstration video. He took off one of the rims from his old bicycle. He went to a DIY shop and bought aluminum plates, a special cutter, a metal ruler, and some bolts. He started to make it. His electric drill was very useful... It generated more electricity than his fan type. He connected it to a car battery that he had bought. He used the electricity that he generated for the lights in his living room. The more he experimented, the more efficient his generation systems became. Several months later, there were 10 different windmills in front of his house. As his house was located on the hill, the windmills, which were spinning, were recognized from the distance. People started to come to see his work. Neighbors came and asked him how to make them. He advised them, and now people can see various types of, shapes, colors, and sizes of windmills spinning in this area. |
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*windmil :風車
*shun away :忌避する
*pin wheel :風ぐるま
*gimlet :きり
*rim :車軸