Subject: Any Experince with Savonius Rotor Windmills?

From: "Ralph D. Arnold" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 13 May 95 22:50:57 PST

I received an interesting catalog from Jade Mountain (18004421972),
which lists a book discussing how to build a wind generator from
oil drums, titled "Savonius Rotor Construction".  Have any of you
personally built these and, if so, any tips or experiences that might help
me?  Any add'l reference books you'd like to recommend?  
Thanks!   Ralph     [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Jorgen Skyt)
Date: 14 May 1995 21:01:02 GMT

Ralph D. Arnold ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I received an interesting catalog from Jade Mountain (18004421972),
: which lists a book discussing how to build a wind generator from
: oil drums, titled "Savonius Rotor Construction".  Have any of you
: personally built these and, if so, any tips or experiences that might help
: me?  Any add'l reference books you'd like to recommend?  
: Thanks!   Ralph     [email-masked]

  Sorry, I can't give you any booktitles, but I believe there are numerous
books covering windenergy-turbines, amoung them "handy-man" versions of
the Savonius. You can find them all in the local library. 

  The Savonius is not very efficient on longer timescales, but it is
probably the easiest and cheapes windturbine to be build. 

  Advantages is low cost, standard equipment/materials, and the
interesting possibility to build a Savonius into the existing design of a
standard house, even in a city (chimney-mount if not to heavy). 
  The disadvantages is low energy output and heavy weight per kilowatt -
or kilojoule or whatever. 

  A major advantages in the construction is, that you don't have to worry
about which direction the wind comes from. So you build it, mount it,
connect it - and it works! For an experiment, start up with Polyethylene
bottles or ping-pong balls cut in half. You will then be able to do some
experiments. 

  Unfortunately, the Savonius is difficult to mount in altitudes where the
wind is more steady and runs faster. But then again: Think about the
chimney-mount. There you have the high-altitude mount ready made for
smaller applications. 

Best wishes
Joergen Skyt
Denmark