Homemade power plant for the home. DIY generator: the best ideas and tips on how to make a modern generator with your own hands (instructions with photos and drawings). Production of a horizontal-axial "windmill"

And there was light. At least that's what the Old Testament says. In fact, supplying electricity to a country house is far from easy. When else will the power line be brought to the site! So you have to somehow get out of the situation: some acquire candles and kerosene lamps, others buy Japanese gasoline generators driven by an internal combustion engine.

However, I think it’s not too difficult for my readers to make such an autonomous power plant with their own hands. Moreover, almost all components for such a device can be found. An engine of the D-8 type is quite suitable as a power unit - light mopeds were equipped with such motors (we called them “holes” in childhood). D-8 has a power of about 1 hp. (0.736 kW) at a speed of 4500 rpm and runs on a mixture of engine oil with A-76 gasoline.

Electric generator for our autonomous power plant- “Zhigulevskiy”, type G-221, by coincidence, its characteristics are well combined with the parameters of the D-8 engine: at a speed of 5000 rpm and a voltage of 14 V, the generator output current is 42 A and, accordingly, its electric power is 0.588 kW. So, considering the mechanical and electrical losses, these two power converters are perfect for each other.

It is useful to equip a home-made autonomous power plant with a car battery with a capacity of 50-60 Ah, which will make it possible to use electricity, for example, at night, when it is irrational to rotate the engine. In general, the presence of a battery allows you to start the generator and charge the battery at a convenient time for everyone, when the noise of a running engine does not bother anyone.

You will also need a device that stabilizes the voltage and provides battery recharging. The easiest way to do this is to use an electronic rectifier-stabilizer of the BPV-14-10 type, which is used on Izhevsk motorcycles. This unit rectifies the three-phase alternating current generated by the generator, stabilizes the voltage at a current of up to 10 A, provides battery charging and switching consumer power from the battery to the generator and back when the generator speed or load power changes.

You can, of course, equip the generator with an electronic DC-to-AC converter with a voltage of 220 V and a frequency of 50 Hz, but the efficiency of such a device is not too high. And besides, now on sale, in addition to electric lamps, there are many more complicated 12-volt household appliances - TVs, radio tape recorders, vacuum cleaners, electric drills, pumps, compressors, etc.

The D-8 engine is equipped with a number of units necessary for its operation in tandem with a moped and completely useless with an electric generator. Therefore, it makes sense to dismantle the clutch mechanism together with the cover, the drive sprocket and the drive motor gear. Instead of a gear on the axis of the crankshaft, the leading part of a self-made clutch is fixed with a standard screw. This coupling is a machined aluminum alloy housing with three steel fingers screwed into it, on which a rubber bushing with six holes is put on. The free three holes include the fingers of the driven part of the clutch - the generator drive pulley, on which these three fingers are fixed.

You will need a fuel tank, as well as a motorcycle fuel cock with a sediment filter. You can use a tank from any moped, but its shape is not very convenient for a stationary unit, so it makes sense to make a home-made container by inserting a fuel valve into a suitable plastic or, better, aluminum canister with a volume of 2.5-5 liters.

The D-8 engine is designed for airflow cooling, so forced air cooling will have to be arranged. To do this, a four-blade fan impeller must be made from sheet aluminum with a thickness of 2.5 mm. The impeller drive is by means of a V-belt transmission, and the V-belt is thrown over a regular generator pulley and a home-made pulley machined from duralumin.

The pulley (it is also the fan hub) rotates on bearings No. 200, the console machined from a steel bar serves as the axis for them. The latter is docked to the engine cylinder head and fastened with two nuts - those that fix the cylinder head. It is only necessary to cut off a pair of central cooling fins on the head, screw two new elongated studs into the cylinder, and during installation turn the cylinder head 90 ° so that the fins are located along the air flow coming from the fan. To organize the air flow, a guide nozzle is inserted into the housing wall - part of a plastic bucket.

The basis of the mini-power plant is a metal box with a frame made of square steel pipes and sheathing made of sheet steel with a thickness of about 1 mm. The front and rear engine mounts are welded to one of the crossbars of the frame base - V-shaped pipes with a diameter of 30 mm (pipes from an old road bike frame are quite suitable), reinforced with gussets made of sheet steel 2 mm thick - the engine is attached to them using standard clamps. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the engine cylinder is tilted “forward” from the vertical by 15 °.

This operation is most conveniently performed locally. To do this, two tubular blanks are fixed on the engine with standard clamps, adjusted to the cross member and fixed with several welding points. After checking the correct installation, the supports are finally welded and reinforced with scarves.

The G-221 electric generator is mounted on the base of the frame in almost the same way as on the car engine. It is only necessary to weld the ears and the rack to the frame. Fixing the generator in this case is provided by a pair of nuts with washers and a long stud passing through the ears and standard brackets of the generator, as well as a nut connecting the rack with the stud of the standard tensioner.

The engine is equipped with a self-made muffler, which is a hollow cylinder with covers welded to it, in which a perforated pipe is located. The cavity of the cylinder is filled with the so-called tangle - thin wire or, better, thin drain steel (even better stainless) shavings. An exhaust pipe with a union nut is welded to the side of the cylinder - part of the regular exhaust system of the D-8 engine.

As you know, two-stroke (especially low-power) motors are not very stable in operation. If you fix the carburetor throttle in the position selected for operation, then after a while the engine speed may change arbitrarily. Therefore, the motor is equipped with a simple speed controller that controls the carburetor throttle with the help of a rod and a lever system driven by exhaust gas energy. With an arbitrary increase in the crankshaft speed, the damper on the exhaust pipe deviates, while lowering the carburetor throttle and thereby reducing engine speed.

Modification of the carburetor for this is minimal: you need to unscrew the cover of the throttle well, remove the return spring from it, wrap a rigid rod instead of the threaded adapter of the “gas” cable into the throttle and install the well cover. When assembling, a spring is put on the end of the rod protruding from the cover, then a washer, after which the rod is joined to the drive lever and the movable connection is fixed with a nut. The length of the drive rod, which is a kind of thunder, can be changed in order to adjust the engine speed.

The engine is started by a manual starter, consisting of a hand drill, in the chuck of which a fork with beveled teeth is loaded. The fork is inserted into the guide nozzle and docked with the fan, after which the engine is started by rotating the drill by the handle.

The layout of a homemade autonomous power plant:

fuel tank neck;
gas tank;
forced air cooling fan;
box frame of a mini-power plant;
engine D-8;
gas tank fastening tape;
gas cock-sump;
fuel valve flywheel;
box lining;
engine mounts;
generator fastening eyelet;
generator mounting rack;
car battery (12 V, 60 Ah);
coupling coupling;
guide nozzle;
muffler pipe.

The power unit of a self-made autonomous power plant:

engine cooling fan clamp;
fan blade;
carburetor throttle control lever;
thrust-thunder;
plug for fixing the lever-plug;
lever-cork;
exhaust pipe;
muffler body;
engine carburetor;
engine mounting clamps;
engine mounts;
ear mounting generator;
generator G-221;
generator mounting rack;
cross member of the base of the frame;
engine mounting nut;
alternator fastening nut;
fan clip drive belt;
fan console;
nut for fastening the console and engine head;
engine D-8;
coupling, elastic;
generator impeller-pulley;
remote bushing;
fan pulley sleeve;
bushing cover;
screw M5;
retaining ring;
bearing No. 200 (2 pcs.);
rubber coupling ring;
pin of the leading part of the coupling;
screw for fastening the leading part of the coupling;
key segment;
part of the coupling leading;
nut for fastening the impeller-pulley of the generator;
pin of the driven part of the coupling with a nut and a spring washer;
silencer filling;
exhaust pipe;
lever-backstage bracket;
thrust.

Schematic diagram of an autonomous power plant made by one's own hands:

automobile generator G-221;
rectifier-regulator BPV-14-10;
battery (12 V, 60 Ah);
fuse;
consumers.

The letters in the diagram indicate: C1, C2 and C3 - the phases of the stator winding of the generator; M1 and M2 - excitation winding of the generator; X1 - "negative" output of the excitation winding; X2 - "negative" output of the battery; X3 - "positive" output to the control lamp; X4, X5 and X7 - phases of the stator winding of the generator; X8 - "positive" terminal of the battery.

The layout of a homemade autonomous power plant:

fuel tank neck;
gas tank;
forced air cooling fan;
box frame of a mini-power plant;
engine D-8;
gas tank fastening tape;
gas cock-sump;
fuel valve flywheel;
box lining;
engine mounts;
generator fastening eyelet;
generator mounting rack;
car battery (12 V, 60 Ah);
coupling coupling;
guide nozzle;
muffler pipe.

The power unit of a self-made autonomous power plant:

engine cooling fan clamp;
fan blade;
carburetor throttle control lever;
thrust-thunder;
plug for fixing the lever-plug;
lever-cork;
exhaust pipe;
muffler body;
engine carburetor;
engine mounting clamps;
engine mounts;
ear mounting generator;
generator G-221;
generator mounting rack;
cross member of the base of the frame;
engine mounting nut;
alternator fastening nut;
fan clip drive belt;
fan console;
nut for fastening the console and engine head;
engine D-8;
coupling, elastic;
generator impeller-pulley;
remote bushing;
fan pulley sleeve;
bushing cover;
automobile generator G-221;
rectifier-regulator BPV-14-10;
battery (12 V, 60 Ah);
fuse;
consumers.

More than six months have already passed since I moved to live in the country. Last fall, the housing issue arose, since we lived in a rented apartment and sold it, we had to move out, but these moves personally got to me, every about 1-2 years I had to move from apartment to apartment.

Not long before that, in a nearby summer cottage, we bought an abandoned cottage on a receipt without documents. We were tired of other people's apartments and moving, and we decided to build a house in this dacha and move. And on the street it is already the beginning of October, but in just 4 days a house 3 * 6m was built at a fast pace, without any crocks. It took in general for a house with a veranda 3 cubes of boards, 5 cubes of foam, 60 meters of vapor barrier and the same amount of film. As a result, we, together with our belongings, moved for the 5th day to live in the country, slowly finishing everything, preparing firewood for the winter, well, I’ll tell you about this in another article.

Naturally, there was no electricity on the site and even nearby, but you also needed to charge the phone somehow, and watch TV. The gas generator immediately disappeared, as gasoline turned out to be about 3 tr a month, and the noise from it is too loud, it’s cool to charge a mobile phone from a gas generator, a liter of gasoline to charge the phone.

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Photo during the first tests, I tried two screws, one of tin, the second of PVC pipes.

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The main parts are made from existing material, the beam is made of aluminum curtain, the swivel axle is made of a bicycle hub, the screw and tail are made of galvanized sheet.

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This is what my folding camping wind generator looks like.

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The wind turbine screw is too large and powerful, it is easy to spin even with a short circuit.

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I tried to directly connect light bulbs and powerful LEDs, the windmill did a good job.

Well, in the summer I decided to make a second wind generator, already more powerful, based on a stator from an auto-generator (from the classics). This generator, according to calculations, was supposed to give up to 100 watts of power. I had two wind generators in the kit, and the first thing I did was to install a 100-watt wind generator on a 5-meter mast. I put a small 12 volt 9A / h battery on charge. what happened. But it turned out that not everything was so good and everything that was in the battery quickly ended, and the wind generator did not have time to charge because the wind was not constant and did not blow every day, as a result, there was barely enough electricity to charge phones and dim LED lighting. The battery is too small and when the wind blows, it quickly charges and starts to boil, so the windmill had to be stopped and the battery turned off, and without wind, the battery energy is not enough for a long time. Below is a photo of a 100-watt wind generator.

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Here is a windmill with the very first tin blades

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He is already on the mast

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The case is completely homemade, inside the stator is from an auto-generator, and everything else is self-made.

After some time, I got a used car battery, but in good condition at 60A / h, and after connecting everything became much better, now it was possible to do without wind for 2-3 days and there was always light and it was possible to charge the phone through a car charger. But the requests grew and I finally wanted to watch TV, for it I bought a 12/220 volt inverter with a power of 1 kV, Chinese for 1500 rubles. The TV quickly ran out of battery and we watched TV not all the time, but mostly on windy days.

To help the windmill, I put my first camping wind generator from a hub dynamo, it helped noticeably, but its power was still small. And since the hub dynamo is a single-phase generator with decent sticking, during operation it hummed a lot, especially in strong winds, and interfered with sleep at night, so I took it off.

Then winter came and windless frosty weather melted all December. All juices were squeezed out of the battery and its voltage dropped to 6 volts. I had to take it to the gym, and so in a month 5 times, since the windmill stood almost all the time. It was decided to buy solar cells to assemble a 60-watt solar panel, ordered the elements on the Internet, took them in 10 days and quickly soldered them on the window frame, and closed the elements with a second glass on double-sided tape. There was no sun, as always, and during the day, with a little explanation, the charging current reached 1.5 A. I began to think why it was so, but it turned out to be a bad soldering of the elements, as a result, some of them moved away, I wanted to open and solder, but the double-sided adhesive tape glued the glass to a dead one, and I broke the panel to smithereens. Then I decided not to mess with the self-assembly of solar panels for now and it’s better to make another windmill, since the wind reappeared and there were fewer interruptions with electricity.

The second wind generator was made from an auto-generator from "Bull", it is 18 teeth and a little larger than from the classics. I ordered magnets with a size of 30 * 10 * 5, the price with delivery was 2500 rubles, I machined a new rotor and rewound the stator with a 0.6 mm wire, welded the frame at work and made the blades. And as a result, the generator turned out to be more powerful than the previous one and its power reached 150 watts in a strong wind. Then he raised the windmills higher, the first by 8 meters, the second by 7 meters.

Now two windmills with good wind charged the car battery in a matter of hours and a new problem arose with constant recharging and boiling of the battery. He often came home from work and acid was leaking from the battery due to overcharging. It was necessary to install a controller, but they are expensive, and I myself don’t think much in electronics. It was decided to better increase the capacity of the batteries and I bought two more 60A / h batteries, as a result, the total power became 180A / h. The result was excellent, now there is no overcharging, and the batteries do not have time to be strongly discharged. I don’t let them recharge, I hung up a multimeter and occasionally glance, if the voltage goes off scale for 14 volts, then I stop the windmills, while the batteries just start to make a little noise with boiling acid. Even without turning off the batteries, you can safely leave them, because now the windmills do not boil fully charged batteries much.

We have an ordinary home TV and ate about 100 watts / h through the inverter, but now we watched it every day. But he still ate a lot, so I bought a portable 12-volt TV and it practically did not turn off with us. Below are some photos of windmills and the electrical component of the autonomous power supply of a country house.

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There is a multimeter and two automata on the door, one for short circuit protection, and the second one I stop the windmills when the batteries are charged.

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There are switches on the side wall, one double for light in the house in different halves, the second on the veranda.

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Hanging box with batteries, only two batteries fit inside, and the third one at the bottom. All batteries in parallel 12 volts, decoupling of wires on two bronze tires.

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This is how wind turbines work.

At the moment, spring has come, all the snow has come down, in general, we survived the winter. There are no problems with electricity. Two wind generators in a strong wind give a charging current of up to 20A, but this does not happen often, since our area is not windy and the average annual wind speed is only 2.4 m / s. With a normal daily wind, windmills give 2-6A for charging, this is quite enough for all our needs. This wind farm is now providing 15Wh LED lighting, a 10Wh portable TV, mobile phone charging, a screwdriver charger, power and a 20Wh tablet that I am writing this article from. In general, we now consume about 9-10 kW / h per month, and so far, even with some reserve, there is enough for everything.

Local power networks are not always able to fully provide electricity to houses, especially when it comes to country cottages and mansions. Interruptions in a constant power supply or its complete absence makes it necessary to look for electricity. One of these is the use - a device capable of converting and storing electricity, using for this the most unusual resources (energy, tides). Its principle of operation is quite simple, which makes it possible to make an electric generator with your own hands. A homemade model may not be able to compete with a factory assembled counterpart, but this is a great way to save more than 10,000 rubles. If we consider a home-made electric generator as a temporary alternative source of power supply, then it is quite possible to get by with a homemade one.

How to make an electric generator, what is required for this, as well as what nuances will have to be taken into account, we will learn further.

The desire to have an electric generator in its use is overshadowed by one nuisance - this is high unit cost. Like it or not, but the most low-power models have a rather exorbitant cost - from 15,000 rubles and more. It is this fact that suggests the idea of creating a generator with his own hands. However, himself the process can be difficult, If:

no skill in working with tools and diagrams;
no experience in creating such devices;
The necessary parts and spare parts are not available.

If all this and a great desire are present, then you can try to build a generator, guided by the assembly instructions and the attached diagram.

It's no secret that a purchased power generator will have a more extended list of features and functions, while a home-made product is capable of failing and failing at the most inopportune moments. Therefore, to buy or do it yourself is a purely individual matter that requires a responsible approach.

How an electric generator works

The principle of operation of the electric generator is based on the physical phenomenon of electromagnetic induction. A conductor passing through an artificially created electromagnetic field creates an impulse that is converted into direct current.

The generator has an engine that is capable of generating electricity by burning a certain type of fuel in its compartments:, or. In turn, the fuel, entering the combustion chamber, during the combustion process produces a gas that rotates the crankshaft. The latter transmits an impulse to the driven shaft, which is already capable of providing a certain amount of energy at the output.

What to do if electricity is required at a dacha, in a private house or at a logging site, but there is no normal power supply? Is it possible to independently make an analog that will generate the required current and provide a stable required voltage? Experience shows that this is quite possible. Of course, such a power plant will not be able to operate in a fully automatic mode, the presence of a person will be required. If you need a stable power supply in fully automatic mode, it is better to purchase a serial power plant with automation, or even a simple gas generator. But, if you have some pieces of iron in the garage, but there is no money for a new gas generator, then you can try to make a power plant yourself.

Let's take a look at the generator. As it is possible to use an asynchronous electric motor of the AIR series. Take a three-phase motor. If you need to power single-phase equipment, use a three-phase transformer. A capacitor is connected in parallel with each motor winding. The capacitance of the capacitor is selected in most cases empirically, for example, to power a power plant of 3.5 kW, a capacitor of 100 microfarads is needed, if the power is greater, the capacitance increases proportionally. This is necessary for a stable start-up of the power plant. At the exit, you need to put an automatic switch. However, since the voltage from such a power plant will be unstable, it will not provide one hundred percent protection.

If you want to protect yourself and electrical equipment from power surges during operation of the power plant, it is best to use a stabilizer. But at a price such a complex will be comparable to a gas generator, so you probably have to do without it. To ensure minimal voltage monitoring, use a multimeter at the output of the motor windings. When measuring three-phase voltage, remember that it is measured between phases. For standard equipment to work, it must be in the region of 380V.

Engine

In the general case, it is necessary to consider not the engine itself, but the power plant. You will need a motor that is about 30% more powerful than the induction motor, and a belt drive that will convert the torque from the motor to about 10-15% higher than the motor's operating frequency.

The engine must be provided with the possibility of smooth adjustment of the gas. It will be convenient if a mechanism with a comfortable handle is used to adjust the gas supply, perhaps even with a scale. In extreme cases, you can get by with a screw and a screwdriver. Very often they use an engine from a walk-behind tractor and a belt drive from a lathe. If you need a more powerful device, take an engine from an old product of the domestic auto industry, or even a foreign car. Many "basins", although thoroughly rusted, have a fully working motor inside. A home-made power plant for the home, placed on a separate welded frame with wheels, will be more convenient and mobile.

If it is possible to install a clutch that will interrupt the torque supply from the motor to the electric motor, be sure to install it and, in case of a problem, use it. By doing this, you will save an expensive electric motor and what is connected behind it. It is very convenient to use the serial clutch mechanism for switching on and off.

Start-up and operation

One person is responsible for the operation of the generator with all the consequences - the one who designed, made and launched this device. That is, you yourself. Start the generator at idle speed - preferably with the clutch disengaged. Set the minimum speed, warm up the engine. If there is no clutch, disconnect the load. Then turn on the load or clutch and gradually increase the engine speed by applying gas. After the multimeter starts to show the desired voltage value, the generator enters a stable operating mode.

This adjustment will be sufficient for the operation of equipment with a stable operating mode, for example, for a refrigerator. If you intend to use equipment that draws load in an intermittent manner, such as a handheld jackhammer, then you will need to adjust the gas supply to the engine every time you turn on the hammer. If you just leave the gas supply at the maximum position, there will inevitably be voltage and current surges, which can have a very negative effect on the operation of both the tool and the power plant, and even life threatening.

Video about a homemade benzo power plant

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