Electricity Generation

Electricity Generation - Home Brew Independence

Overall Theory

The idea is to produce electricity !!!

In general, the ONE aspect that will make or break the system is the ROTATION DEVICE.

All other parts USE energy, hence the ROTATION DEVICE is the key to success.

There are several categories that make up a Generator:

1. Required Skills and Safety
2. Over-Unity: A Contradiction of the Laws of Physics
3. Sources of Cheap (or Free) Power
4. Conversion of Rotational Energy to Electrical Energy
5. Rectification
6. Storage and Reserve
7. Inverters
8. Testing
9. Investigating Power-Producing Discoveries and Inventions

Required Skills and Safety

Your personal skill-set is crucial to success in this arena.

An electrical background is essential for Understanding and Implementation.

1. Could you upgrade the breaker panel in your house?
2. Do you understand motors?
3. Are you physically capable of lifting 100 pounds?

If ANY answer is "NO", then upgrade your skills.

Some things are not upgradeable, such as physical condition/strength.

You will need to perform these functions:

• Use meters for voltage, continuity, amperage, power factor, EMF, etc
• Wire motors, generators, rectifiers, inverters
• Follow safe procedures consistently, not just when it is convenient.
• Know CPR and basic first aid.

This is a dangerous project you are undertaking.

Electricity is very unforgiving - there are NO Do-Overs.

If you're dead, you're dead.

It's a BAD IDEA to bypass safety under any conditions !!!

With that said, it's up to YOU to stay alive and undamaged.

Over-Unity: A Contradiction of the Laws of Physics

Over-Unity (OU) may be thought of as the "measurement of efficiency" of a device that generates more power than it uses.

1.0 would be a "perfect" conversion of energy, while .75 means that is outputs 75% of what it consumes to operate the device.

Thus 1.2 would mean it has a 20% surplus - quite an achievement.

The physicists would add that our definition requires a closed system.

For example, it would seem that a windmill is an OU device, but when the energy in the wind is included, the efficiency becomes dramatically less than 1.0 due to the losses incurred in the conversion process.

Oftentimes an OU device uses another component to make a device less-then-unity, but that is our challenge - how to arrange known components to achieve SYNERGY, where the whole is not just a collection of its parts, but is GREATER than its parts.

Are you getting the idea that perhaps the key is a RE-INTERPRETATION of the Laws of Physics?

After all, ancients thought the Earth was flat for a LONG time ...

Plus, people have been wrong before, as the following quote:

"Everything that can be invented has been invented" - 1899, Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (probably false, but interesting nevertheless)

Sources of Cheap (or Free) Power

SOURCE ENERGY is the key to conversion-there must be something to convert !!!

Here are a few Source-Energy concepts, both natural and man-made:

1. Windmills
2. Waterwheels
3. Wavewheels (variation of a Waterwheel)
4. Heat
5. Solar
6. Geothermal
7. Nuclear
8. Donkey Wheels
9. Mass-Movers (uses recurring mass changes for an energy source)

Conversion of Rotational Energy to Electrical Energy

Lines of force must be repeatedly cut to achieve this conversion.

A Permanent-Magnet-Generator (PMG) is typically used for this purpose.

A PMG uses a rotor-stator arrangement to produce AC as the output.

This is the opposite of an electric motor, which converts AC to shaft rotation.

It is difficult to make a PMG from scratch due to the exacting tolerances and relationships involved.

YES I know this from experience-my HomeBrews are decidedly inferior compared to the StoreBought units.

And NO I don't make recommendations - the technology keeps changing, hopefully for the better.

Rectification

Rectification is changing AC into DC with a full-wave bridge (typical).

Note the smoothing capacitor in parallel with the load.


The diodes are usually 35A, but I have seen larger values for large installations.

DC RMS output can be achieved (.637 X single-wave peak).

The overall result will be acceptable DC to both the Battery Bank and the Inverter.

Storage and Reserves - The Battery Bank

A Battery Bank is needed when the PMG cannot supply the Watts needed to start a device or to run it medium-term.

For example, a motor pulling 1.4KW RLA might pull 6KW LRA during startup.

A 3KW source obviously cannot supply 6KW, so the Battery Bank must have reserves to make up the difference.

After startup, the normal 1.4KW will resume and the Battery Bank will recharge.

Solar requires a large Battery Bank, a waterwheel fairly small.

An often overlooked component is a charge-controller. Without it, you will overcharge the batteries repeatedly and eventually ruin them.

A possible alternative to a Battery Bank is a massive flywheel, which will supply temporary surges due to it's inertia and mass.

See the following Inverter section for data on mixing DC power sources.

Inverter

An inverter changes DC into AC.

Amplitude=117/220 VAC and Frequency=50/60 Hz, along with stabilization, ripple control, total harmonic distortion, overload protection and transient suppression must all be taken into account when selecting an Inverter.

The lowest-cost version can accept 1 DC input, while better units can accept more sources, often with different DC amplitudes.

It is the Inverter's job to internally blend all the DC sources together and produce usable AC.

An inverter must have circuitry to prevent feedback between these inputs.

A normal system has two sources: the PMG and the Battery Bank.

The PMG output will be high, with the Battery Bank usually limited to 12V/24V/48V, depending on your batteries and how they are connected.

The Inverter can operate wholly from the input power after a critical threshold power level has been achieved. If your system has a Battery Bank, it MIGHT supply the required power for self-sufficiency.

Testing

Good test procedures are an absolute must.

Each component must be tested individually to see if it performs as advertised.

The only component not fully testable in advance is the Grid Tie-In, connecting the Inverter to the Power Grid.

It is the Inverter's job to phase-match the Generated AC to the Grid AC.

Doing a static phase-match with an oscilloscope is not the same as an active Grid-Load.

If Grid Tie-In is not correctly done, it can be very expensive. A transformer from the Electric Company can be pricey if it is determined it's your equipment at fault. You MIGHT get lucky and simply pop the transformer fuse. In either case, YOU PAY for the repair.

Often an evaluation must be done on a YES/NO basis for the entire system.

1. In this case, you don't need a whole bevy of tools - just the basic voltmeter, wattmeter and a hefty load.
2. For a hefty load, an emergency heat-strip from a Heat Pump is ideal.
3. A heat-strip is a pure-resistance load with no inductive or capacitive reactances.
4. I like to use two 5KW strips hooked up in series, which limits the amperage and hence the heat (a fan might be needed). If there is sufficient capacity, you can always parallel them as a secondary test.
5. The test is simple: Output Power minus Input Power. It's that simple.
6. For further analysis, points along the way can be measured.
7. For example, on a windwill system, the input power is 0 watts (the windmill). If the system works even a little bit, there will be measurable Power-Out.
8. If the system uses an energy consumption device (i.e. electric motor), then the analysis must include the power to run the motor.

Windmill-Related Data

The Betz Limit is a theoretical MAXIMUM Coefficient of Power (COP). The best and most reputable small wind turbines are currently performing at 36%, and only in small parts of their power curve. 20% to 30% is more realistic. The formula using 36% becomes:


Concerning roof-top mounting - Wind speeds are DRAMATICALLY reduced. At rooftop level, tests have shown that wind speed is often as little as 20% of theoretical capability, due to slow wind speeds, turbulence, and shear. In fact, most average rooftop average wind speeds are 10 mph ... with 10 mph considered the minimum for a wind turbine investment to be worth it, which makes a roof-mount a very dubious proposition unless you have LOTS of wind.

If you are buying or building a windmill, this formula offers a simple way to "test" the device in theory.

As an interesting development in windmill technology, see New Ideas

Investigating Power-Producing Discoveries and Inventions

It seems an almost-daily occurrence that a new "Free-Energy" device has been invented.

Upon investigation, they invariably fall into one of these categories:

1. It's "almost" ready for public Engineering Evaluation - just a few more tweaks requiring time, money or resources.
2. It's in operation in our secret test facility but can't be shown until patents have been finalized.
3. It was working yesterday - we don't know what happened and we are investigating.
4. It's working, but not going public until we have good security in place.
5. It was stolen and we're negotiating to get it back.
6. Government Men in Black SUV's confiscated it pending NSA approval.
7. Waiting for a new physical principle to be properly credited (example-Negative Friction)
8. Is under an NDA (non-disclosure-agreement), so it's not his decision
9. Is waiting for the patent to come through first
10. Bureaucratic disagreements keep delaying the release date
11. The PMG's keep failing because of poor QA - we just have to find the right unit
12. It can't be released until various lawsuits are settled
13. Is afraid for his life and won't come forward until he feels more secure
14. Is trying to improve it with ... (new N95 neodymium magnets, for example)
15. Is a working stiff and doesn't have time or money to starts producing them
16. Is waiting for the political climate to improve
17. Won't invite anyone to his house to see it because his wife is easily upset around strangers
18. Is super-paranoid and can't trust anyone except his brother who returns in a few weeks
19. Needs seed money-just send $$$ to my Nigerian partner. OK - I have not actually heard this one, but it seems SO LIKELY that it could happen.

As an educational aid, here is a partial list of things I've seen:

1. An embedded coil under the garage floor acting as a secondary coil for a nearby high-voltage power line (easily found with an EMF meter).
2. A hidden battery supplying power to turn a PMG (found with careful examination).
3. A waterwheel using the public water supply under pressure (water costs money).
4. A super-efficient electric motor for a power source (Measure Input vs Output Power). Using a Power-Consumption device for input power will not work - It's the input power device that must overcome the other system losses.
5. A new solar hi-efficiency film (this one had electric lamps on the underside).
6. A donkey-power horizontal hub using windmill parts. Donkey feed has to be supplied, and for the work expended, just not cost-effective.

If it seems that I am overly critical - YOU ARE CORRECT. There's a lot of hokey stuff out there.

In the event you have a device that actually works, SHOW ME !!!

The game-plan for success is already developed - I just need a good input-power device !!!

I've been planning this for DECADES ...

Signing off with great hope,
NEIL ----- email me at NeilOrme@neilorme.com