Hello everyone and welcome to the WINTURER project page, the Wind Turbine for your Adventures.

A few months have passed since I presented my first Portable Wind Turbine prototype on this platform. Its creation was inspired to provide a backup solution to recharge my electronic devices, during my explorations away from conventional power sources. Normally on my trips I take with me a 10000mAh (37Wh) PowerBank and a small 10W portable Solar Panel. Generally, the Power Bank is more than enough for me and the Solar Panel is a backup in case I use up all the power from the Power Bank and need to recharge my devices.

It happened to me that during an expedition a little longer than expected, I tried to recharge my phone and Power Bank when it had run out and there was no sun light at all. There was wind, but I wasn't prepared to take advantage of it. Suddenly, my phone had turned off completely and with it all the advantages of having it on (GPS, maps, possibility of communication in case of emergencies if I approached an antenna, the camera to get an interesting photo, an LED, etc...).

No matter what size of Power Bank you decide to take with you, at some point it will run out if things go off the rails and the return to civilization stretches out in time.

Solar panels also have their drawbacks, they depend on the Sun as is evident and they need to be perpendicular to solar radiation to extract their full potential. Many people hang the panels on backpacks and the orientation towards the Sun is a bit random which hardly contributes to generating energy efficiently. What if in your adventure destination there are no guarantees of having access to energy sources to charge your devices? Another aspect is that generally during the day we are on the move or in some activities while fulfilling our objectives and not precisely recharging our devices. As soon as it starts to get dark, it's time to stop moving and it's a good time to recharge, but unfortunately the sun light is gone. If there is any usable wind, this project may be a solution. Prototype 1 was my first proposal to take advantage of the wind to recharge my devices.

update note: I have been contacted by several Mechanical Engineering students and others interested in the original design files. I just uploaded them to GRABCAD at this link. I have spent a lot of time creating these parts. I hope they will be of great help to you!

I think there are many people in the World with similar needs. There are regions where access to conventional energy sources is very scarce and access to devices of this type could be a good alternative to keeping an LED lamp on at night or perhaps a small fan. There are also monitoring devices for meteorological variables, air quality, etc. that need energy sources for their operation where the sun is scarce. How about in disaster situations?

It is true that there is no wind everywhere and perhaps there is no other choice but to carry along 10Kg of Batteries and thereby have a certain “peace of mind”. But what if there is wind? Would you carry around a reasonably small, low-mass device that harnesses the kinetic energy of the wind to charge your most essential devices? If your answer is positive, then in this project you can find a solution.

What would be the drawbacks of a Portable Wind Turbine? Why apparently are there many people who are still  not convinced to take one on trips? Why aren't there several proposals for cheap DIY solutions, free to modify, replicate, share without being subject to patents and all the restrictions on development that this entails?
The answers to these questions were the compass and the obstacles that I have had to face in this project. I summarize what I think below about the most common comments.
"A Wind Turbine that provides a "feasible" amount of energy needs to be relatively large and heavy. This is inconvenient if you have to carry it on your trips!" This is true, very small and very light devices will not provide enough energy . Even so, I believe that in this project I have found a balance between Volume-Mass-Generation Power so that it is practical and some may wish to take it on their trips. I think the folding Blades was a decisive step in the design.
"How do I install the Wind Turbine, is it required to carry heavy and complex structures?"
Not in this case. If you don't mind carrying a light and compact photo tripod there is no need for additional structures. In many cases, this type of equipment is already carried with you.
"I have to leave my device charging and while this is happening I can't use it"
Removable batteries are used here. If you have 2 you can leave charging one in the Wind Turbine while you use the other with you.
"Skills and workshop tools are required to make the Blades and other parts, this is very complex for me"
If you have a 3D printer and you know how to use a soldering iron you have everything very easy.

During the development of this entire project, four prototypes were created and submitted for evaluation. Finally, it was concluded that project 4 was able to meet the proposed design requirements and that I present to you below.

-Easy to reproduce, industrially scalable and multi-application.

-Reasonably cheap

-Reduced size, similar to a 2 liter soda bottle

-Relatively low mass

-Compact and easy to handle for transport (Folding blades towards the central body)

-Most of its 3D printed parts on a typical Ender 3 type printer (Hotend max temp 250 deg and hot bed temp 90 to 100 deg celsius and no part bigger than 22cm)

-Detachable battery that eliminates the problem of twisted cables and inefficiencies. You won't have to throw it away if the battery goes bad, the problem is the battery not the generator lol.

-Efficient.

-Generation capacity between 5W-15W depending on the speed of the wind.

-Compatible with tripods and camera support accessories (¼-inch mount with 20 threads per inch)

-Support USB QC output

-Splash and dust resistant

-Good mechanical resistance

-Easily repairable.

You can find a detailed explanation of the construction of prototype 4 here: https://hackaday.io/project/185070-3d-printed-portable-wind-turbine#menu-instructions

You can find a list of all the components and their estimated costs here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aMOJwC7pS_DCuWPCbJbpmcdg3yCmRCFX/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109023932284365279388&rtpof=true&sd=true

In the Logs https://hackaday.io/project/185070-3d-printed-portable-wind-turbine#menu-logs you can find the evolution of each phase of this Project from Prototype 1 to Prototype 4.
 

WINDTURER has been designed to accompany you on your adventures and to be easily transportable. It does not matter if you want to make an expedition in a remote part of the World or if you simply want to impress your friends and teachers at a Science Fair, you decide!