Electric motor to generator
Friday, January 16th, 2009Dear Jeff,
I have several low speed electric motors ,1150 rpm and in the 1/2 to 1 hp range. I would like to revamp these to power generation using propellers to turn them via wind. I have not been able to find info on how to do this and was hoping you could steer me in the right direction.
Thank you.
Jerry Graham
Jerry:
I do not know what kind of electric motors you have, but I do not know of any AC electric motor that will generate electricity when you turn the shaft. You can convert a DC electric motor into a generator as they have a commutator and separate field and coil windings, but AC motors are basically a multi-coil transformer and have no commutator.
In addition, wind turbines have large blades and turn only a few hundred RPM’s and nowhere near the 1150 RPM of your motors, which means if these were DC motors, you would still need some type of gearbox to change the shaft speeds.
There was a good reason you couldn’t find any information on how to make this conversion – because it can’t be done.
Good luck!
Jeff Yago
