Wind Turbine Air 40

I was at our Milton Ontario Hamfest this year 2013 and I came across a Air40 wind turbine made by Southwest Windpower Inc., But this unit was old made in 1998 it had a lot of mileage on it. It came without the blades, nose cone and hub. So the first job was to find the parts but the parts that are available are for the new version of turbine, the body is the same except that the newer casting have a vent in the casing and the electronics is different, I have no idea if the electronics will fit the old casing and right now I don’t need to replace that part anyways. But I found that the blades, nosecone and hub do fit.

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This is a photo of the new parts, The parts came from altE Store www.altEstore.com ,Part # SOUAIRB-BLADESL Primas Windpower Air 40 Blade replacement Kit $120.00, Part # SOUAIRB-HUB-L Primas Air 40 Land Hub $60.00, Part # SOUAIRB-NOSEL Primas Windpower Air 40 Land Replacement Nose cone $20.00. Please note the this prices are in USD.

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This is the blade assembly it will be attached when the wind turbine is ready to be mounted.

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This is the body casing less the front unit.

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This is the front unit called the face

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Here we start to get into the heart of the unit, I had to pull the Rotor out and clean off the magnets of all the filings, Compressed air and then the trusty old Duct Tape 3m brand works very well. Then the bearings will need to be replaced after all it did have a lot of mileage and also the next question will be is where did all those metal fillings come from? The bearings that I replaced with are SKF 6203-2Z and 6203-2RSH one has metal seals and the other has rubber seal. You will also note the when you disassemble the unit the washer that is in between the bearings is different then the new stile, it is one piece. The bearings are well worth the replacement at $7.50 ea CDN, do it now that way you will not have to do it later at a higher cost of removing everything.

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Inside view with the board removed.

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Here’s the electronics board, Note that it is potted so repair cannot be made, If not working I don’t know if the new board will fit. This board is the regulator for the batteries and the control unit also.

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Rear view of the potted control board.

I will continue this story after the Wind Turbine is installed, I still have to get the battery bank and the conduit and wire to finish the install.

Until next time 73 VE3VXY