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| Francis contacted us almost as soon as we had our web site up and
running and has been in contact with us ever since! He was building an
axial flux turbine for his senior project towards his degree in
electrical engineering technology at the University of Northern
Iowa.
Although we have never met Francis in person, we feel that we have
gotten to know him via the many e-mails that we have had back and forth.
He has a great sense of humor, which seems to be a required quality if you
are going to build one of these units!
Francis now has his turbine complete and it's up and running. The fun
is just beginning!
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Here's Francis' story board, explaining what the heck is
going on! |
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Francis chose the traditional tools for blade making. Hand
planer, drawknife and patience! |
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The blade inspector checking out the finished product. Looks
like it passed inspection! |
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Coils fitted into the mold, almost ready to be cast.
Finished stator and magnet discs ready for the magnets. |
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Francis shows off the jig for positioning the magnets to the
discs.
Here Francis and his partner in madness, Ash, are getting ready to cast
the magnet discs. |
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Pouring in the epoxy.
Preliminary work being done on the magnets during class at the
University of Northern Iowa. |
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Ash smiling. That's a positive sign!
Tail boom and stator mounting bracket. Looks good! |
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Everyone got recruited to help with this project.
Francis and Ash mounting the stator to the bracket. |
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Francis, is this your car? Looks like it could use some
work!
One of the magnet discs mounted.
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Showing off the finished product in the classroom. |
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A classmate checking it out.
This machine is called an oscilloscope. |
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Digging the hole for the base of the tower. Now the hard
stuff begins! |
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Re-bar reinforcement for the cement at the base of the
tower.
Pouring the cement. |
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The hinge mechanism for the gin pole at the base of the
tower.
Ash demonstrating the gin pole action. |
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Attaching the guy wires to the tower.
Cranking the winch to raise the tower. |
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The turbine ready to go up. Hey Francis, looks like
something's missing!
With the tail, but still, something ... Hey, what happened to those
nice blades? I think you might need them at some point! |
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A close up of the base of the tower. Nice design.
The turbine up, but wait... there's still no blades! |
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More pics of the guys showing off their creation in class. |
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At this point, we have received confirmation from Francis
that the turbine is up and running, complete with the blades, and is
working great! We will put the rest of his pictures on as soon as we
receive them. Great work guys! |
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