Whirlybird Wind Turbine User Manual - Super Science Fair Projects

Whirlybird tm Wind Turbine 

User Manual 

A REEL Power © (Renewable Energy Education Lab) Project 

By LearnOnLine, Inc. (www.learnonline.com) 

WhirlyBird Wind Turbine User Manual © LearnOnLine, Inc. 1

Contents 

1. Overview 

2. Intended Use 

3. General Safety Precautions 

4. Related Issues 

5. Assembling the Wind Turbine 

6. Attaching to the 3-Phase Bar Graph Board 

Wind Turbine Design and User Manual by… 

LearnOnLine, Inc. – creator, sponsor and host of the REEL Power © Project 

567 W. Channel Islands Blvd. #101 

Port Hueneme, CA 93041 

e-mail information@learnonline.com 

website www.learnonline.com 

Caution 

This kit contains powerful magnets. 

People with pacemakers should not 

handle or go near strong magnets. 


1. Overview 

Imagine creating a 3-phase wind turbine from 

a common, everyday roof ventilator along 

with some magnets and coils of wire. That’s 

what we’ve created for your study of wind 

technology. 

We chose the Whirlybird tm 

several reasons. 

roof ventilator for 

First, it has great bearings that simply will not 

wear out under normal – and even severe – 

use. Without great bearings your wind 

turbine is always fighting friction that only 

serves to slow it down with the attendant loss 

of power. 

Second, it can be easily constructed 

with common tools and without 

soldering or drilling. 

Third, it can be used indoors and 

[especially] outdoors where your 

study of day-to-day and season-byseason 

wind never stops. 

Fourth, it produces 3-phase power 

just like the commercial wind 

turbines, which allows you to study 

this marvelous electrical principle first 

hand by using your computer and our 

3-phase Bar Graph Board. 

And, fifth, you will be able to modify it in order to study the effects of magnetism 

and how you can optimize the mechanical components to produce maximum power. 

Here is what is included in the Whirlybird tm Wind Turbine Kit: 

12 Wire Coils 

16 Bar magnets 

1 6-position terminal block 

1 8” diameter round metal rotor disk 

1 8” diameter round Plexiglas stator disk 

1 5/16”, 7/8” long threaded rod extender 

1 5/16”, 1 ½” long bolt 

10 5/16” flat washers 

3 1” flat washers 

Lomanco Whirlybird tm model B1B-12 roof ventilator purchased separately at Home 

Depot and other home improvement outlets. 


2. Intended Use 

The hardware, software and experiments are developed exclusively for educational 

teaching and demonstration purposes. Any other use such as in life-critical applications is 

prohibited! 

3. Safety Precautions 

In order to avoid any risks, you must abide by the following Safety Precautions when 

working with the Whirlybird tm Wind Turbine. 

• The system may only be set up and operated by a competent person. Younger 

students require adult supervision at all times. 

• Read the assembly instructions and experiments before executing them. 

• The Whirlybird tm Wind Turbine is not a toy. Assemble and operate it 

responsibly. The use of safety glasses and protective gloves while assembling 

the wind turbine and performing experiments is highly recommended 

• READ AND UNDERSTAND EACH ASSEMBLY PROCEDURE BEFORE 

EXECUTING IT. This will help to understand what is to be done and, also, 

prevent inadvertent mistakes that could lead to incorrect results or possible injury. 

• LearnOnLine, its distributors or affiliates will not accept responsibility for injuries 

or damage sustained in the event that these Safety Precautions not followed 

completely. 

Caution 





4. Related Issues 

4.1 Reverse Engineering 

You are not entitled to reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software product 

in whole or in part. 

4.2 Errors and Omissions 

LearnOnLine has made every effort to supply the software and hardware without errors; 

however, we are not responsible for any unintentional errors or omissions in the design, 

construction or operation of the product. If you should notice undiscovered errors, please 

contact us. 

LearnOnLine, Inc. 

information@learnonline.com 

4.3 System Requirements 

Windows Pentium class computer with USB interface port. MACs with INTEL 

processors can use Parallels “Desktop 3.0 for Mac”. 

4.4 Software Installation 

You will need administrator rights for software installation under Windows 2000, 

Windows XP or Windows Vista. 

4.5 Warranty 

LearnOnLine, Inc. warrants its products against defects in materials and workmanship for 

a period of 90 days. If you discover a defect, LearnOnLine will, at its option, repair, 

replace or refund the purchase price. Simply contact us at information@learnonline.com. 

4.6 Disclaimer of Liability 

LearnOnLine, Inc. is not responsible for special, incidental or consequential damages 

resulting from any breach of warranty, or under any legal theory, including lost profits, 

downtime, goodwill, damage to or replacement of equipment or property, and any costs 

for recovering or reproducing any data stored in or used with LearnOnLine products. 

LearnOnLine is also not responsible for any personal damage, including that to life and 

health, resulting from use of any of our products. You take full responsibility for using 

LearnOnLine products and experiments no matter how life threatening it may be. 


5. Assembling the Wind Turbine 

You are about to begin a worthwhile and engaging project by creating a 3-phase wind 

turbine from a common, everyday roof ventilator, some magnets and coils of wire. 

Before starting first check to see that you have the following component parts that came 

with your kit to begin assembly: 

1 Lomanco Whirlybird tm roof ventilator (purchased separately) 

12 Wire Coils 

16 Bar magnets 

1 6-position terminal block 

2 8” diameter round metal rotor disk 

2 8” diameter round Plexiglas stator disk 

1 5/16”, 7/8” long threaded rod coupler 

2 5/16”, 1 ½” long bolt 

3 1” flat washers 

10 5/16” flat washers 

You will also need the following tools and materials to complete the assembly: 

• Flat head screwdriver 

Crescent wrench 

• Grease marking pen 

Multimeter 

• Pocket or Exacto tm knife 

2-part Epoxy Glue + stirring stick 

• Latex gloves & Safety Glasses Electrical tape 

• Length of 6-conductor wire (length to be determined by your setup) 

The Whirlybird tm Wind Turbine is designed to work with the 3-Phase Bar Graph 

Board. You are not required to have this board; however, the experiments towards the 

end of this User Manual use the 3-Phase Bar Graph Board along with your computer 

for graphic display. 


Part 1 – Preparing the Wind Turbine for Assembly 

1.1 The core part of the wind turbine assembly is the Whirlybird 12” diameter roof 

ventilator manufactured by Lomanco (part number B1B-12). You can find it in most 

Home Depots or other hardware stores in the roofing section. It looks like this all 

packaged up in its box (left). Carefully remove the staples, open the top and this is 

what you will see inside (right). 

1.2 Remove the wind turbine from the box and turn it over (left). You will see that 

the 3-leg triangular base is attached to the fan assembly by a single nut. Remove the 

nut and washer and save them for later use (right). 


1.3 Next, remove the 3-leg base assembly by holding onto the fan struts with one 

hand and carefully wiggling off the leg assembly (left) with the other. Then screw on 

the 7/8” threaded rod coupler to the fan’s shaft (right). Finger tight is fine. 

1.4 With the 3-leg base sitting upright (below) place a 1” flat washer on each of the 

three rivets on the top triangular section. Mix a small portion of epoxy glue and dab 

the glue into the middle of each washer to hold the washer to the aluminum section. 

Use a plastic knife or a Popsicle stick to mix and dab the epoxy. BE VERY 

CAREFUL NOT TO INHALE THE FUMES AND, ALSO, WEAR 

PROTECTIVE GLOVES AND SAFTEY GLASSES. Allow the glue to dry for 

about 10 to 15 minutes. 


Part 2 – Assembling the Magnet Rotor 

Caution 




2.1 Starting with the 16 bar magnets, use a grease pen to mark each magnet’s side 

with an “N” and the opposite side with an “S” for North and South. It’s not important 

to know which side is actually North or South, only that they are marked as opposites. 

If you really want to know North from South, use a compass needle to indicate which 

is which. Do this with the remainder of the magnets. Be careful not to allow the 

magnets to crimp your fingers…they are very powerful!! Also, wear safety 

glasses since the magnets may shatter and fling sharp particles into your eyes. 

The magnets should look like this when finished (right). 

2.2 Next, place the 16 magnets around the edge of the 8” metal disk with the large 

hole in the middle. Make sure to alternate the magnets N-S-N-S…. as shown below. 

This is VERY IMPORTANT, which is why you marked them North and South in the 

first place. This may take some time since the magnets will want to snap together. 

Once in place, epoxy the each magnet to the metal disk by lifting up on the magnet 

and dabbing a bead of epoxy to the top and bottom ends. Use a plastic knife or a 

Popsicle stick to mix and to dab the epoxy. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO 

INHALE THE FUMES AND, ALSO, WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES AND 

SAFETY GLASSES. This epoxy sets very quickly so make sure you have the 

magnets correctly arranged before you start. 


2.3 After the epoxy has had a chance to 

set, temporally place the magnet disk on the 

fan struts of the wind turbine. Holding the 

center shaft in one hand, carefully give the 

turbine fan a gentle spin to see if the rotor 

disk is centered on the shaft. Adjust the 

rotor disk until it is properly centered. With 

a grease pen mark the struts to indicate the 

disk’s outer edge. You can now epoxy the 

disk to the struts by placing a dab of epoxy 

both on each strut and the corresponding 

back of the metal disk. Before the epoxy has 

a chance to set, again make sure that the disk 

is centered. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT 

TO INHALE THE FUMES AND, ALSO, 

WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES AND SAFETY GLASSES. 


Part 3 – Assembling the Coil Stator 

3.1 There are twelve coils that form the 3-phase 

electrical coil assembly. With a pocket or Exacto tm 

knife carefully strip away about ½ inch of the 

enamel coating from both ends of each coil. Make 

sure all the enamel has been stripped away. Be 

careful not to cut your fingers in the process. 

3.2 You will need to add more length to the coil 

ends so “gently” pull one wire at a time towards you to find where it starts. Then pull 

the wire out from the electrical tape to make it longer. 

3.3 Strip the paper from the 8” Plexiglas disk. 

3.4 Place four coils around 

the disk in the 12, 3, 6 and 9 

o’clock positions as shown. 

Make sure that the coil wire 

ends face the outside of the 

plastic disk. 

Put a dab of epoxy on the 

bottoms of each coil and 

adhere it to the plastic disk. 

This will form Phase 1 of the 

three coil phases. 

3.5 Twist tie 

three of the coil 

wire ends 

together going 

from the left wire 

of one coil to the 

right wire of the 

next coil. There 

should be two 

free wires 

remaining from 

two of the coils. 

The free ends in 

the photo are on 

the coils in the 3 

and 6 o’clock 

positions. 


3.6 Turn the plastic disk 

over and fold over the 

twisted wire ends to the 

underside of the disk. Apply 

a piece of electrical tape to 

hold them to the disk. 

3.7 Place a dab of epoxy 

glue on the end of the 6 

position barrier strip and 

glue it to the underside of the 

disk as shown. 

3.8 With a grease pen label 

the screws as 1 through 6 as 

shown. 

3.9 Attach the left-most 

free wire to screw #1 and the 

right-most free wire to screw 

#2 and screw them in place. 

Make sure that these wires are attached to the screws nearest the outer edge of the 

disk, as the equivalent inner screws will eventually attach to a cable leading to the 3- 

Phase Bar Graph Board. 

The wire attachments should 

look like this on the screw 

terminals. 


3.10 Repeat the 

procedure for the 

next four coils. 

3.11 Attach the 

left-most free wire 

to screw terminal #3 

and the right-most 

free wire to screw 

terminal #4. 


3.12 Repeat the 

procedure for the 

last four coils. 


left-most free wire 

to screw terminal 

#5 and the rightmost 

free wire to 

screw terminal #6. 

Tip 

If the coils get 

crowded 

together, squeeze 

the inner part of 

the coils so that 

they fit better 

side by side. 


3.14 Before going further it’s time to test the coil 

connections with a multimeter. Set the multimeter 

dial to resistance (sometimes indicated by the ohm 

symbol). Next, apply the probes to screw terminals 

#1 and #2. If all is correct, the reading should be 

between 25 and 30 ohms. This is the total resistance 

of the first four coils taken together (in series). If 

your reading is well above this value, you probably 

have an “open circuit” and need to re-check the coil 

connections as they most likely are not stripped of 

enable and are not making contact. Re strip the wires 

and re twist them together again. Then check the 

other two coil arrangements between screw terminals 

#3 and #4 as well as #5 and #6. Repeat the repair 

procedure if the coil resistance is not within limits. 

3.15 Add another dab 

of epoxy to the three 1” 

washers on the 

triangular leg assembly 

and “CAREFULLY” 

place the Plexiglas disk 

on top of the screws 

with the black terminal 

block on the underside 

of the disk facing down. 

Make sure that the hole 

in the disk is centered 

on the hole in the 

triangular leg assembly. 

THIS IS VERY 

IMPROTANT!! 

Keep the disk 

centered on the hole in 

the triangular 

assembly. 


Part 4– Putting It All Together 

Before putting the stator and rotor assemblies together take some time to examine the 

stator coils. They should be flat with no wires sticking up. One way to ensure this is to 

put a large telephone book on top of the coils to squash them down. If you take the time 

to do this and let it sit overnight, it will bring you a better working wind turbine. Even if 

you don’t flatten the coils now, you can take the wind turbine apart to do this at a later 

time. So, let’s get going on putting it all together…. 

4.1 To finalize the 

connection between the 

rotor and stator assemblies, 

insert the 1.5”, 15/16” bolt 

through the bottom of the 

stator assembly with 1 or 2 

flat washers near the head 

of the bolt. Push the bolt 

through the center hole in 

the triangular base 

assembly then add about 4 

or 5 flat washers capped 

off with the nut that you 

saved from step 1.2. If 

you don’t have the nut 

anymore simply add a few more washers to the bolt. The nut just makes it easier to 

handle. Regardless, make sure that the free end of the bolt has about 1/2” of thread 

exposed. 

4.2 Now insert the 

triangular base through 

the threaded rod coupler, 

which is connected to the 

fan assembly. Screw the 

two assemblies together 

by rotating the threaded 

rod coupler in a counterclockwise 

direction with 

your thumb. Gently 

wiggle the triangular base 

assembly to make sure 

that the coils are not 

scraping the magnets. If 

they are, disassemble the 

two parts and flatten out the coils with a phone book as weight or add another washer. 


Part 5 – First Tests 

5.1 Before doing anything else, place the turbine base on a flat surface and give the 

turbine fan a GENTLE spin. If you hear any scraping noise this means that the coil 

wires are scraping against the magnets. Unbolt the base and fan assembly by 

unscrewing the threaded rod coupler and add another washer to the 1.5” 15/16” bolt. 

This should correct the problem. If it doesn’t, add yet another washer. Remember, 

however, that each additional washer will increase the space between the coils and 

magnets, thus producing less magnetic coupling and less voltage and current output. 

The whole idea is to reduce the gap between the coils and magnets to a minimum. 

Therefore, disassemble the two parts and check to see how best to reduce this gap. 

Now to see how well the wind turbine generates voltage. 

5.2 With the multimeter set to AC 

voltage on a range between 0 and 5 

volts place the meter probes on screw 

terminals #1 and #2 then give the 

turbine a good spin. You should 

experience a voltage reading between 

1 and 4 volts AC depending on how 

fast you spin the turbine. Repeat the 

test for screw terminals 3 & 4 and 5 & 

6. If you get the same general voltage 

reading on all three screw terminal 

pairs this indicates that the turbine is 

working correctly. 


5.3 It’s now time to hookup a multi-wire cable to the terminal block. You will need 

to get a length of 6 conductor stranded or solid wire for this next step. It should be 

long enough to reach from where you will eventually place the wind turbine to where 

your computer is located. You can go to Home Depot and get a length of any size 

CAT-5 cable, which is normally used for Ethernet cables. It comes as 8 conductor 

solid wire, so there are two extra wires in the cable. Or if you search around you can 

find 6 conductor cables at Home Depot or at distributors like Digikey, Mouser or 

Jameco. Whatever you do, don’t pay extra for expensive cables – this project does 

not require them. Hookup the cable as in the photo below and make sure to note 

which colors are connected to which screw terminals. Then use a tie wrap to secure 

the cable to one of the aluminum struts to relieve any strain on the connection to the 

screw terminals. 

Congratulations!!! 

If the voltage tests worked you have successfully completed the wind turbine assembly 

portion of the project. However if you’re still experiencing problems, review the 

previous steps to see if you have done all the things correctly. Sometimes haste makes 

for mistakes. 


Part 6 - Attaching to the 3-phase Bar Graph Board 


wire cable from the 

Whirlybird tm Wind 

Turbine’s 6-screw 

terminal block to 

the equivalent pin 

numbers on the 3- 

Phase Bar Graph 

Board. These 

numbers are 

clearly marked on 

the side of the 

board. Simply 

strip the wire cable 

ends, push down 

on the springloaded 

terminals 

and insert the 

wires. Gently pull 

on each one to 

make sure that a 

good connection is 

made. 

P1 P2 P3 DC 

3-Phase Bar Graph Board 

Battery 

X2 

X1 

Power 

USB 

USB 

LOAD 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

1 2 3 4 5 6 

6.2 If you are at your computer attach the USB cable between the 3-Phase Bar Graph Board 

and the computer’s USB port. If you’re not at the computer, insert a fresh 9-volt battery into the 

3-Phase Bar Graph Board. Set the toggle switch on the bottom-center of bhe board to the left 

for battery operation and to the right for USB operation. In either case you should see the four bar 

graph LEDs illuminate simultaneously three times; this is a test to make sure that all the LEDs are 

working. 

6.3 Set the Voltage Scale switch to the X1 position (down). The Voltage Scale switch is to the 

right of the USB connector. This means that each LED represents 1 volt. Setting the switch to 

the X2 postion simply doubles the voltage of each LED from 1 volt to 2 volts. You can change the 

X1 – X2 setting at anytime. 

6.4 Now give the turbine a spin. The Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 LED bar graphs should 

illuminate in order with Phase 1 then Phase 2 then Phase 3. The fourth vertical set of LEDs 

indicate the DC voltage being generated. If you don’t see this happening, go back and recheck 

the wire hookup between the wind turbine and the 3-Phase Bar Graph Board. It’s probably a 

loose wire or one that is not stripped of insulation that’s causing the problem. 

If you have come this far please refer to the 3-Phase Bar Graph User Manual for detailed 

installation and operating insturctions plus interesting computer experiments.

Whirlybird Wind Turbine User Manual - Super Science Fair Projects

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