This week, I started building the prototype of my Pleech, the power leeching wind turbine.

The first thing I did was to assemble all the parts I could find. These included:

Pringles Can (cut lengthwise)

Two Used CDs

Chrome Paper Towel Holder

5/8 in. Dowel: (cut to length with two nails driven into each side and snipped to make a needle bearing)

8 Ceramic Magnets: (oriented in alternating North/South configuration)

400 Ft. 30 gauge magnet wire: (made into 8 loops of approx 275 2 in. windings)

Various Electronics: (including a bridge rectifier)

With these pieces together, I began the assembly process.

Heh. So, I just realized that I forgot to tag the last entry which would have put the previous Process post appear in the MS:I blog area. Dumb. No wonder Yury didn't see it.

I'm thinking about the Savonius Turbine in particular because of projects like
PicoTurbine.

At 300 windings per stator, the basic version of the PT should be able to produce between two and three volts, according to the authors. The plans have a pretty great discussion of the possible power coming out of the turbine.

For my Pleech project, I am trying to develop a low-cost, low-power, easily assembled generator that can be fixed to walls, fan outlets, and other infrastructure in order to generate environmentally friendly electricity for physical-computing graffiti and sentiti applications.

(Note: "sentiti" is my own coinage. It refers to any illicit sensor that can be placed in much that same way as graffiti. Think of it as an unauthorized reading as opposed to an unauthorized writing.)

This is a design for a guerrilla power generation device using the Darrieus Turbine design. It is more efficient than the Savonius Turbine, but may be harder to build and less sturdy.

Design for the Pleech using a Savonius Turbine design. This is a VAWT for power generation using wind energy. It is simpler to build, presumably, than other types of turbines, like the Darrieus, and is less prone to wear, but is less efficient.