Verticle Windpump - New Idea - Improving effeciency

One of the problems of verticle windmill is that the arms wind turbine have to travel against the air current half the time. This will reduce the efficiency.  To counter this, I have decided to make an arrangement as in this diagram.  This is my invention and anyone can copy and use it (No patent).

An additional arrow like structure should be installed from the middle pipe extending sidewards (At Half the distance of the full length of the properller arm).   This arrow will have a tail and a head which is nothing but V shaped plates which will "Block" the wind.  If it works, then this arrow head will block the wind falling on the returning propeller. 

Since this arrangement is pivoted on a ball bearing, this will rotate and always point against the wind at any time serving the purpose.  Thus blocking wind on the return journey and allowing wind to flow only towards the working properller, the windpump will gain maximum efficiency.  Concept yet to be tested.

The arrow head will block wind falling on the returning wind turnine blades.

Front view. I suggest the plates have to be further reinforced using structure.

Rear view.

My experiments on Vertical Windmill

My post on Facebook has invited a lot, but not huge response.  203 likes, 144 shares and around 25 comments. It has generated interest among few enthusiasts.  I had made a small "Do it yourself" pictorial guide in 10 slides in vernacular Tamil.  Why Tamil?, because this design I want to dedicate to small and marginal farmers who have small land holdings under 2 acres.  They are the people who are bullied a lot by so called corporate progressive farmers and policy makers.  If I post in English, except for the poor people this will get transmitted to all patent community, intellectuals and armchair philosophers who will endlessly argue on the (lack of ) efficiency of the vertical windpump concepts.

I hope like a bicycle, one day this design should freely be made available so that marginal & poor farmers can meet their small power needs in captivity. This will not generate electricity, but pump water using brutal force of wind in efficient manner.  When there is no wind, they can operate manually.

Back home Subbu and Paramu had discussed over the printouts. I am not sure how much they understood. I am scared they will do something without telling and get into trouble. This was always the case earlier. So I told Subbu to tell me before hand so that mutual value additions can be done.

 Today Subbu is busy with a local temple festival and Paramu,  the carpenter is free. I told Subbu to first install the Hand Pump which we have over the new Bore Hole. This hand pump was dismantled 3 years back when we purchased the ABS windpump.  It can be put to use now. I guess some spares have to be purchased.  The newly dug borewell has to be dressed as well.  That will keep them busy for next 10 days.  Meanwhile I can shape up the design of future Verticle axis windpump further before hitting the hammer.

I have also found a new idea of how to improve the efficiency of the pump further. I guess I need to make a scale model myself at home to prove all the points on a video. I had a major fundamental doubt on the working concept of the three V shaped wings model that I had designed.

Quickly i made a small model out of Paper, Pencil, sketch pen (for outer) and some wire.  Tested the working by blowing air from vaccum cleaner and hair drier to act as wind tunnel. I was utterly confused after the experiment. Blow this way, the windmill rotates anticlockwise way. Slight alteration and it starts rotating clockwise.   Sometime it stalls not rotating at all.  After many experiments I found these blowers are not good to generate natural flow of air.

So mounted the setup on the car and drove a few kilometers.  Was very much satisfied with results. Whew ! it works.  Here is the video link.

https://youtu.be/VOHCzlk94mE

Verticle Wind Pump Design Change

I felt that verticle wind pump should be more simple to make and with available resources locally.  I feel it will be very difficult to mount the rotating main axis. The pole is supposed to rotate from ground upto a height of 20 feet.  That is going to put a lot of weight on the pivotal bottom.

Therefore I changed the design.  In the new design the windmill flaps will be supported by a large PVC outer pipe. This pipe alone will rotate. This will be coupled to a fixed flag pole through ball bearing.  Thus rotational part is limited only to propeller.

Note the PVC pipe from propeller placed over the fixed mast (yellow). The power will be
transferred using V Belt and flywheel. Later I want to replace this with
bicycle free wheel and chain.

Further the energy should be transmitted to the gear assembly through bicycle free wheel and chain.

I communicated this to Subbu.  In fact Subbu and Paramu are so enthusiastic they have already ventured to Valliyoor to inspect the old gears at a workshop.  That is good.

Today Subbu should take printouts of what I sent from the Valliyoor browsing centre.  He had already visited Valliyoor 2 times. I told him to go slow. But he would'nt listen.

This is how the finished one should look. Except for PVC modification

The handpump assembly. There will be a counter weight at the handle
this is to balance the weight of boring rods (not shown) deep in the well.
This way you can go upto 500 feet more even more.
With counter weights, the operation must be smooth and stress free.

Meanwhile my post to facebook is drafted and kept ready. I must try my hands on sketchup software to draw a cycle chain with links today.  That will complete my art work. I may post this tomorrow.

I am sure marginal and small farmers will benefit from this design. My guess is it should not take more than 30,000/- for this.

Designing Vertical Wind Pump

We have failed in getting the small korean kerosene pump up and running.  It is unable to pull water. Pumps of similar capacity is used only in households to pump sump water to overhead tank.  For agriculture use it appears we need 3HP minimum. A kirloskar engine costs anywhere around 40,000.  Add a decent compressor 20000 and then mounting,  coupling and pipes. It will go above 80K.

Now vexed with searching for cheaper energy sources, decided to do something on my own.  I spoke to Subbu and told "we must do something".  No point in waiting for electricity board officials to move their ass.  Even if they at a later date, it is going to cost me lot of money.

Better design something which will pump water from borewell using wind once again.  Sitting at my desk on the week end I designed a verticle wind pump.   Explained this over phone to Subbu and Paramu and took assurance from Paramu he will not quit in between.  They were interested.  I am going to invest around 20K on this. It may result in a solution or may go waste.

Atleast let me try.

An elegant view from bottom. Also showing how the gears must be.

Here are my first cut diagrams. Inspired from Cup anemometer.  I am going to develop this further properly in the days to come. I will post this also in Facebook for my agriculture friends to copy and develop that in their neighborhood. backyard.  The design may look crude and not aero-dynamic. How does it matter ?  Butterflies are awkward in their flight design. But they migrate across continents !

I just want to create a competition among small farmers to get a better working solution.   In this area, I have seen enough of people claiming to have developed some windpump or other, but none of them have come to market so far.  Before a design matures, someone wants to hide it and never get it to masses.

Therefore it is better to leave it to community to develop the idea.  whoever can invest some money, sincerity,  faith and hard work - let him have it.  I am going to develop a miniature in ,my house. Meanwhile Subbu should start work near the farm. That will take time.

I just drew the below diagrams myself using sketchup. Amazing software. Just learned it couple of hours through youtube and went on creating shapes. It took around 10 hours. This is not drawn to scale. Neither I am an engineer.

These diagrams are not alone enough for my team to start the work. From my past experience I have learned that detailing is very important. Given a choice or freedom to think, they will end up creating something that will be very different.  I need to detail out upto mounting on the ground. This however is now enough to create enthusiasm and broad understanding.

A view from Top

Another view from top. Look at the blades. Initially I wanted this to be collapsable. but it is
difficult to intoduce complication at this stage. Let it get develop

The rotation should be converted to up and down motion. This will operate the manual
water pump below (not shown here).

Farm Actuvity Update 28-Jul-2016

There is no activity in the farm for the past few weeks.  There is intense heat and no rain till now. Though there is rich monsoon clouds all over India and there is flood as well, in our farm it is a drought. This is not unusual. We get rains only in November.

Therefore no water. Windpump is barely able to meet the needs.  According to Subbu,  last year was a drought without water and wind. This year we are getting wind at-least. Last year were were purchasing water at this time. This year however we are just managing.

The pond has dried out.  Fishes have been shared among workers. Subbu told the pond is dry. They should have saved at-least few fishes in the smaller tank, which they did not.

Meanwhile electricity officials have come and gone twice. Citing capacity inadequacy in nearby transformer, they seems to have identified another source.  I have lost hope and told Subbu not to pursue further. But Subbu is full of hope. Since we have paid for the meter, they must come back sir. I am not chasing them least they will ask for bribe. Let it come on its own

But that may be a long wait.  Not keeping quite, I asked Subbu if we can rent an oil pumpset. I guess it will be costly. The other alternative is to use our baby kerosene pump set and give a try. Subbu is very reluctant. He underestimates that equipment.  I insisted. Finally they are now trying the pump without success.  Initially the engine itself did not start due to long gap. It was serviced in Moolakaraipatti, a nearby hamlet.

As per Subbu, with a hose of 50 feet connected to the pump it is unable to draw water. But the machine is rotating and air is coming. I guess there may be air leak which doesnot allow the vaccum to be created.  Pump rotating is a good sign.  It is third or fourth day they are trying out all combinations.

****

Spread Like the birds dropping......

So called weed shown by Kandan. Actually,
 this seed is something I brought from Pune

I just wanted to give the title "Resourceful intervention on bio-diversity" for this short note. But later simplified into "Birds Dropping" or even better "Birds Poo". Both mean the same.  Birds fly across the landscape, eat fruits and drop the seeds all over the place helping spread bio-diversity.

On my visit to farm last month, during the walk around, Kandan pointed out to some new "weeds" growing around Banana trees.  They were in abundance. Near the windpump they were getting plenty of water and hence was healthy.  I would have taken it lightly except for the message Subbu told. He said, "this kind of plant is not a native to this place sir".

That scared me..  I must be the culprit.  I had inadvertently brought some species from my workplace some 1400 Kms away which happens to be a weed.  So thinking I started asking my agriculture friends. To my surprise they all said this is a common green in some farms and is native only. Used sparingly it will enhance milk secretion for women after child birth. Taken more, it may cause loose motion.  I am relieved.  Subbu must be ignorant.

Phew ! That was only a luck. What if I had introduced without knowledge an invasive weed in my enthusiasm?  I must be careful in my selection.

In another place on the farm they shows another plant which did not belong to native. And another wine. and so on.  I remember these are plants that I collected from the outscrits of Maharashtra - wild plants and not necessarily exotic.  I generally like herbs which are strange looking, self reliant and host to wildlife.

Looks like my point forest is succesful.  Earlier I had invented a concept called "point forest" (Click here). That was last year when I downloaded all the collected seeds and asked Subbu to make a small circle and confine it... After lot of follow up (because he was sceptical and thought it is waste of time) and pressure from me  he finally arranged bricks in small sqare pit.   Just like a "Homa Gunda" of Hindu ritual.  He put all seeds into it. Did not water it properly.  Over a period of time when the pond was expanded JCB destroyed it without a trace.

All my hard work of collecting the seeds went down the drain, I thought.  Seems No.  Not at all.  I guess those seeds are now washed off to far away place in the farm and are growing in favorable conditions.  Some where here and there I can spot those plants that I wanted to grow.  I guess with few more rains and seasons, we can find more of the species here and there.

Hope and Hard work does pay..

Windpump got angry !

You may wonder if I say the Wind Pump is angry with us.  You may even suspect my sanity.  But what more can I say except report what happened !.  It is upto you.

The Angry pump

The day when we were boring a 2nd well for water, the wind pump went silent. There were these two giant drilling machines standing at a distance overlooking the wind pump.  The wind pump which was working smoothly non-stop for the past 8 months or so suddenly stopped working.  This happened on the same day.

The windpump base in active

Technically the pump had got "chocked" apparently due to a piece of PVC pipe that went down the shaft. This piece was from a pipe overhead that got eroded by up and down motion of center rod.

Imagine the situation at the farm (Last month first week) when it was peak summer,  New boring is done but inactive,  Windpump stopped and there was no water till repair is done. We almost had to purchase water in-spite of having two holes.

Subbu and team had to remove entire assembly and remove the debry.  Since then till date one or the other problem is coming to the windpump every week.

Perhaps it is angry that we have dug another borewell. Perhaps it knows that she will loose her importance because we will  put an electric pump there.

I told Subbu, come what may we need to keep running windpump.

Just few days back Subbu was atop the windpump trying to control the rotation when I called on him. He wanted to stop the blades and go for some alignment fixing.

People had to pull the tower and tilt a bit for Paramu to fix something which they said if left alone will erode a rod.  I can't visualise.

As of now everything is fixed. As a value addition, Subbu had fixed a 2 inch 10 feet pipe overhead in the place of erstwhile pvc pipe. This will guide the central rod from the top itself without allowing it to oscillate.

Still Subbu is not sure if the pump will work without issue. The concern is the foot valve is suddenly getting "tight" and gets "Chocked".  If this happens, the windpump bends the rod and turns it loose.

I guess this happens due to salt deposit in the inner piston of the rod.  Let me see. If this prolongs, we have to do sand paper or bring the pump to a lathe and drill very slightly (thinner than hair) to make the cylinder smooth.

***

Sometimes small animals do get killed

I was surprised when Subbu pointed to a distance and expressed his sadness.  What is there ? what happened I asked. Before he answered we reached there.  This was when I visited the farm in the first week this month.

There I saw a wild rabbit having got caught under the fence met with a gory death.  The diamond knitted fence had a small opening at the bottom. Small animals can creep in. I guess Kandan or Subbu had blocked that passage casually with thin tie wire.  This Rabbit in a hurry to get inside had got its neck entangled on this loose thin wire that was put as a hole filler. In a frenzy to escape from there it has twisted its head many times only to get further entangled in the wire. Its neck bore a deep cut.

Meanwhile Kandan kept the dead rabbit aside to take it home for his meals.  Subbu said some dog would have chased this animal and this would have tried to enter the farm from below the fence for safety.  He cited similar incident which happened involving another wild animal.  I donot recall the name he told me. He said I would not even have heard of its name as it is native to that place and is rare.

Some birds keep dying last year in hit by propeller of windmill. I was told even if the propeller was starting slowly, and there is enough time for bird to fly away, still they die for some unknown reasons.   One mynah was building a nest incide the wind turbine shaft box. It was a sure death.

What can be done ?  I asked Subbu and Kandan to be extremely careful about these.  Each animal is important. each Insect and each bird is important.  We need to play host to them and not create death traps.

Subbu mentioned that this thick bush of vettiver is home to rabbits. he was even searching one in it. It was so thick and so re-assuring.

I know my farm will grow to be a good host for many a living creatures.

Farm Update 23-Jun-2016

1.   The electricity officials have visited and gone.  Subbu told that they had promised electricity from a nearby existing transformer of Nachankulam village. May have to lay 4 poles each 150 feet apart.  I guess each will cost between 10K to 15K for me.  The next work is a paper work to fetch the map for the farm. Earlier application form,  Farm room design was submitted.

2. The officer had remarked there must be a toilet in the farm.   Electricity is being applied for domestic purpose. It is given only for houses.  Here we are treating the room inthe farm as a house.  Inspection is to find if it indeed is occupied.  Yes, we have a stove, bed and other things necessary for stay. Minus toilet.

3. I told Subbu irrespective of what they said, we will build a toilet. It will be always useful for visitors and lady staff alike. Now now, a little later.

4. There is no rains. By and large it is very dry irrespective of south west monsoon pouring rain in many places.   It is not surprising.  We get rains only in october.  We need to endure upto that.

5. There is enough wind.  4000 liters per day or 4 tanks per day is pumped by windmill. I guess that is sufficient.  Some water was poured into the depleting water pond also for fish to survive.

6 Windmill which was bit mis-aligned has been re-aligned. This was an exercise by itself.  Last week when I called Subbu he was atop the tower.  Subbu and Paramu planned the activity. I guess 4 people pulled the head of the tower in a direction and Paramu fixed it. Some socket that was eccentric. I cannot guess what they did. But I heared everything is fine now.  If that were not fixed, something was grinding with every stroke and some rod would have worn out in a month or two due to friction.

7. I need to step up farming activity once I get electricity. It is still few weeks away.  The officials should not change their mind and should help bring electricity. There could be small bribes or expenses to take care of workers.

8.  Only when electricity is in sight, i should plan for purchasing submersible water pump.  I still donot have full hope.  Plan B would be to go for slow speed diesel pump and compressor.

9. The lotus has not sprouted yet. It worries me. I had put live roots in the pond and sprinkled seeds too. In this climate I hoped it will catchup.

10.  The seeds my children put had sprouted it seems.  For me it was a personal satisfaction to ;
a) have utilised the newly remodeled nursary shade
b) use the plastic bags brought earlier
c) use the mud and manure (cowdung) mix
d) My wife and children participated though the activity was small, but in intense sunlight
e) Demostrated to Subbu and Kandan our intentions by action.

Children prepared the sprouting bags and fixed some random seeds that we
had collected over a period of time. They were tree seeds.
Mostly Gulmohur. This week I heared they have sprouted.
I have plans to distribute them outside the farm also.

A Humble Seed Bank at the Farm

Aamanakku (Castor) seeds removed from their shell
Subbu said this is selling at 100/- kg
and was carefully removing. I helped him till completion

It was a long standing requirement.  To have a safe place to keep the seeds.  Till now the seeds collected through various sources were just kept in its own cover.  News paper wrapped,  polythene covers, carry bags and so on.

When in the farm, Kandan kept repeatedly saying that rats are eating the seeds. Yes earlier i had lost country variety paddy seeds - Mappillai Samba which I got it couriered from another friend.  Similarly many of the seeds that I had given to Subbu had been lost to Rats because it was not kept safely.

At the shop stuffing the mud pots with paper.

That triggered me to think and immediately execute a plan.  Just went to the market brought mud pots of two different sizes. Normally no one would go there. The shop is not so attractive. But as you have a close loop you can see they are just samples. The mud pots and stock is behind the shop in dark room dusty and dungeon.  You wade through them to select pots of your liking.

One small and another big.  Around 15 of them, got it packed (wrapped in news paper) and brought them safely to the farm in Autorikshaw.  Now my seeds are safe. Each of the container has a lid also. Rats cannot open. Because it is mud, there will be required moisture and air circulation. 

My finished Seed Bank.  These pots will be kept inside a room for the time being. I need
to make a shelf later.  The ginger at the far left is fresh one brought from Karnataka
enroute my vacation. I am sure Subbu will waste it. But we cannot preserve this. Hope
he will nurture a few atleast.

 Most of the seeds that we collected were small in quantity. Few in large quantity. hence a mixture of size.  Works well.  Need to make a stand as next step. The stand should support the unstable pots with round bottoms.

So goes development......

Farm Update in Visuals - Summar June, 2016

I had been to the farm last week with family.  Though it was a Summer holidays trip to various places, I had earlier planned for atleast one visit to the farm. But it turned out that I managed to visit thrice. Twice alone and once with family.

The visit was very useful and required. This time a new boring was done for water. I had first hand observation of peak summer at the farm.  Things are looking bright.

Rest in visuals......

Farm visible from approach road. An Oasis in middle of desert.

Happy to see Palm Tree sprouting. It is said it is very
difficult to get this growing. Note the casurina stem in the left. They have grown into adults

Cluster of palm trees sprouted. We cannot replant them as
their roots are deep. Let us see how it grows.

Bamboo near the gate. I had lot of hope on this. But it is not picking speed. Perhaps more water is required.

One of several trees that we brought from nursary whose name is yet to be differentiated. Birds like this tree.
fruits are very sweet. This must be The Indian jujube or Indian Plum or Indian cherry in English, “Ber” in Hindi, “Badri” in Sanskrit. The Tamil name is “Elanthai Pazham” (இலந்தை பழம்).

The seating arrangement 1 visible from this spot

Another picture of Jujube or ilandai bush.

A view of the pond. It is now a place of bio diversity (will explain later)

Another of to be identified tree.  Even subbu is confused. I just left it at that. We have a list of
trees we brought from Ramji nursary 2 years back.  We need to match the names with some
experienced people.

The elegant view of windpump.  The tree is malai vembu

My wife is spreading Sundakkai (Turkey berry) seeds.  She is a critic of my farming. However fond
of herbs. She would advocate spreading seeds randomly, in this case where kandan used to water individual trees. 

Another unknown tree coming up. I donot know if this is ornamental.

A view of Sapota plants. Note the windmill out there
supplies water for this distance. Which explains
why windmill is unable to cope with demand.

Peak summer. No vegetation near the tower. Only sustenance of all trees spread around.

Jasmine flower bed

Red banana, surviving.

Near the windpump. Some weeds growing happily.

Vettiver has grown into thick bush. Subbu said there will be rabits inside.

Otherwise dry part of the farm. My wife seeing this had registered her disappointment. This area was
paddy field few months back. Now dry. This is the place where I had put the 2nd boring (right side of this snap)

Kodukkapuli plant has grown big. Some bird has constructed a nest

Marudani (Mehndi) plant. Due to drought, it has fruited. Lots of seeds
But leaves are not dense due to water scarcity.
There was no time to pluck them.

A wine that I brought from pune and propogated. Subbu said it is not in
neighbourhood. 

Well, some neem saplings are kept near jasmine for watering. This is to be planted elsewhere
when water is available.

A tall tree near the windpump. Again don't know its name.

One more

Sapota

The egg plant has fruited. one or two are found near the coconut tree sharing water.

2nd table arrangement near tower

Had there been plenty of water this would have become more bigger
but still it is good.

Malai Vembu

Another unidentified tree. Need to label them.

Some bird has stitched the leaves and built nest

One of coconut

Subbu and kandan attempted to show us some fish. Watch carefully to observe so many small organisms
Frogs are jumping in the sides

Fishes. They were left into water back after inspection.  Look at small fishes as well.

Prayer at Sastha temple bef

Sastha

Another view

Daughter playing with sand

A view from backside of the kutir