Overview:
Two of the biggest hurdles for using wind power have traditionally been cost and the need for strong winds to make the giant turbine blades hum. An Italian inventor thinks he has found a way to overcome those problems with plastic. Motorwind is a small, injection molded turbine that can be mass-produced inexpensively, making wind power more affordable & practical. And since that each turbine is of the same size of a typical residential satellite dish, your neighbors and home association will have much less change of considering them as eyesores.

Each polymer wind turbine is tiny, no more than 50 cm in diameter, but can be injection molded. When linked with potentially thousands of similar turbines mounted on frames, they can generate as much power as the traditional, 50 meter tall steel and fiberglass wind mills lined up at commercial wind farms. Think hundreds of plastic pinwheels, all connected and gathering power.

Motorwind turbines have an initial capital investment of about US$100 per kilowatt, compared with US$600 for coal plants and US$1,500 for traditional wind turbines. Traditional wind turbines make power for about US$0.10 per kilowatt hour; Motorwind will do it for 1/10th of that! Plus, those larger turbines require wind speeds in the neighborhood of 10 meters/sec. Motorwind needs winds of only 2 meters/sec to start working. And they offer flexibility in design - a long row of them could lie on top of a hill or a building.

Important:
To collect wind power you need to have wind at sufficient speed. With Motorwind power generation starts with 2 m/s wind speed but it starts to be economically viable for winds of at least 4 m/s if you are concerned by pay back time. Motorwind technology only transform into electricity the wind energy available on the site. Choose a Motorwind setting with a power always lower than your daily need because you must use all the electricity produced. You can save it for a few hours but not for weeks.

Motorwind can but must not be interconnected to the main grid:
Its electricity production is only for home usage and does not have the regulators necessary to make the Motorwind and grid frequencies compatible. You do not have to get approval from power company to use Motorwind. You can share the power produced with other homes if you wish only by using your own electric cables. If you need to interconnect to the grid you can use existing tie grid inverters(like sunny boy). Since they are quite expensive we do not sell any of them. We will release in 2008/2009 a less expensive multi standard tie grid inverter. A tie grid inverter is only interesting for large systems because of the large number of batteries needed otherwise.

Reminder: Motorwind has not been designed to sell electricity to the grid but to supply only part of an house supply and in the same time relieve the grid load. The cost of connecting to the grid in itself is prohibitive and you will need to Use Motorwind for many years just to offset that cost.

How to calculate:

• The unit used by power company is the kWh = 1 unit.
• For an output of 50 watts during 24 hours the energy collected will be : 50 x 24 = 1200 watt /hour = 1.2 kW/h
• For an output of 50 watts during 16 hours the energy collected will be : 50 x 16 = 800 watt/hour = 0.8 kWh
• If you have stored in a battery 1.2 kWh it means that you can light up a light bulb of 20 watts during 60 hours
• or a fridge or TV set for 24 hours
• or a 100 watt light bulb for 12 hours
• or a 600 watts heater for about 2 hours
• If you have a 12 Volts battery that can deliver 90 amperes hour it means that the energy stored is : 90 amp x 12 volts = 1080 watts/h = 1.08 kWh
• If you connect in parallel 2 x 90 amp batteries the energy stored will be : 1.08 kWh X 2 = 2.16 kWh

Why use Motorwind:
Conventional wind turbines are designed for large electricity production and therefore occupy large areas of land and can only operate in places where the wind speed is in average 10m/s. Conventional wind turbines can only operate for winds between 10m/s and 25 m/s. Motorwind has been designed to operate with low wind speed (above 2 m/s) and be installable anywhere due to the modularity. The size of Motorwind can be adapted to the available space and the energy required. The design simplicity and components used make the installation and maintenance very easy for anyone. The simplicity allows very low manufacturing costs and therefore very low retail price. By using different shapes Motorwind can adapt to the environment.

Questions you need to ask yourself to decide what type of installation you need:

A) why do i want to install a Motorwind ?
• because i want to do my share in reducing global warming
• because i am not connected to any grid and therefore have no choice
• because in my area there is so much wind that it is pity not to collect that energy
• because i want to be energy independent
• because i can save money
• because I want to make a 'green' statement to my neighborhood & to the world of my eco-friendly attitude

B) what is my consumption ?
• if my monthly bill is about 50 kWh (approx 6 US$ or 5 euro ) that means my daily need is approx 1.5 kWh
• I need approx 4 square meter of turbines (80 turbines = 4 x 20 turbines sets item B ) if the wind average is about 4m/s
• I need approx 1.5 square meter of turbine (30 turbines = 2 sets of item B ) if the wind is about 5 to 6 m/s
• I need approx 0.4 square meter of turbine (1 set of 8 turbines item A ) if the wind is about 10m/s
• if my monthly bill is about 250 kWh (approx 30 US$ or 25 euro ) that means my daily need is approx 8 kWh
• I need 5 times more than the above

C) what is my peak consumption ?
• you can calculate by adding each appliances power but the easier will be to read your meter at 1 hour hour time difference during your peak hour .
• this will decide the DC/AC converter power needed .
• if for example you want to use Motorwind to keep a light on 24 hours a day (watch tower or surveillance camera for example ) then a 150-300 watt (item D) will be enough .
• if you want to power only the lights in the house with a peak hour of 1 kW then you need 1 set of 0.8 - 1.2 kW dc/ac inverter (item E) .
• if you want to power everything with a peak hour at 4 kW then you need a 4 sets of 0.8 - 1.2 kW dc/ac converter (item E)

D) what is the wind speed in average ?
• between 0 and 2 m/s :
• between 2 and 4 m/s :
• between 4 and 6 m/s :
• between 6 and 10 m/s :
• more than 10 m/s :


How to measure the wind speed ?
• if you do not have a wind speed tester an easy and cheap way to measure it is :
• take a piece of cardboard (carton) about 30 cm X 15 cm, stick a coin of US $0.25 quarter with tape on the bottom.
• hold gently the top side and face the wind, if the bottom of the cardboard move up making an angle of about 30 degrees then the wind is about 2.5 m/s
• if the angle is about 45 degrees then the wind is about 4.5 m/s
• if the angle is 80 to 90 degrees then the wind is about 6.5 m/s and above
• please note in the same time the wind direction, you will need it to install Motorwind in the right direction.

On the chart the wind speed is in meter per second and the power in watt

Different scenario :

A) I have no connection to the grid and I'm not using any kind of generator : you need a complete system Motorwind : turbines + batteries/inverter.

B) I have no connection to the grid, but I have my own grid powered by a diesel generator : you need Motorwind and battery/ inverter only with an automatic switch box.

C) I have no connection to the grid, but I have my own grid powered by a renewable energy generator (wind -solar) using batteries for storage : you need only Motorwind turbines.

D) I have a connection to the grid and I am not using any renewable energy generator : you need Motorwind turbines with batteries/inverter.

E) I have a connection to the grid and I am already using a renewable energy generator (wind - solar) with batteries : you just need Motorwind turbines.

F) I have a connection to the grid and I have a renewable energy generator interconnected to the grid : same case as D.

Product choice :
Two Motorwind products are available, the 8 turbines set and the 20 turbines set. The 8 turbines set was developed for high wind speeds (4ms - 8ms wind speeds) and the 20 turbines set for very low wind speeds (2ms - 5ms wind speeds). The reason being, that in a very low wind speed area a set of 20 turbines can generate a significant amount of wind power as opposed to a high wind speed area and is therefore suitable for low wind urban and rural areas. In practice the greater the wind speed the less turbines are utilized per generator.

Remember:
If you leave your house for a few days, just turn lights on in order for the battery to keep discharging. Unlike electricity from fossil fuel that has to be saved because it costs and pollutes, renewable energy has to be used as much as possible. This also multitasts as an anti-theft practice. Please take a picture of your installation and email us for our record and catalogue. The inventor will give an award every year to the most clever installation with the best energy efficiency. Motorwind is still a new born technology, there should be a lot of applications that we even did not think of yet.

Battery:
Due to the heavy weight of a rechargeable battery and the acid content, it is very expensive to ship it overseas. Any car battery can be used - the bigger the more you can store. Batteries can be linked in parallel in order to increase overall storage capacity. There is no limit on how many batteries can be linked together. You can probably get very low cost batteries from a junk yard thus giving these batteries second lives. Or just purchase brand new ones. We supply the cables (optional) to connect to a battery upon request. Extra cables can be obtain from any car accessory retailer.

Installation:
Installation is straightforward & simple but still requires some power tools like drills. Please contact your local electrician or HVAC vendors if you need installation.

Architecture:
Due to the low profile of Motorwind depending on the type of installation you choose, you can make it either visible or invisible for others (neighbors). When you have a choice, we recommend that you install it in a discreet way. For example it is more discreet to install in the back of the house (roof).

Direction:
Motorwind due to its efficient turbine design can take wind with an angle of about 30 degrees from both sides, but the best performance is when wind is perpendicular to it. In most of places the wind blows in one direction, but some very open places can have winds from multi directions. It will be then times when you won't be able to harness the wind energy. If you have constant 4-direction wind then it may be beneficial to install 2 sets of turbines perpendicularly to each other. All the storage battery and internal grid will be common to both sets.

Maintenance:
Many reports have pointed out that the major problem with wind generator is due to its maintenance. These high tech machines can only be maintained by specially-trained staff and they are not always readily available. We have designed Motorwind using only standard parts and components that are available in any electrical shops. The electrical diagrams are supplied so anyone with minimum knowledge can fix the common problems within minutes.

Solar and Wind differences:
It is not easy to compare the performances and costs of renewable energy devices for wind and solar because the systems are totally different. There is never 100% wind and never the same sun exposure 24 hrs / 365 days, depending on locations and seasons, energy level varies. One way to compare is to compare the cost per watt. This comparison analyzes the performance and cost at a given condition. For example full sun for solar and 30 Mph wind speed for wind generator:

• solar : ± $100 USD per watt
• conventional wind turbine : ± $15 ~ 20 USD per watt
• Motorwind : ± $4 USD per watt

• solar : even a trillion US$ of solar panels will not generate a watt of electricity
• conventional wind turbine : even a 1000 of them will not generate a watt of electricity
• Motorwind will generate ± 15 watts per square meter

Main differences between conventional wind generators and Motorwind:

• conventional wind generators are very high tech (i.e. high maintenance) machines
• they need to because they only work with wind speed between 10 and 25 m/s
• they need to have an automatic shut down system if wind speed becomes too high
• they need to be installed in very optimum environment with no turbulence and preferably on top of a tower
• the maintenance can only be made by highly specialized engineers
• they are highly visible from far far away
• the minimum amount to invest is in the range of $3,000 ~ 5,000 USD
  -VS-
  
• Motorwind works from 1 m/s wind speed and does not have to be shut down for very high wind speed
• Motorwind can be installed on any support and very low
• Motorwind can be installed in very discreet ways
• Motorwind's maintenance and installation can be done by anyone with little knowledge in mechanics or electricity
• Motorwind's minimum amount to invest is in the range of $200 USD and up
• Motorwind turbines are made of recycled plastic and can be recycled several times