VERTICAL AXIS WIND MILL FOR DOMESTIC ELECTRIFICATION USING PIEZOELECTRIC GENERATOR

The daunting challenges associated with the use of conventional techniques in small scale windmill turbine generators can be addressed by using synergetic methods pertaining to the basic design principle and by opting for different operating principle. Experimental investigations were carried out to study the feasibility of using piezoelectric generator to get enough power which can be used for just illumination purpose. The newly introduced LED bulb is a revolutionary technology as far as illumination is concerned. The low power requirements of LED bulbs has impelled this experimental investigation. The initial findings are too good to be ignored. The cut-in speed, normally, of a conventional windmill turbine generator is seen to be around 5m/s. In the present experimental set-up a successful power output was obtained for wind speeds well below 5m/s. The power thus obtained was sufficient to charge a battery. The battery power was used to illuminate a small 5W LED bulb.