Hello everyone,

I am currently in the process of designing a very small wind turbine (only 45x45x45 cm). I am in the need of a 3 phase rectifier. I must produce a 5 volt potential difference across a variable load at all times while maintaining at least 10 W of continuous power. Thus, at least 2 A must also be produced.

Does anyone know of any efficient 3 phase rectifiers that will work well with these parameters? Or perhaps some efficient single phase rectifiers to be combined?

Thanks,
MDB

 

Use 6 Shottky diodes of sufficient reverse voltage ability and sufficient amp rating for the worst case conditions.

 

Could you be a little more specific, I am not sure how to look through all these specifications or what I should be looking for. It seems as if the schottky diodes do have low leakage which is definitely necessary for this design!

 

See attachment for detail of Number Twelve's 6 diode suggestion.

 

Here is a good one.

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/427/88819-68523.pdf

OR for easy:

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/205/14b6ae00-24ef-4836-9531-dd26e2e1ed59-2233.pdf

 

Okay, I will look into them, thanks guys!

 

For best efficiency use a larger current rating diode (say 10A) then you need. This larger diode will have a lower forward drop at the current you are running.

 

Could you be a little more specific,

Could YOU be a little more specific? Without any information about the highest voltage the generator can produce, we can only guess by giving you a page with several voltages on it and assume that 2 or 3 amps is the best the generator can do. You might have a received good answer, and you might pick the right voltage, and you might learn from experience.

Still, it's a place to start. If the diodes mysteriously short, it will likely be excess voltage. If they show signs of heat, that would indicate more current than you were expecting.

Good luck.

 

Have you done the math? Without doing it myself, I'm doubtful you have a chance getting 10W from a turbine that small except at winds over 20mph. Because of the cubed effect of wind speed on power, you'll risk burning out your rectifier if the wind gusts to 30mph or more. So the suggestion to over-rate your diodes is a good one.

 

I'll second that, having built a couple of little wind turbines of similar sizes. A tiny fraction of a watt continuous (when the wind is blowing!) will be the most you will get.

There might be a chance of getting a few watts during high wind, but that will only be a VERY small percentage of the total time, much less than 1% of the time.

The OP's goal of "10W of continuous power" would require a large turbine (300W), on a very tall mast, in a good wind area, and probably a large battery system to keep supplying 10W even when there has been no wind all day.