[Peripherals] Power generation

[Yamandu Ploskonka]

A friend, many years ago in Uruguay worked at an electric motor factory 
that was closing down as an early victim to the Mercosur (they couldn't 
compete with Brazilian labor).  Anyway, that gave me some view into this 
technology, and certainly machining this should be quite within reach. 

When it comes to using alternators, I personally favor wind, but when I 
shared with my Dad about these subjects, as the primum mobile in the 
Andes he pointed out at burros, which makes some sense.

For years we depended on our wind turbine in Arequita, and when it broke 
down, we depended on a neighbor that did better maintenance on his, to 
whom we paid to have our battery charged.  I can vouch that what you 
point out is very true, i.e., people outside of the grid having a 
sideline business of setting up their very own ConEd, one battery charge 
at a time.

Someone pointed out in anothern thread that batteries that get very 
discharged go bad early.  That might be true, and it is to the charger's 
advantage when it happens :-(, and not "his" fault.   People don't 
notice, ergo they don't seem to mind.  I recall endless treks to the 
neighbor, a few blocks away, with the battery on the wheelbarrow, and 
then back uphill a few hours later or the next day, to get our daily fix 
of Selva de Cemento, a most excellent Brazilian soap opera.  When things 
got really tight Mom would go visit them and watch it at their place.  
They often had more than one neighborhood family battery waiting.

Oh, I'm rambling, and that doesn't do justice to your call for 
proposals.  I do hope that someone who actually does have the experience 
responds, for we all know how tizzy I get with words not followed by 
experience :-)

Anyway, the Potenco people, even if their yo-yo is of little use for the 
XO, did manage to put something together that was small, held together 
in plastic, and said to output 20-50 W, which is better and more 
affordable than anything I can put together in solar, except for the 
issue of wetware fatigue, that has no solution their way.  Yes, they 
have shown to be unresponsive and they are a for-profit after all, but 
hopefully we can figure out some funding similar to what they got to 
actually put a few things together, if we cannot outright benefit from 
their designs and what they assembled.

Edward Cherlin wrote:
> I'm looking for a design for a low-cost alternator that can be made in
> a village with a minimum of tools and outside parts, as part of a
> possible child-powered XO charging system built into playground
> equipment that can otherwise be built entirely from local materials.
> Does anybody here know anything about alternator design and
> construction, or know engineers who would be willing to discuss it? I
> see that cheap but powerful NIB  permanent magnets might be suitable
> for the purpose, but there is much more involved.
>
> See Playpump International for an example of playground equipment for
> pumping water, and Fluxxlab for a design generating electricity from
> revolving doors. Putting the Fluxxlab generator in the Playpump
> merry-go-round gives us a prototype concept, but the Fluxxlab design
> is not suitable for villages.
>
> In the US, used automobile alternators run about $15, but in
> developing countries they cost much more, because functioning cars are
> almost never junked, and so there is a greater demand for old parts
> relative to supply.
>
> If we can work out how to build low-cost electricity systems, I can
> get them into a microfinance program for the villages, where they will
> pay for themselves by boosting the village economy. Any electricity
> produced beyond what the children need can be sold in the community,
> to power mobile phones, as in the Grameen Bank/Grameen Phone model, or
> other communications and small-scale production equipment.
>
>