Making generator out of motor?
I know this is possible, and I was reading an article that says I should add capacitors in parallel with the motor power leads. These should be running capacitors, of about 150-200 uf. I was wondering what exactly the "motor power leads" were, that is a rather vague term? Also, if you know why the capacitors are necessary, I'd appreciate that answer too.
The article is at http://www.qsl.net/ns8o/Induction_Generator.html
Running a motor "backwards" leaves an opening for misunderstanding. The motor has to have another motor to make it spin, as a generator, or alternator is spun by a motor of some kind, such as the alternator in your car. To answer your question, a DC motor, with permanent magnets built in to it can be spun by another motor to make the DC motor act as a generator. AC induction motors are a lot different. Taking power from a running motor, there is no method that I am aware of because there is no way to draw electrical energy from the motor that is using the electrical supply to make it run in the first place. That said, using another motor to spin an AC induction motor, and injecting an AC voltage into a winding of it, that is independent of the winding that you want to draw power from, that is possible, and is done by a lot of people. The best motor to use is a 3 phase motor. Ground will be common, which is the motor frame, usually, one winding has an exciter voltage applied to it, and another winding is the one that power is drawn from. Yes, this can, and does work. Will it be efficient, maybe not as good as a wound rotor motor, or an alternator made for this function, but in a pinch, use what is available.
2 Comments »
Chuck P said :
May 24, 2009 at 6:45 pm
If you take an electric motor and run it backward it makes it a generator, so you need to add the power to turn it and the leads are were the electricity will come out. Go to Howstuffworks .com I think they have a video about it. Good luck
References :
Kerry K said :
May 24, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Running a motor "backwards" leaves an opening for misunderstanding. The motor has to have another motor to make it spin, as a generator, or alternator is spun by a motor of some kind, such as the alternator in your car. To answer your question, a DC motor, with permanent magnets built in to it can be spun by another motor to make the DC motor act as a generator. AC induction motors are a lot different. Taking power from a running motor, there is no method that I am aware of because there is no way to draw electrical energy from the motor that is using the electrical supply to make it run in the first place. That said, using another motor to spin an AC induction motor, and injecting an AC voltage into a winding of it, that is independent of the winding that you want to draw power from, that is possible, and is done by a lot of people. The best motor to use is a 3 phase motor. Ground will be common, which is the motor frame, usually, one winding has an exciter voltage applied to it, and another winding is the one that power is drawn from. Yes, this can, and does work. Will it be efficient, maybe not as good as a wound rotor motor, or an alternator made for this function, but in a pinch, use what is available.
References :
Mother Earth News, Home Power, Popular Mechanics, and other sources for this that I have seen over the years.
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