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I am thinking about the building house heating system like this: Outside my house I put 12V 1000W wind turbine, for example, like this. Inside my house I connect directly without any converter/adapter/controller/battery 12V heater(s) with total power 1000W, for example, like this. The idea is that when there is a wind, it will be converted to heat inside my house and my house will be like a "heat battery".

Will it work at all and what can be the showstoppers in this configuration?

I heard and opinion that if I connect 1000W load to 1000W wind turbine it will work only if wind is very strong. In case if wind is not strong enough and wind turbine with small wind gives only 500W, turbine will not start at all or will stop soon after starting due to electric brake effect (kind of Regenerative braking). I will need some kind of smart controller, which will limit the power which goes to the heater to avoid this electric brake effect. My goal is to convert all (or maximum possible) electric energy, which I can get from wind generator to the thermal energy.

It is not only applicable for wind generator but to any electric generator. If I connect electrical generator to bike pedals and start pedaling to get electricity, then I will be fine if I connect 50W light bulb to this generator. If I connect 2000W kettle, then I probably will not be able to turn the pedals for long time, because human body cannot generate so much power. Top athletes can make only 340-360 Watts on bike in long term.

Zlelik
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1 Answers1

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To get the maximum power out of the wind turbine you will need some kind of power converter, or (and this is probably easier) an adjustable load resistance.

Running the turbine with too much or too little load is like running a car in too high or too low a gear. It will work a little bit, but the power output will be reduced.

Matching the turbine to the load is called Maximum Power Point Tracking, or MPPT for short. The same process is used on solar panels.

Heaters are cheap, so a simple way to do this might be to wire five or so in parallel with a switch for each one. As the turbine output increases you can turn on more heaters to keep the load in the optimal range.You will need some math or testing to determine the optimal load for given wind conditions.

Drew
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