Peter Burton's daily log, covering Peter's personal interests, e.g. jazz, travel and general grumpiness plus (occasionally) the business of Isomatic and its associate companies.
Friday, January 01, 2010
2009; a summary
Looking back on 2009; what do I remember best ?
We progressed the Ampair 6kW wind turbine from blade design through to six installations in just twelve months.
Selina and I bought a bungalow in Dorset, from where I am typing this post.
We cut our jazz nights to just two per week; Magna Jazz Band and the John Barnes Quartet.
The recession caused misery for many but the greedy bankers continue to milk the system for all they can get, returning to obscene bonuses and showing no shame.
Members of Parliament were called to account for their expense claims, trivial compared with bankers' bonuses.
None of the political parties emerged from 2009 with much to their credit.
Small businesses continued to suffer at the hands of both government (anti-business legislation) and banks (tight credit).
Pubs closed at an alarming rate as high alcohol taxes and reduced customer spending power took their toll.
Primitive tribal savages in Iraq and Afghanistan continued to cause misery for their own people as well as for our forces.
Wishing all our readers a Happy New Year.
Labels: Dorset, Grumpy, Jazz, Wind power
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Mawson's Huts, Antartica
I am in communication with Dr Chris Henderson, a member of the team at
Mawson's Huts in Antarctica. The Mawson's Huts Foundation has been sending expeditions to Antarctica for 11 years, and is supported partly by the Australian Government and mostly by industry donations.
Ampair, Conergy, Hydro Tasmania and Hazell Bros engineering have supported the installation of the renewable energy system there. I recommend the web site to all our readers, particularly the team's weblog. Please think of them out there in the cold as you snuggle up in your warm homes.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Federation of Small Businesses
Today I joined the
Federation of Small Businesses at last. I should have done it years ago. I recommend it to everyone with a business or three. One membership covers them all as it is by person.
Labels: Phase converters, Water power, Wind power
Friday, June 05, 2009
Ampair A600 in Iceland
We have received some excellent pictures from a customer in Iceland, of which this is the best. It shows:
a) the A600 wind turbine does not mind low temperatures;
b) we should think ourselves lucky in the temperate south east of England.
Labels: Wind power
Friday, May 08, 2009
Ampair A6000 in real wind at Boost Energy
The new
Ampair A6000 wind turbine today experienced real wind at Boost Energy's Park Farm premises. Although the system has not yet been programmed for maximum power, we recorded over 6 kW fed into the grid.
Selina and I spent most of the day monitoring performance in the flat that is fed by the A6000 (top floor of house in picture). While the grid-tie inverter logged many parameters automatically, we made manual independent checks of RPM and inverter input Voltage.
It was a long hard day but seeing 6kW made it all worth while.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
International Small Wind Conference 2009
Today we attended the first day of the
International Small Wind Conference 2009, organised by the British Wind Energy Association and the Building Research Establishment
We were pleased to note that the picture for this day's agenda is an
Ampair Wind Turbine in Antarctica as shown here.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Ampair 6kW Wind Turbine
The new
Ampair A6000 wind turbine is now operational at Boost Energy's Park Farm premises. This is a low wind location and the system has not yet been programmed for maximum power. Nevertheless we have already seen power production of over 1 kW. On the laboratory test bed we have seen over 6 kW.
The price is very competitive and maintenance costs will be very low compared with equivalent products.
The mast is 10m high with a low fence around it as the field is shared with two horses (visible in the distance). Noise level is low so they are unconcerned about the turbine's presence.
Power is fed to a nearby house, the grid-tie inverter and interconnect unit being located in the Managing Director's kitchen. Selina and I are spending much time there, monitoring performance.
Labels: Wind power
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Global Warming ?
This picture is from the
NASA Earth Observatory and shows recent snow from outer space. There is a contradiction between up to 30 years of apparent global warming and recent cooling.
Weather Action states:
"Despite the expectations of proponents of man-made global warming & Climate Change:
2006 was cooler than 2005 (and rated 6th warmest over recent decades);
2007 which the Met Office forecast would be the warmest ever was in fact the 7th warmest listed and cooler than 2006;
2008 was notably cooler than the Met office / WMO forecast and is rated 10th warmest.
However, we should not use such arguments against the real need to reduce energy consumption and limit population growth. The resources of the planet are finite and must be conserved.
Labels: Water power, Wind power
Monday, February 23, 2009
Upgraded Ampair wind turbines at Boost Energy
We have now fitted the latest hubs and blades to the
Ampair wind turbines on the roof at Park Farm, where
Boost Energy Systems has its premises. The blades have incredible strength, providing the ability to survive the harshest conditions. All production 300W and 600W wind turbines are supplied with these blades.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
BMEA Conference at the Southampton Novotel
.
Today we have been enjoying the 2008 British Marine Electronics Association (BMEA) Conference at the Southampton Novotel (pictured). The presentations were all good but we particularly enjoyed:
'Investing - the Ideal World' by Martin Hurll of St. James Place Capital, who boosted our flagging morale with respect to the financial crisis;
'Selling to the UK and USA' by Nick Heyes of Marine Electronic Services Ltd., who described in great detail the wonders of West Marine, only to provide the punch line that he found its Ts & Cs to be unacceptable.
In the bar Tamzin Matthew, legal and Company Secretary at the British Maritime Federation, explained how, as members, we can get free legal advice. She observed that we were not serious drinkers as we were sipping our wine so slowly. I explained that at 5.15 pounds per glass we felt obliged to eke it out until called to the dinner.
Labels: drinking, Eating out, Travel, Water power, Wind power
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Ampair on Radio Berkshire
Today Ampair was featured on Radio Berkshire's morning programme. The pictures show the radio car in the yard at our Park Farm premises, plus two of David Sharman being interviewed by Maggie Philbin. David gave an unbiased view of the economic advantages of using wind power to supplement a household's energy provision.
Maggie was impressed by the fact that a small company in Berkshire is really producing something, contrary to the popular opinion that Manufacturing and Engineering are dead in the UK.
Labels: Wind power
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Wind needed
Today we finished bench testing of a prototype electronic circuit for use with the
Ampair 600-230V grid-tie wind turbines. We were then ready to test using real wind, of which we had plenty for a few days. In direct accordance with the law of SOD, the wind stopped at that moment and has not returned. Frustration rules OK !
Labels: Grumpy, Wind power
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Ampair web site
The
Ampair web site now shows the A600 series of wind turbines. We are only selling the battery-charge versions via the site, the gid-tie version requires contact to arrange site visit(s).
Labels: Wind power
Monday, November 19, 2007
Ampair Test Site in Cornwall
We have just spent the weekend working at the
Ampair Test Site in Cornwall. The picture shows the four wind turbines running there, two of them for nearly a year now. Overnight we logged winds of up to 15 m/s, far higher than we ever experience at Ampair's Berkshire HQ.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Careless driving
As it needed fuel, we decided to use the VW Golf wind turbine test vehicle to collect some DIN rail from a local trading estate. I drove in from one end and out at the other, forgetting that there was a height barrier at that end. Result, scaffold pole bent to 45 degrees, which I left our staff to fix. Hearing a noise outside, I looked out of the window to see the car nosed up against hay bales with a JCB pushing the pole from behind with its hydraulic ram. I wish I had taken a photograph !
Labels: Wind power
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Husum Wind Fair
Next week Ampair will be exhibiting at the
Husum Wind Fair. I quote from its web site:
SMALL TOWN - BIG TRADE FAIR
When the Messe HUSUMwind opens its doors on September 18th 2007, tens of thousands of visitors and exhibitors will come to the town on the North Sea right in the North of Germany – and for a few days their number will exceed that of the local population. But hospitable as they are; the people on the coast will hardly let this disturb their proverbial calm.
The town has sharpened its profile through consistent development since the beginning of the HUSUMwind at the end of the Eighties. An up-to-date exhibition hall has been built that meets modern standards, and the necessary infrastructure.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Wind generator check
On Monday morning I took a cherry-picker ride to the top of a telegraph pole, on which was mounted an
Ampair wind turbine. All went well except that I dropped the critical Allen key to the ground, through the middle of a hedge. Fortunately, I had a rope with me so the guy on the ground was able to tie the key to it for me to hoist. The picture is deliberately arranged to hide the pole so that the windmill appears to be on the roof.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Ampair test site in Cornwall
Over last weekend our colleagues put up the fourth
Ampair wind turbine at our test site in Cornwall. The photographs show:
1) All four turbines in action
2) The latest one close up
3) Battery charging and 'grid-tie' equipment; one set per turbine.
Labels: Wind power
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Ampair 300 wind turbine interrogation
On Friday I underwent a thorough interrogation by telephone concerning the merits of the
Ampair 300 wind turbine in comparison with two competitors. Although this was a painful process, I suppose we must applaud customers who do their homework so thoroughly. I was surprised to be asked about weatherproofing; surely all equipment for yachts must be weatherproof ? On the subject of possible blade breakage I was brutally honest; it is highly unlikely in normal circumstances but I would not sit under any wind turbine in a hurricane. The customer has placed an order so I must have said the right things.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Wind power, Ampair 100
Despite the introduction of newer models with more power, the Ampair Pacific 100 is selling faster than ever. It must be the sailing season as we are selling far more of the Pacific (white for yachts) than the Hawk (black/silver). The main selling points of the 100 are; very rugged for Atlantic crossings and quiet running at low wind speeds when every noise is an irritation.
Labels: Wind power
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Wind turbine installation
One of our colleagues at
Boost Energy helped install an
Ampair 600 wind turbine in a difficult location. It proved impossible to conduct our standard test that all is working prior to lifting the turbine to working height. Unfortunately there was then no wind so the installation had to be left with no idea if it was OK or not. Fortunately it was.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Ampair 600 installation
On Tuesday we attended the installation of an
Ampair 600 wind turbine as shown in the picture. This involved the installers working at height on two sets of long extending ladders. There was also a lot of live electricity just inside the building while we were wiring. We were amazed at how many members of the public ignored the cones around the area and came into the danger zone. One couple even walked under the ladders with a small child and were about to enter the building until my shouts stopped them. The dangers are not imaginary; one heavy spanner was dropped from above.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Wind data logger
On Tuesday we installed the first stage of a weather station at Park Farm. This comprises an anemometer and wind vane mounted at the same level as the nearby wind turbine with display and logging facilities in the office below. The first photograph shows our recently-pedestrianised technician Frank standing on the platform of a cherry-picker to mount the 'head-end' on the pole. He was rather nervous when extending the platform out to its sideways limit, imagining that it might tip over. Nothing we could say provided him with any comfort.
The second picture shows the direct read-out of current values of wind direction (290 degrees) and wind speed (0). This unit is also conected to a computer that collects/logs the data and displays statistics.
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Wind power
There has been a lot of e-mail recently regarding wind power. Usual statement of vested interest; I am director/shareholder of Boost Energy Systems, owner of the Ampair brand, Britain's oldest wind turbine manufacturer.
At present electricity prices, it is hard to justify any form of renewable energy on the basis of a return on investment calculation. However,
1) Electricity prices will escalate rapidly in future
2) Renewable energy is a goal worth pursuing, regardless of cost.
For an independent opinion listen to eco-warrior Janet Alty talking about her Ampair 600 in a BBC interview.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6440000/newsid_6446800/6446885.stm?bw=nb&mp=rm
Comparisons with solar are difficult; there are so many variables, e.g. sun vs wind, angle of roof, local wind breaks, etc.
Labels: Wind power
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Misty View Farm Test Site
Today we set up two
Ampair wind turbines at our new test site at Misty View Farm in Cornwall. One is the Ampair 'Hawk' 100-24V and the other is an Ampair 300-24V. Each is charging a bank of batteries that powers a 240V AC load via a sine wave inverter. There was no shortage of wind while we were there. Is there ever ?
Labels: Wind power
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Wind power curves; Ampair 600 grid tie
On Tuesday I started to produce Excel graphs from pages of test results for the grid tie version of the Ampair 600 wind turbine. Performance is far superior to the theoretical curve in the product brochure.
Labels: Wind power
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Ampair 600 at Park Farm
On Friday we were finally able to spare one of the new
Ampair 600 wind turbines to mount on top of a telegraph pole at Park Farm, where they are built. Overnight it had already supplied 1.5 kW-hours, most of which was given away to the electricity supply company !
Labels: Wind power
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Wind turbine installation
Here is a photograph of the
Ampair 600 that I helped install in November, complete with grid tie inverter. It is a pity that the weather was so bad because
a) the photograph is poor even after computer enhancement
b) our feet became very wet !
Labels: Wind power
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