Anti Vibration Isolators for Wind Turbines

[bestintentions]

I'm thinking of installing an "Air Breeze" wind generator on an unsupported tower (hence larger diameter than the standard 1.5 inch) as its difficult to mount the supporting stays. Does anyone have any experience of a good anti-vibration isolator to use between the tower and the turbine? Thanks in advance ...

 

[LadyInBed]

Not sure about anti-vibration isolator to use between the tower and the turbine, but rubber pads under all deck / rail fittings will help.

My WG is on an L bracket on the mizzen, I put a rubber pad (cut from a car inner tube) between the L bracket and the mizzen, which works well (9 years old now).

 

[snowleopard]

Yes, my generator is mounted on an Aluminium scaffold pole that sits in a socket in the aft deck and passes through my GRP goalpost. To reduce transmission of noise I filled the 1/2" gap between pole and socket with a 2-part liquid rubber that I got from a moulding supplies shop - its primary purpose is for making flexible moulds for casting.

After 10 years it is still in good condition and it does the job though it doesn't prevent the transmission of noise altogether.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I am assuming that the Air Breeze has tha same mounting charictaristics as it's predesessor the Air X in which case the turbine is isolated from the mounting pole by a rubber sleeve what is important is to ensure that when tightening the clamping bolts of the mounting collar you do not allow the collar and turbine housing to slide down onto the pole end, it is thus isolated from the pole. You may then wish to isolate the pole via it's foot from the rest of the boat, in my case I did this successfully with a piece of conveyor belting.

 

[DipperToo]

An unsupported pole sounds interesting - especially if there is a seaway running. The forces can be huge.

Resonance in the pole is one major issue and I inserted conduit for the electrics and then injected the pole at 18" intervals woth builders foam - worked very well.

Transmitted noise is very difficult to eliminate but rubber isolation pads should help.

As mentioned earlier, the Air Breeze does have an isolation sleeve where it clamps onto the pole,