ANGUS WHITTY

String of beach plastic lamps in motion - the "wave of light".
 

Original lamps made from beach plastic forming a string of lights in the Light Wave.  Momentum for the wave is generated by a wind turbine made from a barrel found on the beach.

A wind turbine made from a plastic barrel found on a beach generates electricity powering a series of lamps also created from plastic found on the beach and an old wind-screen wiper motor that causes a dynamic wave like motion or ripple effect through the string of lights.  The result is"The Plastic Beaches Light Wave".

Constructing and experimenting to create the Wave of Light.

A Darrieus wind turbine made from a barrel found on the beach.  In this case I experimented by cutting then bending portions of the barrel inwards to create blades much like aeroplane wings.  Because the curved surface of the wing is on the inside, lift is generated towards the centre.  Darrieus VAWT's rotate faster than the wind speed, which give them an advantage over Savonius VAWT designs.  Here the barrel VAWT sits on top of a homemade generator.  The generator consists of a number of copper coils embedded into epoxy resin, with a number of high density magnets glued to circulating metal plates above and below the copper coils. 

This is one of many plastic bottle wind turbine prototypes made in preparation for "The Plastic Beaches Light Wave".  In this example, a PET bottle has been cut to form a Savonius type of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). Because the blades of a Savonius turbine face resistance when revolving back into the wind, a wind break (yellow plastic flap in the picture) was designed to float across the path of the incoming blades.  This was achieved using a wind tail or vane (green piece of beach plastic) designed with a curved surface.  The curved surface floats the yellow wind break slightly off of a central position.

A larger version of a Savonius VAWT sitting on top of a homemade generator.