Summary of Contents for Futurenergy AirForce1
- Page 1 AirForce1 Tower Kit Installation and Training Manual FuturEnergy Limited Ettington Park Business Centre Stratford upon Avon CV37 8BT +44 (0)1789 451070...
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Page 2: Table Of Contents
Step 5 – Gin Pole Attachment ......................11 Step 6 – Assembly Guy Ropes ......................12 Step 7 – Trial Tower Raising ......................14 Step 8 – Fitting the AirForce1 Turbine ....................16 Tower Maintenance ..........................18 P a g e... -
Page 3: Safety Notes
Safety Notes The Futurenergy Tower Kit has been design to be a low cost tower solution for use with the Airforce 1 wind turbine. Raising and lowering towers can be dangerous if done incorrectly or in high winds or other adverse weather conditions. Futurenergy does not accept responsibility in any way for personal injury, damage to equipment or damage to property from using this kit. -
Page 4: Parts Required But Not Supplied With The (Basic) Kit
Location of a wind turbine to get maximum performance is not covered here at least to say they work best in open spaces with few surrounding trees or buildings. Futurenergy strongly recommends that its turbines are not installed on buildings because of poor performance, due to turbulent air flow, damage to building structure and noise generated within the building. -
Page 5: Ground Anchor Installation
flat ground so that guy rope lengths are equal. A circular area of 6 meters diameter is required for the guy ropes to be located. Ground Anchor Installation Ensure the chosen location for the ground anchor is free from any buried services such as electrical cables, gas pipes or drains. -
Page 6: Installation Procedure
wind speeds up to the 50-year maximum gust value. Spirafix recommend that a pull test be done prior to installing the anchor to ensure the ground is suitable. The graph is to be used as a guide only. Because the ground anchors (and turbine) have survival limits and the destructive force of the wind increases exponentially with wind speed, it is important to consider lowering the tower when very strong winds are forecast. -
Page 7: Step 2 - Fitting Ground Brackets
At this stage it's very important to decide which direction the tower will be raised and lowered. You cannot change this afterwards without moving all the perimeter ground anchors. If on a particular site it is difficult to drive the central anchor in vertically because of ground conditions, any slight angle in the bracket fixed the anchor will dictate the raising and lowering direction. - Page 8 the tower is to lower towards. These 3 fixings will have guy ropes permanently attached to them, even during raising and lowering. Install the brackets in line with the direction that the guy ropes will travel (pointing towards the tower). Again fix these brackets with the supplied M16 screws and washers using some thread lock. The final ground fixing point to fit is the gin pole fixing.
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Page 9: Step 3 - Prepare Tower Tubes And Gin Pole
Fix the bracket to the ground anchor using the M16 screw and washer provided using thread lock on the screw. The bracket should be installed in line with the direction that the tower will raise and lower but on the opposite corner so that the tower lowers away from this bracket. Step 3 –... -
Page 10: Step 4 - Tower Tube Assembly
The above is a drawing showing the lengths of tube required and the positions of drilled holes, the holes are drilled fully through the tubes. Step 4 – Tower Tube Assembly Lay the three tower sections in order on the ground starting with the bottom section with the hole close to the base hinge bracket already fixed to the centre ground anchor. -
Page 11: Step 5 - Gin Pole Attachment
Using one of the M12 x 90 long screws and nuts fix the tower section to the hinge bracket to form the hinge – do not over tighten this nut, just tighten sufficiently to take out side clearance in the bracket allowing the hinge to still operate. -
Page 12: Step 6 - Assembly Guy Ropes
Attach the none-drilled end of the gin pole in to the ‘Tee’ piece already fitted to the base tower section. The gin pole needs to stand vertically, perpendicular to the ground and tower as it lays on the ground. The ‘Tee’ piece can be positioned at any point along the base tower tube. Normally, with the tower installed on flat level ground, the tee will be at the very bottom of the tower, however if the ground has a slight gradient upwards the tee will need to be raised so that when the tower is upright the end of the gin pole will fall within reach of the ground anchor bracket. - Page 13 anchor opposite the gin pole need to be set at an approximate length (using the length of the side guys as a guide) and fully tensioned once the tower is up. Each guy rope needs to be assembled with a supplied Wedge Socket, Rope Grip and then an Eye & Jaw Rigging Screw.
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Page 14: Step 7 - Trial Tower Raising
The guy ropes that fix to the end of the gin pole do so with a supplied M12 x 90 long screw and nylock nut. Step 7 – Trial Tower Raising With all guy ropes attached it is essential to raise the tower without the turbine on top to check the guy rope lengths are correct and to check the tower is vertical when erected. - Page 15 Attach a rope to the end of the gin pole so that the rope will not slide down the pole – the knot should be good, if this rope should become detached from the tower it will fall back to the ground. The rope can be pulled by this attachment or it can pass via the gin pole ground anchor bracket (under the remaining M12 x 90 gin pole fixing screw).
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Page 16: Step 8 - Fitting The Airforce1 Turbine
– it is important to electrically brake the turbine whilst installing so that it is not free-running, especially when there is a breeze on the day. Electrical braking can be done either by using a FuturEnergy Stop Switch or by shorting together the cables from the turbine. - Page 17 Fit the turbine to the top of the tower and secure using the two grub screws that clap the tower tube – use thread lock adhesive on the grub screw threads. Before lifting the complete tower and turbine assembly ensure all guy ropes are attached, only the gin pole bolt should need to be attached when raised.
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Page 18: Tower Maintenance
Tower Maintenance The amount of maintenance required by the tower will be dependent on ground conditions and the average wind speed in the area (which will change with season). Items that need checking are; Ground anchors – for their key with the ground. ... - Page 19 In the following days after initial installation check the ground anchors are ‘as’ installed and check guy rope tension. Re-tension the guy ropes if necessary. If re-tensioning was required then repeat the check in the following days. Higher level parts can only be checked visually whilst the tower is up, however if it is taken down due to expected extreme weather then all items should be checked at this opportunity.
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