OpenAFPM CAD Core

Repository containing OpenAFPM wind turbine CAD model, and models for tools aiding in the local construction of the wind turbine such as molds and jigs.

The wind turbine design is based on "A Wind Turbine Recipe Book" by Hugh Piggott.

All models are made with the open-source CAD program FreeCAD.

Various functions (yet to be described) are exposed to support other projects. See Related Repositories.

Installing Package

From the root of this repository:

pip install --editable .

Installing Macros

From the root of this repository:

./link_macros.bash

Related Repositories

• openafpm_worker/MagnAFPM - simulates AFPM generator and generates output for CAD model.
• openafpm-cad-visualization - visualizes CAD models in a web browser.
• openafpm-cad-desktop-app - for testing openafpm-cad-core and openafpm-cad-visualization.

Prerequisites

1. Install Micromamba.

Setup

Execute the following commands from the root of this repository.

1. Create openafpm-cad-core conda environment.

   micromamba env create --file environment.yml
   

2. Activate openafpm-cad-core environment.

   micromamba activate openafpm-cad-core
   

3. Add the $CONDA_PREFIX/lib directory to $PYTHONPATH (this allows FreeCAD to be imported as a module within python).

   ./add_conda_path_to_python_path.sh
   

4. Deactivate and re-activate openafpm-cad-core environment.

   micromamba deactivate && micromamba activate openafpm-cad-core
   

5. Verify freecad executable is accessible:

   freecad --version
   

Docs

Run ./make_docs.sh from docs/ with openafpm-cad-core conda environment activated.

How to Upgrade FreeCAD Version

The version of FreeCAD is defined in environment.yml within the root of this repository.

1. Check if there's a newer version from FreeCAD's GitHub releases page or Wiki.

2. Increase version for freecad in environment.yml.

3. Remove openafpm-cad-core conda environment created in the "Setup" section.

   micromamba remove --name openafpm-cad-core --all
   

4. Reperform steps in the Setup section to recreate openafpm-cad-core conda environment.

5. Regression test all functionality. (TODO: Write documentation for this)

6. Update "Supported FreeCAD Versions" section in README.md.

Generating Files for openafpm-cad-visualization

1. Activate the openafpm-cad-core conda environment.

2. If openafpm-cad-visualization is cloned up a directory from this repository, then run:

   python macros/visualize.py ../openafpm-cad-visualization/public/
   python macros/furl_transform.py > ../openafpm-cad-visualization/public/furlTransform.json
   

Troubleshooting

Run /macros from FreeCAD's GUI to see FreeCAD related warnings and errors.

Currently, macros must be manually edited to remove multi-threading to avoid a pickle-related serialization error.

Supported FreeCAD Versions

Currently tested with FreeCAD 1.0.0.

Links

• [YouTube] Wind Empowerment Webinar - OpenAFPM tools for designing AFPM generators for Small Wind Turbines
• Wind Empowerment
• WISIONS of Sustainability
• Hugh Piggott's blog
• [Wikipedia] Wind turbine design