WIND TURBINE
Planning:
We have been looking at the designs of wind turbines and have decided to make one that will be made out of PVC pipe and will have a fan connected to the motor that will spin the motor and generate electricity.
Identify the Problem:
-To create a Wind Turbine that will generate electricity by the blowing wind power from the fan
Generate Ideas:
-A wind turbine that has plastic knife propellers
-A wind turbine that has paper pinwheel propellers
-A wind turbine that has cardboard propellers
Constraints:
-Can only bring in recycled materials
-Limited materials provided by Mr.Westhafer (such as the 3 balsa wood sticks, hot glue, and the "sharing is caring" box supplies)
-Only a week in time to complete the assignment
-The fan's power is on a certain power switch
Criteria:
We have been looking at the designs of wind turbines and have decided to make one that will be made out of PVC pipe and will have a fan connected to the motor that will spin the motor and generate electricity.
Identify the Problem:
-To create a Wind Turbine that will generate electricity by the blowing wind power from the fan
Generate Ideas:
-A wind turbine that has plastic knife propellers
-A wind turbine that has paper pinwheel propellers
-A wind turbine that has cardboard propellers
Constraints:
-Can only bring in recycled materials
-Limited materials provided by Mr.Westhafer (such as the 3 balsa wood sticks, hot glue, and the "sharing is caring" box supplies)
-Only a week in time to complete the assignment
-The fan's power is on a certain power switch
Criteria:
Research:
Theoretical:
-Wind Turbines basically generate "free electricity".
-Even though they cost a lot to build and install, they produce healthy and good masses of electricity for the location that they are in.
-Wind power can be unpredictable, one day it can be calm and the next day its very windy. Wind Turbines are not the most reliable sources of energy because of this problem.
-The electromagnetic induction speeds up the process and helps generate electrical energy. This is magnets that can help the rate the wind turbine generates its electricity.
Credit to: http://www.windturbinesfacts.co.uk/
Empirical:
-Through trial and error we have discovered many new things with this project:
-When we tried out the paper pinwheel it would just push back against the stand and not move at a fast enough speed
-When we tried the plastic knife propellers they would not move, it was because they were to heavy and not adjustable to do so.
-When we tried the cardboard propellers we were astounded to see that they actually worked the best! They worked the best because they were the "material to use" so to call it.
Possible Solutions:
-When practicing we were shocked to see that the cardboard propellers actually worked the best. Even though this doesn't support our results and thoughts in the Idea Matrix, we ended up being proved wrong and the cardboard propellers came out on top above the paper pinwheel and plastic propellers.
-The reason why the cardboard propellers worked the best because they were on of the fastest, one of the most stable, and performed the best.
Graphical Model:
Theoretical:
-Wind Turbines basically generate "free electricity".
-Even though they cost a lot to build and install, they produce healthy and good masses of electricity for the location that they are in.
-Wind power can be unpredictable, one day it can be calm and the next day its very windy. Wind Turbines are not the most reliable sources of energy because of this problem.
-The electromagnetic induction speeds up the process and helps generate electrical energy. This is magnets that can help the rate the wind turbine generates its electricity.
Credit to: http://www.windturbinesfacts.co.uk/
Empirical:
-Through trial and error we have discovered many new things with this project:
-When we tried out the paper pinwheel it would just push back against the stand and not move at a fast enough speed
-When we tried the plastic knife propellers they would not move, it was because they were to heavy and not adjustable to do so.
-When we tried the cardboard propellers we were astounded to see that they actually worked the best! They worked the best because they were the "material to use" so to call it.
Possible Solutions:
-When practicing we were shocked to see that the cardboard propellers actually worked the best. Even though this doesn't support our results and thoughts in the Idea Matrix, we ended up being proved wrong and the cardboard propellers came out on top above the paper pinwheel and plastic propellers.
-The reason why the cardboard propellers worked the best because they were on of the fastest, one of the most stable, and performed the best.
Graphical Model:
This is the Front view
This is the Top view
This is the Right view
Description of the Graphical Model:
-The area of each blade is 3.9 inches
-The weight of the wind turbine is (the fan itself) is 13 grams
-From the center of the DC motor(generator) to the ground is 11.8 inches
-The rotation of the wind turbine is horizontal
-The wind turbine consists of a PVC pipe that stabilizes and holds the entire stand up.
-The DC motor is hot glued to the top and again hot glued whilst being connected to a Gatorade cap for easy rotation, the DC motor is held up by a rectangular box of cardboard that is hot glued to the PVC pipe.
-The flat ends of 3 of the cardboard blades are hot glued to the Gatorade cap for easy rotation. Each blade is slightly tilted for proper power and the movement is easier for the wind turbine.
-The PVC pipe is held up by a thick piece of cardboard. Behind that stabilizing it so it doesn't fall over is another piece of cardboard that is leaning. Lastly, on the front is a piece of small cardboard that is used for extra protection.
Practice Testing:
-When we were testing the cardboard propeller wind turbine worked quite well. The cardboard propeller wind turbine moved pretty fast and had a high voltage of .550!
Summary:
-In the end it is obvious in what propeller/fan type that we choose. The Cardboard propellers worked very well for our stand and I'm sure that it would work well for some other groups if they get a good foundation in (the stand). Overall I thought the practice testing and documentation went well and was fun!
-The area of each blade is 3.9 inches
-The weight of the wind turbine is (the fan itself) is 13 grams
-From the center of the DC motor(generator) to the ground is 11.8 inches
-The rotation of the wind turbine is horizontal
-The wind turbine consists of a PVC pipe that stabilizes and holds the entire stand up.
-The DC motor is hot glued to the top and again hot glued whilst being connected to a Gatorade cap for easy rotation, the DC motor is held up by a rectangular box of cardboard that is hot glued to the PVC pipe.
-The flat ends of 3 of the cardboard blades are hot glued to the Gatorade cap for easy rotation. Each blade is slightly tilted for proper power and the movement is easier for the wind turbine.
-The PVC pipe is held up by a thick piece of cardboard. Behind that stabilizing it so it doesn't fall over is another piece of cardboard that is leaning. Lastly, on the front is a piece of small cardboard that is used for extra protection.
Practice Testing:
-When we were testing the cardboard propeller wind turbine worked quite well. The cardboard propeller wind turbine moved pretty fast and had a high voltage of .550!
Summary:
-In the end it is obvious in what propeller/fan type that we choose. The Cardboard propellers worked very well for our stand and I'm sure that it would work well for some other groups if they get a good foundation in (the stand). Overall I thought the practice testing and documentation went well and was fun!
Mathematical Model:
The two things that I compared on this graph was the amount of power it the wind turbines generated(measured in volts) on the x-axis. While the other thing I was comparing was the different level of distance from the fan on the y-axis. According to the data, the closer (Level 1) the wind turbine is to the fan, the better results there are than all of the other levels (Levels 2 and 3). |
Working Model:
-We didn't really adjust our Wind Turbine that much because it supported the data that was stated in the Mathematical Model above.
-The only thing that we changed was to add the a slanted piece of cardboard on the back to make it stand up and be more stable (rather than being to heavy or lob-sided on one side).
-We also added to the Wind Turbine by putting straws on it and thought it would help with the flow of air, but that did not work as planned and actually made the turbine a lot slower, due to it becoming heavier.
-We didn't really adjust our Wind Turbine that much because it supported the data that was stated in the Mathematical Model above.
-The only thing that we changed was to add the a slanted piece of cardboard on the back to make it stand up and be more stable (rather than being to heavy or lob-sided on one side).
-We also added to the Wind Turbine by putting straws on it and thought it would help with the flow of air, but that did not work as planned and actually made the turbine a lot slower, due to it becoming heavier.
-The wind turbine consists of a PVC pipe that stabilizes and holds the entire stand up.
-The DC motor is hot glued to the top and again hot glued whilst being connected to a Gatorade cap for easy rotation, the DC motor is held up by a rectangular box of cardboard that is hot glued to the PVC pipe.
-The flat ends of 3 of the cardboard blades are hot glued to the Gatorade cap for easy rotation. Each blade is slightly tilted for proper power and the movement is easier for the wind turbine.
-The PVC pipe is held up by a thick piece of cardboard. Behind that stabilizing it so it doesn't fall over is another piece of cardboard that is leaning. Lastly, on the front is a piece of small cardboard that is used for extra protection.
-The DC motor is hot glued to the top and again hot glued whilst being connected to a Gatorade cap for easy rotation, the DC motor is held up by a rectangular box of cardboard that is hot glued to the PVC pipe.
-The flat ends of 3 of the cardboard blades are hot glued to the Gatorade cap for easy rotation. Each blade is slightly tilted for proper power and the movement is easier for the wind turbine.
-The PVC pipe is held up by a thick piece of cardboard. Behind that stabilizing it so it doesn't fall over is another piece of cardboard that is leaning. Lastly, on the front is a piece of small cardboard that is used for extra protection.