Software Engineering Practical File Front Pages.pdf
Wind turbine project experiment
1. Christian Pascasio & Christian Rudinski
EGR-188-003
Professor Danny Moustakidis
10/23/17
Wind Turbine Project
By
Christian Pascasio & Christian Rudinski
2. INTRODUCTION
What is a wind turbine?
• A wind turbine is a device that
converts the wind's kinetic
energy into electrical energy.
Type of Designs
• These two are the most common wind
turbine designs. Horizontal axis wind
turbine (left) and Vertical axis wind
turbine (right).
3. • The energy in the wind turns two or three propeller-
like blades around a rotor. The rotor is connected to
the main shaft, which spins a generator to create
electricity.
How does it work?
4. Is it eco-friendly?
• Wind energy is completely natural
and renewable because wind is
being replenished, which makes
this source more clean.
How efficient are wind turbines?
• They’re not that efficient because based
on AWEA (American Wind Energy
Association) most commercial wind
turbines today operate in the 25 to 30 %
efficiency range.
5. HYPOTHESIS
• The bigger the fan blades, the more area it will cover, therefore the more
electricity will be produced.
6. MATERIALS
• DC motor
• PVC pipes
• Copper wire
• Soldering iron
• Fan
• Poster board (fan cut outs)
• Multi-meter
• Fan
• Alligator clips
8. OBJECTIVE
• To test 5 different sized blades and determine which size yields the highest voltage.
• Starting size
for all blades.
Every other
blade is
altered by
increments of
0.25 inches
+ 0.25 inches
Blade A Blade
B
Blade
C
Blade
D
Blade
E
+ 0.25 inches
(+ 0.5 from
blade C)
- 0.25 inches- 0.25 inches
(- 0.5 from
blade C)
9. METHODOLOGY
41.5 in
27.5 in
42 in
• Position the rig to the set distance and heights
• Connect a multi-meter to the wires leading out from the
motor
• Attach one blade size to the motor to begin testing it’s
specific power output
• Turn on fan to highest speed setting
• Let motor run for fifteen seconds, read and record
results from the multi-meter on one second intervals
• Repeat process for five different blade sizes and take
average an reading of the voltage
10. RESULTS
From our experiment, we can determine that our
hypothesis is partly correct. However, our data
shows that our experiment in general may be
inconclusive.
11. DATA/TABLE
Trial 1 1 Sec. 2 Sec. 3 Sec. 4 Sec. 5 Sec. 6 Sec. 7 Sec. 8 Sec. 9 Sec. 10 Sec. 11 Sec. 12 Sec. 13 Sec. 14 Sec. 15 Sec. Average
Blade A 1.26 1.23 1.22 1.24 1.31 1.34 1.35 1.42 1.34 1.46 1.30 1.30 1.21 1.23 1.38 1.31
Blade B 6.24 6.34 6.40 6.49 6.38 6.36 6.46 6.36 6.22 6.41 6.26 6.24 6.25 6.28 6.32 6.33
Blade C 5.52 5.76 5.85 5.68 5.70 5.57 5.59 5.76 5.61 5.65 5.68 5.74 5.44 5.59 5.68 5.65
Blade D 5.90 5.58 5.37 5.34 5.35 5.39 5.52 5.40 5.33 5.28 5.34 5.38 5.37 5.33 5.35 5.42
Blade E 5.52 5.44 5.35 5.37 5.41 5.29 5.37 5.20 5.29 5.20 5.37 5.41 5.37 5.33 5.31 5.35
Trial 2 1 Sec. 2 Sec. 3 Sec. 4 Sec. 5 Sec. 6 Sec. 7 Sec. 8 Sec. 9 Sec. 10 Sec. 11 Sec. 12 Sec. 13 Sec. 14 Sec. 15 Sec. Average
Blade A 0.52 0.55 0.40 0.27 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.07 1.01 0.85 0.76 0.36
Blade B 4.70 4.59 4.60 4.65 4.73 4.81 4.79 4.75 4.53 4.86 4.72 4.70 4.70 4.64 4.61 4.69
Blade C 6.03 5.84 5.93 5.75 5.73 5.92 5.96 5.93 5.88 5.83 5.59 5.74 5.75 5.86 5.91 5.84
Blade D 5.51 5.57 5.68 5.58 5.70 5.55 5.63 5.64 5.59 5.72 5.66 5.60 5.72 5.58 5.53 5.62
Blade E 5.23 5.37 5.27 5.13 5.28 5.33 5.32 5.12 4.97 5.22 5.21 5.08 5.09 5.06 5.29 5.20
Total Average
Blade A 0.83 V
Blade B 5.51 V
Blade C 5.75 V
Blade D 5.52 V
Blade E 5.27 V
• Number readings are in Volts
12. OBSERVATION
• The inconsistency in readings (Blade A)
• Added weight with increase to size
• Energy lost to drag
• Why Blade A underperformed?
Things to Note
Weight
Blade A 1.2 grams
Blade B 2.2 grams
Blade C 3.1 grams
Blade D 4.3 grams
Blade E 5.1 grams
13. CONCLUSION
• From the 5 different blade sizes, we found Blade C to be the one
that yields the most electricity because its design seems to be the
most proportional to a real wind turbine that performs well.
Where the blades are not too thin and not too thick.
14. FUTURE ENHANCEMENT
Design the blades not with the focus of surface area, rather a design more
streamlined like it’s real life counterpart where they are thinner with few
blades. Need to reduce to amount of drag caused by the blades in order to
get a higher voltage reading and more efficient machine.
15.
16. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• We would like to give thanks to Victor for providing us with some tools
and for watching over us.
• We also would like to give thanks to Professor Danny for giving us a
solid knowledge about engineering.
